The Last Day

The last day of vacation is always a little sad.  On Saturday we drove back to Orlando and had the whole day to relax and just do whatever we wanted. 

Brent and the others were interested in the college football games.  I was interested in one thing:

It was GLORIOUS.  SUCH a gorgeous day. And not miserably hot – pretty much perfect.

We decided to head to Downtown Disney with John & Amy for our last evening for dinner + shopping + strolling + photography.

Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that it was trick-or-treat night at DD.  There were kids EVERYWHERE.  I mean, you could barely walk.  The restaurants were packed, the stores were packed, every square foot contained approximately 3 children, at least 1 of which, on average, was crying. 

We ended up at the least child-friendly place (and therefore the place with the shortest wait), Fulton’s Crab House, which was good but SUPER EXPENSIVE.  I cringed when I saw the menu and promptly ordered water to drink. It was maybe the most expensive place I have ever eaten and let me tell you I literally stuffed myself to ensure that I did not waste one crumb. I know the waiter thought I was totally country but I don’t care. We even asked for another serving of the complementary crab dip appetizer – not kidding – and she did bring it to us! My crab cakes were really, really good, but I am not sure that my mashed potatoes were worth $7.50!!!!!  Needless to say, we didn’t buy any souvenirs.

We would like to have stayed longer at Downtown Disney, but the crowd was just ridiculous + we were pretty tired from the cumulative effects of late nights + all day activity.  So we hopped in a cab, headed back to the hotel, changed into our PJs, and watched some more football and TV.

Good bye, Florida.  We will miss you.

Vacation in a Vacation

Our vacation went like this:

Wednesday – travel + Universal Studios

Thursday – Epcot

Friday – a mini vacation-in-a-vacation to Tampa

Guess where we went?!!

A hint: we went there last year!!!

BUSCH GARDENS!!!

This year, we all went down for Howl-O-Scream – similar to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal.  There were about 7 haunted houses set up around the park + Halloween-themed shows, a dinner show (the dinner was really good!), and scary characters jumping out from behind trees and bushes all night.  It was super scary and I liked it better than Universal!  Plus their best rollercoasters were also open!

When we first got to our hotel and Tampa + got checked in, Brent and I walked up to a little shopping center just to kill some time.  On the way back, we stopped at CVS where I bought a black wig, fake eyelashes, and black lipstick to wear to the park.  No, no one else dressed up.  But Brent thought it was a good idea, so I just went with it.  I must admit that the look grew on me.  I felt like a wild woman and let me tell you, I kind of liked it. 

No Freeman Family Vacation is complete without a trip to…..

Seriously!!!  I managed to stick my hand in a cactus – it was growing on the other side of a handrail, come on – and when I pulled my hand away there were many tiny cactus stickers in my nailbed!!!  The guy at First Aid helped me pull them out.  He was surprised that I was 30!  Really surprised!!!  He said he would have guessed 14!!!  I was pretty excited about that – thinking that I must look really young for my age – when Brent pointed out that he probably assumed that I was young because adults can typically keep their hands out of the cacti…..oh well….

Anyway, as the night wore on, we played several games, rode rollercoasters, watched shows, screamed….

….and tried to keep the leg as comfortable as possible.

It was fun!  One of the scary clowns got after Brent and followed him for a little while, carrying (and blowing) a bicycle horn.  It was pretty creepy.  There were also characters wearing costumes covered with greenery that sat in the bushes and jumped out at you….they were totally scary.  There were many many funny stories – like when Brent and one of the monsters in one of the haunted houses had a “scream-off” and then when Brent did the frightened tango with one of the workers (!) in one of the haunted houses.  He is too funny.  After a few of the rollercoasters, I finally had to lose the wig….it was a tangled, windblown, synthetic MESS.  The eyelashes stayed on all night, though!

After Howl-O-Scream was over (1 a.m.!), we headed to Perkins for breakfast/4th meal where we laughed deliriously over our pancakes and omelets about a wide variety of topics. The place was packed with supercool college kids who kept looking warily at us, wondering why the old folks were still out so late….and with a young teenager (me)!!!  Ha!!!  Just kidding!  Anyway, I’m not exactly sure I’ve ever really experienced Brent in the 3 o’clock hour, but he’s pretty funny!

After Perkins, we went back to our Tampa hotel and crashed so hard!  And right before I fell asleep, when I was in that alternate-reality twilight zone state, Brent menacingly (and loudly) whispered our favorite creepy phrase from the orphanage haunted house: “Don’t tell Daddy!!!”

I woke up totally confused and scared and imagining that the voice had come from across the room. It was the worst scare all night!

Epcot, Part II

More Epcot photos:

We rode a ride in the giant ball called “Spaceship Earth.”  At the very end, they took our photo and made a short video of it.  As you can see, they managed to take a photo of me while I was trying to take a photo of them taking a photo of me….brilliant.  Brent says it is perfectly appropriate and realistic.

So apparently, in the future we will have a robot chef that serves salad.  And we will be skinny.  I will have blue hands and Brent will have a bit of a mohawk.  Bring it on!

The line for one of the rides involved a video game on the wall where you waved your arms to play.  Our friend Amy participated.

Brent did not.  We’re not as young as we once were.

Love the picture of Brent walking out of the park.  Its almost like he’s pouting…is it really over?

Fun day!

Epcot, Part I

Day #2 of vacation: Epcot!!

(I’m obviously not going to be posting as much because Windows Live Writer has updated and is TERRIBLE.  It is so slow and freezes up multiple times while I am trying to write the blog posts!!!!  SO FRUSTRATING!!!!)

I must confess that I totally do not remember going to Epcot the first time.  Basically, all I remember about the family trip to Disneyworld when I was 14 is eating a big fat smoked turkey leg in the Magic Kingdom.  Sad, huh? 

This time, no turkey legs and we dragged our friends John & Amy with us. Once we got in the park, we all pretty much made a beeline for the World Showcase.  Mexico, in particular.  The Mexican restaurant, to be specific.  John & Amy may be even more crazy about Mexican food than Brent is, which is remarkable, trust me.

After Mexico, we visited several other countries.  They were kind of a blur.  It was super hot and there were crying kids everywhere.  In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen as many crying kids as I saw at Disneyworld.

Finally we were at America!  Woop woop!  We were greeted by a small patriotic band and they were great.

And we watched a little American history show that made me feel very patriotic and proud of my country.

I know!  This camera is TERRIBLE!  I can’t believe I paid almost $200 for the crappiest camera EVER!!!  I keep meaning to email the company.

Another one of my infamous close-ups!  This is something I am really bad about: forgetting that I have the camera zoomed in when I take a self-portrait of me & Brent.  We have tons of pictures like this!!!

And what day would be complete without some Droid love???

Epcot, Part 2, coming up!!!