Themeparkalooza Days one and two

I didn't quite make that goal of blogging every day of my vacation. But guess what? I am on vacation dammit so I will not blog if I want to!

I think I have decided that pictures will be waiting too. They take forever to upload and I haven't the patience after 8+ hours of sun, heat, humidity, crowds, waiting in line, and doing thrill rides. I'll upload pictures later.

So Day One. Last day at Cocoa Beach. #2 and I got up and had an early morning swim in the ocean. No porpoise today, but we had the beach virtually to ourselves AND we got to see the beach vacuum cleaner and a guy who had a way with the sea birds.

BH drug the two of us back to the hotel so that we could leave for Orlando and theme park one of THEMEPARKALOOZA 2010!

First up: Animal Kingdom!!

Not my favorite of the Disney Parks. It is kind of like a zoo on steroids and I am not that fond of zoos in general. I did get a lot of lovely animal photos. My girls however are hugemongous animal lovers, and this place was right up their alley. Did I mention that it was hot? And humid? Now being from Kansas I am no stranger to humidity, but Lord Baby Jeebus. I don't typically spend all day traipsing around in it. Sucks the life right out of you. Thank goodness for many air-conditioned attractions to help break up the heat. Thankfully most of the day was overcast too. Some favorites for me were the Finding Nemo show. It is done with puppets, but you see the puppeteers, as they fly the puppets on large sticks. It was quite the spectacle. I also enjoyed the 3-D movie, "It's Tough to be a Bug." Short but fun, and complete with smell, movement, and live action sorts of stuff. If you have the chance I would suggest you hit both of these attractions. Last time we were there about 6 years ago we saw the Lion King show. We opted out of it this time to do other things, but it was really good and worth a see too.

THEMEPARKALOOZA 2010 DAY 2! UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE!!

This was the first time any of us had visited Universal Studios. I would definitely go back. Our main objective was to of course see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. As everyone in our party with the exception of yours truly are HUGE Harry Potter fans. I have to say that it was pretty stinking cool. AND RIDICULOUSLY BUSY. There are only about 3 rides, and the rest is pretty much stores and the like. But you had to wait in crazy-ass lines to GET INTO STORES! Stores! People! That is 10-different kinds of ridunculousness. But the stores were cool and full of every imaginable Harry Potter item. I have never been part of crowds like that before it was crazy. I highly recommend it, but I also highly recommend that you either wait a couple of years, or go in the way off season. The rest of the park was about what you would expect crowd-wise in the summer. I thought the Dr. Seuss area was fun. It was geared towards smaller kids, but the design was amazing. Of course we spent a fair amount of time in the Marvel Comic area, and rode a 3-D Spiderman ride. I couldn't tell you much about it. Between the 3-D and the movement I had to close my eyes or hurl from dizziness. I chose to close my eyes. Those were the highlights of today. Weather was similar to yesterday only with SUN. I am pretty sure I have never sweat so much in my life. I may never get the smell of sweat, sunscreen, and BO out of my nostrils. If the sun is out tomorrow, I swear that I will be reporting about the best $20 I ever spent on a battery operated fan-spray bottle combination that is filled with and kept in ice water, it will have Disney characters on it!

Now I must rest. This theme-parking is tiring. Fun. But tiring. Oh yeah...

Sweaty.


After Animal Kingdom

Day 2. With Ibis! I think.And porpoise! But no proof of porpoise.

So! Day 2. Started off with Ibis after breakfast. I think they are Ibis. Anyone out there able to identify birds? We don't see these kinda birdies in the Midwest so it was exciting.


After the mystery to us birds it was off to Kennedy Space Center! We saw many cool spacey things. I think my favorites were the Hubble 3-D IMAX movie. Even if Leonardo DiCaprio's mellow voice and many dark shots at the end nearly lulled my slightly sleep deprived self to dreamland. I also found the Rocket Garden to be pretty cool.

After the space center it was to the Beach. Alas my precious beach time was cut short due to a thunderstorm. But if there hadn't been a thunderstorm, we wouldn't have gone exploring and found this little gem!

Eventually the rain moved off and it was back to the beach! Much frolicking in the waves. There were even two porpoise swimming nearby. Unfortunately I was not able to capture them on film. But it was very exciting!

Tomorrow we depart Cocoa Beach and head for Orlando, and Themeparkalooza 2010.

But not until after I get my toes in that ocean one more time. Think we have decided to come back to visit Cocoa Beach one more time before we depart Saturday. LOVE IT HERE.

I had to sit on my hands to keep myself from making ridiculous calls on real estate I saw available near the beach. But man would I love a beach house. Lottery where are you when I need you?

Vacation Day One does not need to suck it.

So fellow follower of Babble. I am on VACATION.
Logically one might think that meant an absence of blog posts.
I am not always one for the logical.
In fact my plan is to blog every day I am on vacation.
I am sure you ask why.
There are several reasons, however I will only bore you with the primary. As much as I would like to think that I am going to print photos and make some lovely scrapbook pages, the truth is that I likely won't do it. Unless I win the lottery and can quit my day job. What is real is that my free time is not going to be used in such pursuits no matter how cool I think it would be. I don't find it cool enough apparently to do anything about it.
This blog has really been my scrapbook. Neglected too often, but kept up better than anything else I have tried.

So! Vacation Day One!

This year the Babble Family is visiting Sunny Florida! Today was spent seeing a movie at my favorite theater in Olathe where they bring you food while you watch a movie. We saw Despicable Me. It was better than I expected. It was not our first choice, but as we had a plane to catch later in the afternoon it had the best show times for us.

After the movie it was time to head for the airport. We had a smooth and event free flight. My favorite kind.

Our first night is in Cocoa Beach. After a very LATE dinner at a fine dining establishment (Yes it was McDonald's. 9:30 dinner time calls for quick and desperate measures.) We then made our way to the beach and splashed a bit in the Atlantic by the (very pale) moonlight. It was heavenly. The water was perfect. I wish there had not been a band playing nearby to interfere with the ocean sounds, but other than that....Heavenly. I wish that I had been able to record my children. They were blissfully happy. It was beautiful to see.

I swear if I thought I could get away with it I would sleep on the beach tonight. I already feel like I can't soak enough of it in.

Tomorrow we will tour Kennedy Space Center and then spend the rest of the day at the beach. I plan to wear my swimsuit to the Space Center, and shall request to be dropped of at the beach on the way back. Don't want to waste a minute of precious precious ocean time.

Oh yeah, that band playing. As we walked up they were playing "Pretty Woman" which then segued into "Blister in the Sun." On the way back they were playing some Pink Floyd. Interesting I thought.

Pictures tomorrow. It is very late and I must not sleep the day away.