The next morning we woke up and Asa was 30!!! After breakfeast we went to a beautiful church right down the street. It was named Mary Queen of the Universe, it was beautiful and had an amazing choir. As we left we got soaked in a huge tunderstorm, but it didn't last.
We were kind of tired of amusement parks so I let Asa pick an option from the tourbook since it was his birthday. He chose the Ripley's Believe-it-or-Not Museum. It was fun and wierd and I didn't get too grossed out which was good. I really enjoyed the chariot of jade, ran from the fertility idol, liked the optical illusion section and was amazed by the pool table where the ball rolled up the table in a seemingly agianst gravity fashion. There was a spinning tunnel that made you feel like you were moving and made me fall down. There were wierd things too, like indian penis-holding cones and shrunken heads... ewww.
Afterwards we got some delicious Dairy Queen Blizzards and then found a Tiki Putt-Putt place. It was really fun and featured a volcano that emitted hot flames occassionally. There were also dinosaurs that would shriek unexpectedly in the middle of your putts. It was extremely windy while we played. Asa won the first game by 3, I won the second by 1 and then Asa got a hole-in-one on the 19th hole! This sent flames up from the volcano and as he raised his arms in victory, I screamed, "You made fire!". Also, this won him a free game. So, there we were, playing a tie breaker and I fell apart. But it was his birthday so that's okay.
Afterwards we made our way to Disney and our next hotel, the Contemporary Resort, where Asa would have his Meridium conference all week. We had some trouble with our room at first but after Asa used his talents of negotiation we found ourselves upgraded to an incredible room!!! Check it out here!
We ate dinner that evening at the Concourse Steakhouse in the hotel. It was wonderful, Asa got the filet and I got a NY strip. We each got some drinks and one of my martini's came with a light-up blue ice cube. As it turns out it was plastic and could be turned on and off. It even had various blink mode settings! By the end of the trip we had collected a few of these. It was a really good drink!
I was feeling pretty happy as we went back to the room! Asa opened his cards and gifts before bed. I think he had a good birthday.
More Later!
What a great week! Just yesterday I was basking in the sun at a Disney Resort. Oh how I miss that life! I can't believe Asa is still there, but I have to work now.
We left Friday evening and took a Northwest flight from Detriot directly to Orlando. This was my third round trip flight and I still can't get over how amazing and reliable it all is.
Not that airports are perfect, I packed a few things at the last minute and forgot about them when I went through security. I felt ridiculous when they found my water and hairspray, they threw them away.
We arrived in Orlando at about 10p.m. and immediately felt the warmer weather. We found our Hampton Inn then ate at a Bennigan's. I got a great mini-burger platter with fries (goodbye Weight Watcher's!). Then we crashed into our beds.
The next morning we had a good breakfeast at the hotel and then drove to Winter Haven, it was about a 45 minute drive. We went to Cypress Gardens which we had both been to before as young children. It was really fun to see again.
The crowds were light and the weather just great. We had so much to do there. We didn't even get a chance to walk through all the gardens, but what we saw was so beautiful. They even had a pool the shape of Florida that had been used in a movie. They had great animals, we especially enjoyed the variety of turtles and birds. Be sure to check out our pictures on the homepage.
We were most excited to see the waterski show and it was fantastic, it is unbelieveable how easy and effortless those athletes made it look. See the highlights here.
Next, we rode a few rides. They actually had a good selection of a variety of rides and small coasters. The lines were short and they even gave you two rounds on each coaster. We had losts of fun!
We ate some subs for lunch then went to the car to change into swimming suits. After riding a few more rides we headed to their little waterpark which was included. We had a great time there! Especially since it was about 90 degrees by then. I rode everything there and really enjoyed the dark tunnel slides. We had fun in the very wet, dump-water-on-the-people-below-you play park and loved the strong current in the lazy river. It was the best lazy river we have been in. We visited the wave pool but the waves were never on when we were there.
Asa convinced me to ride the slides on the highest tower, I surprised him when I suddenly went for the steep drop. I never rode a slide like that before, I feel liberated now that I'm not afraid of those any more!
After that we hung out awhile for the Audio Adrenaline concert (also included!), Mercy Me was next but we were just too hungry to stay.
After Cypress Garden's we headed back to Orlando and found our Marriot. Then went to a seafood restaurant called "Landry's" that Asa likes. The portions were massive! It looked like I hadn't touched my food. I'm not very big on seafood though. When we finally got into bed I was asleep within minutes!!
I'll continue tomorrow....
Okay, I promise not to be so negative in this entry. I have been having a great time lately! The weather has been great! Spring break is just around the corner. The Office is new this week! (I'm a total Dunderhead) All good things.
Last weekend, my mom and Katie came up and we went to Toledo to a talk by Christopher West that really revitalized my soul. It was wonderful. Hopefully I will have time to write an entry just about that. On Sunday, Asa and I played two rounds of putt-putt. I had the win up until the very last hole, where I blew it and Asa got a hole-in-one! The second game he totally slaughtered me! Then we went to Archie's for ice cream and then went to the club and shot some 9mm rounds. I did a lot better.
That night we watched the movie Cars which was really cute. It was such a great day!!
We have been playing a lot of X-box lately, there are some games where I can actually beat Asa and that is so much fun. Unfortunately, I will never be good at the Bond-type games.
I cleaned out my closet and found a Mini Cooper radio controlled car (from Amanda and Chris, thanks guys!) we have had a lot of fun chasing Barkley with it, we also enjoy blowing bubbles for him to catch.
So, life is good!