Our Vacation to Florida - Day 4

Day 4 - this was the last day at The Hard Rock. We got a few pics in front of the guitar fountain. We just got everything packed and headed over to the Marriott.

We got to the Marriott and decided to take the day to chill out. The boys stayed in the room and took naps. Katie and I went down to the pool. Katie met a girl from California and played with her for the afternoon. I got to read my book and just relax.

For dinner we took the I-Trolley down to Tony Roma's Restaurant. (The I-Trolley runs up and down Universal Blvd. and International Dr. It is a neat mode of transportation.)

Our Vacation to Florida - Day 3

Day 3 - We returned to the Islands of Adventure. Katie wanted to see what she looked like as a "Jamaican-Mon". Too funny!!!

Our first ride was Spiderman. We have no pictures from this ride because it was INSANE!!! I got so sick! It whipped and turned me around like a rag doll! It took me a while to recover. The kids went on Dr. Doom's Fear Fall next. It was VERY HIGH! Then they went right on the Hulk. Luckily neither of them take after me! I am so glad they can ride tough rides without getting sick.

Ray and Katie went on Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges. They got SOAKED!!!!!

We then went into Jurassic Park. I was a little disappointed. It was ok, but nothing special.

Ray, Sean, and Katie went on the River Adventure. They didn't get too wet. There was a T-Rex right above them and to "avoid the dinosaur" they dropped into the water. There was also a spitting dinosaur in the ride.

We went into Poseidon's Fury. It was an awesome show! Lots of water and fire.

Sean wanted to head back to the hotel so we went back to the Hulk one more time for them to ride it before he left the park.

After Sean left, we went back to Seuss Land. I just loved it there so much!

Our Vacation to Florida - Day 2

We went to Universal and Islands of Adventure on day 2. We were having lunch and a bird was in the restaurant. All of a sudden we heard a "WHACK"! A bird ran into the window! It was hysterical!!!

Ray, Sean, and Katie went on the ET Ride, the Simpson's Ride, and the MIB ride. Then all 4 of us went on the Jaws ride.

Katie got her face painted. She was so cute!

We then went into the Disaster and the BeetleJuice Shows.

Sean and Katie got to climb a "New York City Wall". They were getting ready for the Macy's Holiday Parade while we were walking to the Return of the Mummy Ride. Some street performers grabbed Katie and Sean. It's amazing what a pretty girl can get Sean to do!!!

Katie, Sean, & Ray then went into Revenge of the Mummy and Twister.

We decided we did not want to wait another 45 minutes to watch the Macy's Holiday Parade, so we went to Islands of Adventure.

Sean is always connected with friends... even in Florida.

Our first stop was SuessLand. I must admit, this is my favorite part of the parks. Dr. Suess just makes me smile. Everything is so magical! Ray and Katie went on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. They got soaked!

Right next to the ride was the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It was TERRIFIC! They had a slight audio malfunction at the beginning, but the narrarator thought quickly and played it up. They even had a real dog playing Max!

The carousel is called the Carol-Seuss-el! It's adorable!

One of Sean's favorite stories from Dr. Seuss is "The Lorax".

We had dinner at Circus McGurkus Restaurant. The tran went around the top of the restaurant and out into the park. We jumped on that after dinner. It was an amazing view, especially in the dark.

Sean headed off for the hotel and Ray, Katie and I walked around City Walk. There are some great restaurants there. This is the World's Largest Hard Rock Cafe!

We took the water ferry back to the hotel. We stopped in front of the hotel to check out the guitar fountain at night.

It was a very long, but AWESOME day!

Our Vacation to Florida - Day 1

Imagine my surprise when Ray called me on his way to work in April telling me he won a trip for 4 to Florida. I thought he was just entered into a drawing for the contest, but it turns out he did win a trip! It was a 4day/3night trip to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, 3 night stay at the Hard Rock Hotel, and roundtrip airfare on Southwest Airlines. THANKS WMGK 102.9!!!!

We decided to take the trip in December when Sean was finished his first semester at Shippensburg and it wasn't extremely hot in Florida. We figured since we were already going to be down here we should extend the trip and go to SeaWorld and Aquatica (their new water park).

