A night on the town

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Last night we went into Old Towm Kissimmee to see the vintage drive by and to take in a few if the sights and smells of the old town. The atmostphere was great loads of sparkling vintage motors done up for Halloween I was also went back to the bead shop this time I found beads fir 50 cents a string it was a very good evening!!
Today it has been a lot cooler with a bit of cloud coverage so we took beth to International Drive indoor flying experience. She had done something similar fur her birthday last year so she had another go and that little bit of experience paid off she was away far better than anyone else in her group she really enjoyed it and it was fun to watch as well !!

Wakey Wakey rise and shine!!!

After a late night last night we had a rude awakening this morning!! We had been to see the 'world famous' Bob Jackson at Disneys Port Orleans resort with the other not so world famous Jacksons. It had been a night of laughter and dancing and general fool making. You should try saying 'Sarah, Sarah sitting in a Chevrolet. All day long she sits and shifts all night long she shines and sits' when you are on the wrong side of half a bottle of sparkling wine (with extra sparkles for Deb!!!) Malc and Tom went on to entertain the whole place with their horse riding and dying fly antics. The plus point is that it wasn't our hotel heavens knows how Malc and Deb will be able to show their faces again!!!
So after all of that and not getting to bed until gone one we were rudely awakened by the hotel fire alarm at 7 this morning. First of all it was hard to know what was happening but the din was incredible and Sion everyone was making their way down the emergency stairs to the exits. I witnessed a bizarre assortment of night wear all assembled on the car park. The brigade turned up and saved the day. Turns out a darling little boy played with the alarm in the dining room setting everything off. Once we were allowed back in we returned to our rooms only to have the same happen again! We gave up and when back on for the second time went to breakfast with loads of folk who were still in their pjs !!!
The rest if the day we have been shopping tinight we are going to downtown Kissimmee to see the vintage car parade.

Pluto Pins!!

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Beth started to collect Disney pins last time we visited Orlando she wasn't really sure what to collect so she had a bunch of different ones. This time she decided to collect Pluto pins. It has taken her all holiday to swap them out but sheis now the proud owner of 19 Pluto pins!!
Today we went to the magic Kingdom we found a prime spot for the parade and we were front row!! Got some great shots ! We followed that with a Mcdonalds which was delish!!! Tonight we are going to a cabaret it's the high life don't you know!!!

Epcot Centre

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Today we went to Epcot it was so hot that we found it a slog. The weather has been unbelievable this holiday, tonight we had a few spots of rain and I mean a few (around 5!!!) we are now poolside and enjoying a lovely warm breeze. The USA is in full Halloween mode and tonight there are even more pumpkins in the hotel reception. Better than pumpkins though is the fact that out hotel is stuffed full of American Air Force pilots in Orlando on a convention. ( Grace tell your mum about the lovely uniforms they are all wearing!!!) this evening they were three deep in reception I found that I had so many things to ask the receptionist and tonight by the pool they are quite easy on the eye ;0) !!! It's hell having to put up with the stress of all the airmen!
So tomorrow what will we do?? Beth wants to go to The Magic Kingdom I think I should stay here and see if any of those nice airmen need a hand to do anything!!!!

Beetlejuice!!!

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Hello from an extremely hot Forida where the pavements are tacky and melting and where I feel as if I have landed in the middle of an oven!! We decided to meet up at 9am by the 'Universal' world globe. We went into the park and we were amazed to find it so quiet. We walked from ride to ride with no queues we went on everything and saw everything without any stress or hassle! We rode the new Simpsons ride twice in the first half an hour we saw loads of characters and shows including Blues Brothers and Beetlejuice. We were a little late to Beetle juice and ended up at the front in the second row, great view but the sound system was far too loud. At one point Deb and I could feel our throats vibrating with the noise, weird I know but that's what happened!! Great show with the usual attractive short skirted ladies to keep the men interested!!!
Tonight we took our friends to Walmart and thanks to our whacky sat navdrove through a gas station twice!! How that was right I don't know. Afterwards they came back to our hotel and we had drinks Round the pool (there is no bar at the hotel so we took advantage of walkways best!!!)
Tomorrow we are going to Epcot late inthe day to catch the fireworks.

Beth in cartoon!!

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Today has been an odd one extremely hot and steamy too hot to do too much really so we had a lazy breakfast by the pool, popped to the shops mainly craft shops which to be honest were not that exciting. The bargain of the day was a pair of shorts for Beth for $3 !!
We spent last night wondering if Carl was ok in the end he made it home with little problem.
So tonight we went to Downtown Kissimmee and I found a fantastic bead shop millions of beads would be an under estimation. I was like a kid in a sweet shop unfortunately Beth isn't feeling too well so we had to come back before I had the chance to buy Anything. I will have to hold that thought can't believe they can sell beads for $1 for a 24 inch string!!!
Before I discovered the bead shop we came across an artist who drew the cartoon of Beth very impressive for ten minutes work!!!

Pumpkin Patch!!

