Drew, Mom, Dad, Jeff and I spent the day with Thomas the Train in Tavares today.  With the weather a bit overcast and the clouds on the verge of bursting open, the crowds seemed to have stayed at home making for a perfect day.  The look on Drew’s face when he saw Thomas was just priceless!  The train ride itself was nice, but I think Drew enjoyed seeing Thomas from the outside a lot more.  He also had a great time with the hay maze, bubble tend and SHOPPING for more Thomas toys!!! 

Click here for more pics.

Well I decided to try something a little different with our vacation pictures from our last cruise.  I have seen so many of Mindy and Mom’s movies that I figured I better get with the times.  This is my first shot at a movie, so go easy on me!  Still trying to figure the program out…. but the pictures are there and you get the point!

 This was probably one of the most relaxing cruises that we have ever been on.  Absolutely NO schedules, no timed dinner seatings, very few plans made before hand…. just lots of relaxation and time to decompress!

Here’s the movie…. enjoy! 

Jeff and I will be leaving shortly on our annual February cruise and celebrating our Anniversary.  Wow… time flies by when you’re having fun!

 This year, we’ve decided on a 9-day cruise to the Southern Caribbean on Norwegian Cruise Line.  We chose NCL for their “Freestyle” cruising, where there are no set times for dining and you can choose from multiple restaurants each evening.  Work has us both pretty exhausted right now, so we’re looking forward to doing whatever we want on our own schedules!  With that said, we have done very little planning for this cruise, which many of you know is quite different for us.  This trip will be all about relaxing and taking things as they come!

For those that are interested, our itinerary can be found here:  NCL JEWEL ITINERARY

Soooooo…. Mom, Dad, Drew and Keith went to the Disney-MGM Studios last night to see the Osborne Festival of Lights.  Afterwards, when Jeff got off work, we all met him at the UCF Friendly’s for a quick dinner.  While there, we noticed that they seemed to be closing up a bit early and REALLY putting things away.  After kind of an awkward meal where they kept “running out of things” we finally found out that they were closing the restaurant for the rest of the month and going to be doing a total renovation!  The awkwardness of the meal finally made sense!!!

After talking with the manager a bit about the plans for the new interior, Keith was pretty shocked to find out that they were getting rid of the huge 7 foot clock that adorns the interior of every Friendly’s restaurant.  After telling the manager how much it would be missed, the manager, half-joking, asked if we wanted to take it home.  With Jeff being the clock collector that he is, how could we pass up the opportunity to have a 7′ wrougt-iron “train station” clock in our own home!!!!  I know what you’re all thinking, but we’re really not crazy!

So anyway, the manager unbolted the clock from the floor and we carried it right out to Dad’s truck!

Every time we go to Friendly’s, I can’t help but think of Great-grandma Maude and walking to the Friendly’s beside her house!

We’re not quite sure where the clock is going to end up in our house yet…. but it will no doubt be a talking piece for many years to come.

This evening, Mom, Dad, Jeff and I had the opportunity to see Elton John in concert at the new UCF Arena.  Talk about amazing!!!  Nothing like seeing/hearing “Rocket Man” live!  Elton was amazing….. what a showman!

The new UCF Arena is really perfect for mid-size concerts.  About 10,000 people and really not a bad view in the house. 

 Click for more pictures.

In addition to this weekend’s Halloween Pirate Party at Bryan & Patrick’s, Jeff and I also spent the day at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park with Jason and Erin.  WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!!!

 The weather was pretty overcast and it sprinkled on and off all day…… perfect weather for keeping the crowds away and keeping us from getting sun-burned!!!  Shorts lines for the slides and no fighting for beach chairs.

 Definitely a much needed day of fun and relaxation!  Click on the pic below to view others.

Jeff and I attended a “Murder Mystery” Pirate Party this evening at Bryan and Patrick’s house.  Jeff was the “Pirate Captain” and I was the “Inn Keeper” of the establishment where the pirates were partying.  We had a great time and some of the costumes were really awesome.  With 35 people in attendance, it was a pretty large murder mystery.

Without further adieu, here’s the pic of us in our costumes:

<< CLICK THIS PICTURE TO SEE OTHERS!

Jeff and I just returned from our vacation in the Shenendoah Valley of Virginia and in Washington D.C. 

Click on the deer to check out our vacation pictures!

….. and YES.  That is a real deer and it is looking right in the window of our rental car!

UPDATED GALLERY with pictures of Drew’s visit with Branson! (click below) 

Branson weighed in at 7 lb. 10 oz. and was 19″ long.

CLICK HERE to see more of his first batch of pictures!

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to travel with Jeff over to the Kennedy Space Center for the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis.  He was covering the launch for work and needed a hand with the technical end of things.  After some arm twisting, I was talked into it!!!

What an amazing experience!!!  While there was certainly a lot of “down time” just waiting for things to happen, it was really cool to see how the press covers the launch.  Oh yeah…. and the launch itself was pretty cool too!

 Talk about a “full body experience.”  When the shuttle lifts off, all you see is a bright light under the shuttle and smoke billowing out everywhere.  Then you feel it!  The entire earth begins to move around you.  The sound/shock waves literally make your body feel like it’s going to explode, implode, or do some other thing that it wasn’t meant to do!

As for the media coverage, the biggest shock to me was the number of “bloggers” and “web journalists” who were there.  The days of the “big three” media outlets are definitely long over! 

There are more pictures in the photo gallery. CLICK HERE if you want to view them.