So I find myself in Berlin and wanting to write down a summary of what we did yesterday, and this seems a good a place as any to do so. Uneventful flight to Newark, then a 4+ hour layover was followed by another hour+ delay on the runway due to storms off the coast. We had a bunch of "Education First Tours" teens on our flight, but I still ( Read more... )

The Delaps had planned a real treat for us for breakfast the next day. We drove to De Leon Springs State Park, home of hot springs used by Native Americans 6000 years ago, later a pretty kitchy tourist site (water-skiing shows and the like), and now home to the The Old Spanish Sugar Mill Restaurant, where we went for breakfast. Each table has a ( Read more... )

Right-o, perhaps the most important thing about our vacation to chronicle is the return trip, because we have no photos to aid our memory - it's not even in my spreadsheet (nevermind, you don't want to know about that one). So, where was I? Oh right, waking up on a Tuesday morning. Big-B and I took my folks to the airport, and then came back to ( Read more... )

Right, so Big-B and I were seated saving a table near Mexico overlooking the lagoon while my Mom (Caribbean or Brazilian kiosk?) and Dad (Bratwurst from Germany) got lunch and brought it back. I got some applesauce out for Big-B, and we spotted Grandmum heading our way with her food. I told Big-B he needed to finish his applesauce before she ( Read more... )

We kissed Tanner goodbye, as he was headed to the airport and home, and then the other four of us headed to Epcot, our collective favorite park. As per usual, we arrived before the park opened so were ready to scoot on in as quickly as we could. Once again, we headed over to Soarin' to begin. I'd done a bit of research and found out that during ( Read more... )

Since we were up late at Disney Hollywood Studios, we slept in a little the next morning and got to the Magic Kingdom *after* it opened. Shocking, I know. We kinda had two priorities -- make that three -- do everything we hadn't done, catch as many street performances as we could, and do our favorite things again (and again?). So, we headed over ( Read more... )

(continuing where I left off yesterday at Disney's Hollywood Studios ( Read more... )

Checking the schedule, it was an Early entrance day at DHS for those staying at Disney hotels ... so not much point in getting there before 9. Since DHS is also the shortest drive from our condo, we got to sleep in a little - yay! Once entering the park, I collected everyone's tickets and Big-B and I headed over to get fastpasses to Toy Story ( Read more... )

(Pardon the delay - had a cub scout campout, not to mention Savoyards show, choir family pumpkin carving party, etc ( Read more... )

This day started out a little differently. We drove over and parked at the Polynesian Hotel, adjacent to the Magic Kingdom lagoon. Interestingly, since we were headed there for a breakfast reservation, we didn't have to pay for parking - yay! We ate a terrific breakfast at their Kona Cafe - Tanner's Tonga Toast was particularly tasty (as well as ( Read more... )