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Sue this blurry pic is for you!! Celebration pumpkin patch
Tonight Carl has left for home we are all a bit upset but Beth in particular his flight has gone should be at Gatwick for 10am . I have found a great app for my iPhone that let's me track his position he is on his way !!
not really sure what we will do tomorrow foot still dodgy fingers crossed that it holds up. On a plus side I have discover another Michaels and it's 'bead week' whoopee!!!

Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween!!

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This morning we are recovering from a late night at the park!!it was hot and sticky and very busy!! I have never seen so many people dressed up! I mean the kids I expected but I was surprised by the number of adults who had gone the whole hog and dressed with full costume and make up!! It made our fairy wings and witches hats look a bit tame! Beth dressed as a zombie surgeon, carl as a winged beast, Sam as a pirate and Georgie as pirate lady in a dress and skull necklace. There was every kind of outfit there, space men, superman, tinkerbell, Fred flintstone and at least a million pirates!!!
The place was well decorated with pumpkins and atmostpheric mist I really felt as if I was in a movie!!
Today Carl flies home we will be sad to see him leave although I am planning to send some of my craft buys home with him!!

Eating Out

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Today we have gone our separate ways!! Beth and Carl to Epcot and Tom and I to the pool with a little light shopping thrown in, we have Mickeys Halloween party tonight so weare expecting enough 'candy' to melt teeth!! Tom and I stopped for lunch a Dennys my first real food for ages I had sweetcorn!!! We plan to drive to the magic kingdom for 5 to meet up with kids and the Jacksons!!
Poor carl flies home tomorrow we'll miss him :(
On a positive note I did some craft shopping this morning and he'll be able to get some of thT in his bag!!! Result !

animal Kingdom

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Today we went to Animal Kingdom we took the 9.15 bus from the hotel and when we got there we headed straight to Harambi safari ride at the back of the park. It wasmuch longer than I remembered and this time we saw loads of animals. We met Deb, Malc and the crew at Bugs Life. It's been a really hot day so we went inside to see some of the shows and cool down. We decided to take a fast pass for the yeti ride I am so glad we went on it's a great ride. Afterwards we went on the single rider line and got on quicker than the fast pass brilliant!!!the kids were lucky they were given extra fast passes so they had a few goes. This was a first as Tom went on as well!!
The other amazing thing that happened was while we were waiting for Carl to come off of a ride we bumped into Liam (from work) what are the chances if that happening???
We are nowback at the hotel getting ready for dinner.

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Another good day in the Florida sun shine we started by driving out to boggy creek for an air boat ride. It was a great experience loads of birds and insects but no alligators apart from a couple of captive ones!!
This afternoon we did some shopping and have generally had a chilling day to give my foot time to recover !!! Tonight it's planet Hollywood with Sam for his birthday !!!

Little Cutie.

Last weekend we had a visit from this little cutie and her Mummy (who is my God daughter) This little girl is a whirl wind. I really wanted to get some shots of her but she had other ideas. She refused to pose, in fact she refused to sit still. I tried to distract her, cajole her trick her into looking but she was having none of it. Finally I gave up and settled on snapping her and throwing away the vast majority of the pictures.

Chilling by the pool!

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We have spent a day at Harry Potter world Islands of adventure in fact we got up st 5.30 to leave the hotel at 6.15am we got to Universal at 6.45am still pitch black part of a select band of Virgin holiday makers with free pass and free breakfast . We also got onto 'the' ride an hour before the park opened. The kids loved it Tom and I did the little coaster 5 times instead! Now we are back and exhausted!!!

Happy Birthday Laura!!

Surprise!!!!

Well time certainly marches on, Laura is 25 precisely half my age, that's something that won't happen again!! This is the first year that we are not with her to celebrate on her big day. We have had to plan to celebrate with her a couple of days before the big day. So the days selected was Saturday the 16th of October for her presents and Sunday the 17th for her cake.

We treated her to a new Blackberry phone. She was not expecting that and she was shocked when she opened that present!!

We also got her one of those exploding confetti things which has spread bits of paper far and wide, in fact some has turned up Miles away after Bobbie and Emma snuck some away in their clothes!!!

So happy Birthday Laura.

Off to see the Mouse!!!

Well its been a long time coming but we are finally on the eve of our trip to Orlando. We booked this holiday last December paying most of it with Tesco Club card deals. We are flying with Virgin (who are taking over the world, we have Virgin Broadband, Virgin phone, Virgin TV and Virgin Mobiles. We have not yet given into Virgin banking, although we might just as well give in on that as well!!)

The holiday planning has not been without problems including poor Carl who has had to reduce his holiday from 13 to 6 days after a mess up at Uni. Tonight he has come home with an injury to his foot which is really playing him up. He has hurt his little toe on a trampoline, its really swollen, blue and bruised. Its making walking difficult for him. Right up until this week I thought it was going to be my tendinitis that would cause the problems.