We got a 7am flight on Saturday morning out of Philly. Having to be there at 5am was no picnic, but getting to watch the sunrise as we were taking off....PRICELESS!

Our pilot's name was JR. He was very nice. On our way out he let Katie sit in the cockpit for a picture.

We got to the Orlando airport in good time and the flight was smooth. We hopped a ride on a shuttle van (Mears Transportation - also part of the prize). John, our driver, was awesome! He was very knowledgeable and shared a lot of info. He even took us past the upside-down house. (It's called the WonderWorks and it has interactive exhibits) We got to the Hard Rock and it was very impressive! The palm trees were gorgeous! Since we were early, we kept our bags there and walked over to Universal (yes, it's that close!)

We went over to Universal to "check things out" and ended up going on a few rides. (Shrek 4-D and Jimmy Neutron). The best part was having the Express Passes because we were staying at the Hard Rock. You get to bypass the LONG lines and go right to the beginning of the line. It is AWESOME!!!

We then went back to the hotel to chill out. It had been a very early day for all of us. Ray and Sean took a nap and Katie and I went to the pool. Katie went down the 260 foot water slide! She LOVED it!!!

We ended up just chillin' out by the pool, relaxing in the hot tub, and the kids played guitar hero and ping pong. It was a great beginning to the vacation!!!

PHILLIES WORLD SERIES PARADE

well... it was AWESOME!!!! We started out trying to take the train... but so did 100,000 other people. That didn't work, so we headed down by car. Luckily for us, everyone else was trying to take the train. We got right into the city. We parked 2 blocks from city hall at one of our "normal" parking garages. For being close to 2 MILLION people, it sure didn't seem like it. The feeling was so joyous! We got on the subway (we only had to wait for 1 train). We were packed in, but it wasn't bad. Our original plan was to stop along the route and walk down until we found a decent spot. Well, the subway conductor had other plans. The train didn't stop at any more stops and we went all the way to Pattison Ave. (at Citizen's Bank Park) We got off the subway and made our way down Broad Street. We stopped at Hartranft St. (the back way into the stadium) We were 4 people from the front. It was a great spot! Katie ended up getting to the front and had the PERFECT view! I was a little nervous, but I could see her the whole time. We of course had fun cheering on the cops to TAZER or SHOOT the deviants! For the number of people and amount of drinking, things were very calm. It was a sea of red. Everyone was united. It was an experience of a life time! We waited about 3 hours to see the floats. The most memorable part was Jayson Werth's float. He was jumping up and down the entire time! He was so genuinely thrilled. I was so proud to be a Phillies' fan! We then walked back to the subway. Since Ray is a genius and bought enough tokens for the ride home when he got the first set of tokens, we didn't have to wait in line (like thousands of others). We got the first subway train back to Market St. It was awesome!! We walked around for a few minutes and then stopped for a bite to eat before heading back on the road. We made it home by 6pm for Katie to go trick or treating. Sean was home by then too. It was an incredible day!!
I always tell the kids that once you pick a team, support them win or lose. We have had so many tough seasons, we all definitely deserved this! And yes, we are part of the team. We might be tough fans, but we truly appreciate hard work. We will let you know when you aren't performing up to our standards, but we also know the game and will cheer effort. This season brought back so many memories for me. I remember sitting with my Nana and cheering for the Phillies. There isn't a time I can remember that we weren't cheering them on. Ray remembers going to the parade in 1980. Hopefully this will be the first of many in the next few years!
GO PHILLIES! (hopefully we will be down here in June for the Flyers' parade!!!)








Here is Katie in the front row!







Here are just a few of our new friends!










Jayson Werth! (We call him Shaggy - Katie got to meet him this year at Vanity Fair)









Here's a pic of me, Ray, and Katie at City Hall.








A sea of RED!!!

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES are WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!

It's been 28 years since our last championship. It was definitely long enough! After the game last night we drove down to Philly. Katie thought it was really neat that everyone was yelling and beeping their horns! We are heading down to the parade tomorrow! I can't wait!!!

more to follow next week!