I went out earlier in the week with Mum, Laura and Beth and took part in a jewelery making class. It was really good fun and we all came away with some new jewelery.

I have also been making some new charms in honour of our forth coming trip.

I made some Minnie Mouse charms out of Fimo and I added some glass beads and a black leather thong!!

This pair are waiting to be turned into a pair of dangly ear rings.

I made some bigger ones and I have turned some of them into pendants. There is definitely something therapeutic about making Fimo figures you could waste hours playing with it!!! 

Happy Birthday Carl, 20 years old TWENTY OMG!!!!

Today Carl turned 20, no longer a teenager, finally a grown up!! Incidentally today was his first day back at Uni, hard life being a student. Only been off since May! Anyhow due to a rush in the bathroom this morning (still sorting out the rota being a one bathroom family!!) the parcel unwrapping was delayed until this evening. We were prepared and had a laugh when he unwrapped his joke presents. Beth bought him some beer goggles, we bought him some Oreos in preparation for our trip to Florida, which he thought was random!!

Hi real present was a docking station for his IPhone, a great combo job from the great mecca for such items, Tesco's. This beast is an alarm clock, CD player, charger and all round great gadget.

Tonight he has gone into London to celebrate with his friends. I hope he has fun.

Happy Birthday Carl!!

Fairy Toadstools!

Today was a beautiful day weather wise, sunny and 19.5 C, we took a trip to Stevenage to buy a few bits from my favourite shop, Poundland. On the way back we decided to stop off to look at the Horse chestnut trees on Ayot Green.

We well took a look at them, they were beautiful, and will be subject of a later blog post, but the absolute find of the day were these fantastic Toadstools, The poisonous Fly Agaric. I have never seen them in England before, although I know they do grow here. So after looking at the trees on the green, we headed off into the country and promptly took a wrong turn. We ended up at the back gate of Brocket Hall, we passed a Wedding car heading into the hall (seems lots of people have chosen to get married on the special date of 10.10.10!) We stopped to turn around an spotted these beauties on the side of the road.

To start with I thought there was only a couple of them, but when I got out there were a fair few, some well grown like the ones above and some just coming through. The more you looked the more there were!! The last time we saw any was when were were in Belgium a couple of years ago.

I just love the way they look, So shockingly RED amongst all the brown and decaying leaves. One of those natural wonders and one of the reasons I love the autumn so much.

Its Beginning to Feel a lot like Autumn!!

You can tell that we are fast heading towards autumn, the trees are turning pretty shades of gold and the conkers are falling! Close to our house is a Little horse chestnut tree and this year for the first time there was quite a size able crop of conkers!!

There is something about conkers that are attractive its that beautiful deep conker colour and shine that is so attractive. Somehow you can't stop yourself from rubbing them into a lovely shine.

I am quite pleased with the mini haul, I need to spend some time out collecting at Ayot where there are some huge trees and you can collect carrier bags full of conkers!!!!

The Last Flowers of Summer.

Its hard to believe that we are already into October, We haven't had time to sort out the garden so the late summer flowers are struggling to hang on in the torrential rain that we have had in the past week. The lawn that we seeded in the spring, that struggled all the way through the hot summer, has finally come into its own. It is lush and green and in need of a cut. To do that we need it to be dry, I don't think that is going to happen for a while!!!

The Sunflowers have not been great this year, we haven't looked after them that well either. They seemed to do a fair bit of growing when we were away in August, then the wind caught them and since then it has been impossible to keep them upright.. This particular flower met a very unfortunate end, I moved the rotary washing line around and decapitated it! This obviously did something to the plant as it started to produce lots and lots of little flowers, there are still quite a few of them ready to flower!

I still love Sunflowers, even when they are past their best!!

Beads.

Today I went to a Gem, Rock and Bead show at Hatfield House. I wasn't really sure what to expect, It turned out to be rather good. Its certainly a group of people that I have not mixed with before!! They were all very passionate about their own variety of rocks, there were possibly thousands to choose from. I was more interested in the beads. I was wearing my troll beads on a necklace and so many people commented on it being colourful and pretty! A lot of the stones were very expensive and the stall holders were obviously very passionate about their goods. I could have bought brilliant cut diamonds, rubies and sapphires. At the other end of the scale there were pretty pink agates and tigers eyes. In the end I bought some red coral beads, pink agate beads and some very pretty sparkly quartz beads. I just have to think what to do with them now!!!

I have been playing with my beads and trying out some different combinations. The good thing about beading is that if you don't like it the only thing wasted is a head pin or two. I still have some playing to do with the above design, but I am making progress!

I have wanted to try wire wrapping for a while, again another prototype just to try out the technique. I think I will like this, although there is  quite a bit of forward planning required to make sure there is enough wire and its in the right place!!

Finally I have finished the Fimo Ice cream cones, Still not sure what I will make these into, I'll keep playing with them until I decide. The first picture has a selection of beads, I really love the bright blue colour and stringing them on waxed cord means I can swap them around when I get fed up with them!!