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December 29th 2010
Published: December 30th 2010
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Retail Therapy..Retail Therapy..Retail Therapy..

..but not really by Sandy.. although she was encouraging it.
This Florida weather has irregular mood swings! Today the weather was warm and pleasant and we were able to go out and about without the number of layers that have become necessary over the last few days.

Today as reward for her tolerance and fantastic efforts yesterday in organising the Manatee Trek and for navigating us there semi successfully, we decided to start the day off with shopping at the Beuna Vista Outlet Mall... On arrival men went one way, women went the other and we met up a couple of hours later. At this time the men were carrying '0' shopping bags where the women were carrying three...reason for this anomaly was that I had the car keys and we had already sequestered our purchases therein. Reuben is something of a disappointment...he is a good shopper and gets right into it - once he confirms that he doesn;t have to pay for his clothes (came away with a tidy sum of money and hordes it mercilessly) and that the parents are paying he is quite enthusiastic and relatively picky...if it does not have tv characters or sports references then it needs to be pretty cool for him to buy
The worlds most famous rodent..The worlds most famous rodent..The worlds most famous rodent..

..opening sequence to the Fantasmic Show in a large outdoor auditorium..kids loved it and it was amazing. And yes thank you, I know he is a long, long way away. Best could do.
into it..or rather buy it. Accordingly Reebok and Gap are good hunting grounds for him.

Caitlin is the spitting image of her mother when she shops...she has trained at the knee of the master and she is a discerning and insistent, but very reasonable shopper. Oshkosk and Gap were here friends today.

As we were about to leave, Sandy insisted that I went into Timberland. I stuck my head in just to keep her quiet, she followed and 45 minutes later we left with the assistance of a handy band of Nepalese Sherpas to carry the baggage to the car. The running count for shoes on this tour now sits at 14 pair and Sandy says that I have to mention that 4 of these are mine...Sandy was having a rave about how much cheaper than home these were and how these shoes would cost so much more at home where they were very expensive to which our little princess enquired, "is that why dad's only wears one pair of shoes?" There is only room for one Emelda Marcos in any household and that spot has long been held by Sandy...she has just mellowed a little lately. Sunglasses
Sorcerers Apprentice..Sorcerers Apprentice..Sorcerers Apprentice..

..another of the latter sequences when the little fella has just fought off the forces of evil..
and the worlds ugliest laptop bag were her primary purchases for today. Should mention that 5 pairs of Timberland boots and shoes was less then NZ$250 so figure did okay.

Grocery shopping at Walmart...always an adventure, followed, and then home late afternoon for dinner before heading out to Disney Hollywood Studios around 7pm and in the park just a little before 7.30. Went straight to the 'Fantasmic Show' hosted by none other than old big ears himself. This takes place in a 6,000 seat out door half circle ampitheatre spread around a lake with a small mountain set built on the far side of said small lake. There was a delay and someone started a Mexican Wave and it almost got bigger than the show...but then it stopped...and the show started. A nighttime spectacular with lasers, lights, dancing fountains and special effects, a 25 minute show with limited seating capacity...guessing the last line gave away that I was copying this direct from the programme.

Regardless of the plagarism, the show was spectacular and it was at night time and indeed there were lasers, etc and much much more. There were pirate battles, dragons, princesses and more action than
Christmas Light Sabres..Christmas Light Sabres..Christmas Light Sabres..

..don't recall the Magi having them but here they seem to have been adopted as an integral part of the Christmas story..
a wicked witch could wave her wand at...and there was one of those with a central role too. There was also lots of water, lots of it as they used these screens of water to project images in a holographic type manner that was stunning...it became somewhat particapatory for those seated in the front row when there was any manner of breeze. We were sitting in the front row and on occasions it felt we had become as one with the water screen, but it was a minor thing and when they set fire to the water, yep they did, being in the front row we dried off very quickly.

When this finished we headed to see the Streets of America and the display of dancing lights donated by the Osmond, or was it Osbournes...both are a little odd so not really that relevant, other than to say it was 'impressive'. At time of writing this we are trying to download a video into the blog but we are on broad band and it ain;t that broad and keeps timing out.. so may be just the selection of photographs to rely on. This was supposed to be a 5
Streets of America..Streets of America..Streets of America..

..the Osbourne family kindly donated their actual light display to Disney..reckon power bill was bankrupting them!
minute wander on the way back to the car but we were still there almost an hour later. Was really quite amazing.

Then just happened to notice that the Muppet 3D show was about to start at 9.30..so we went. This was pure nostalgia for mum and dad. The 3D movie is obviously on the big screen but it is in a theatre modelled on the theatre in the show complete with the grumpy old men in a box alongside..Waldorf and someone I think.. who kept chiming in at the characters in the movie who responded. All really well done and very good family humour that had some people roaring with laughter. Well worth the effort and kids loved it and mum and dad got a bit of a kick out of it.

Park was now closing so we bad parents took our children home a little after 10 pm and had them in bed, both disturbingly chirpy just after 10.30pm and sound asleep like little cherubs within seconds. Tomorrow will be a lottery, but we are here for a good time not a long time so will make the most of the opportunities we have.

A
View of street of lights..View of street of lights..View of street of lights..

..it was very impressive..
good day...not a manatee day, but a good one none the less..



Additional photos below
Photos: 15, Displayed: 15


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..some more lights....some more lights..
..some more lights..

..angels spinning around and stuff..
..more lights display..more lights display
..more lights display

..still impressive..
..and some more....and some more..
..and some more..

..we thought they were impressive..
..yes more lights....yes more lights..
..yes more lights..

..and yes they were still impressive!
Family amongst lights..Family amongst lights..
Family amongst lights..

..lights were impressive..
Jedi family...Jedi family...
Jedi family...

..Mistress Yodette with the Padawan..by this time Reubs was just a little bit of a nuisance with his new weapon.
Made Christmas spiders...Made Christmas spiders...
Made Christmas spiders...

..just cos we could..no, not that impressive..


30th December 2010

Who pays the power bill!!!?????
Sounds like another great day. Sorry Reuben but you don't get thy shopping bug from your Dad or me. Hope you aren't going to bring your US$'s home - spend and enjoy! Looks as if Caitlin too is a good shopper - shoes or handbags? There must be a preference. Looks too as if Sandy is in her element - sort of reminds me of that thing about saving you money Michael by getting things in a sale - or have I misinterpreted something I heard? All well here in Melbourne - England retained the Ashes at the MCG by an innings and 157 runs. Local papers giving Ponting and Aussie team a real hard time after they convincingly beat England at Perth to be 1 each plus a draw but the Brits had them all out for 98 on day 1 then set a tough 1st innings target to chase. NZ doing well in 20/20 against Pakistan. Anyway I digress - keep up the blogs - we are enjoying them. Loads of luv to you all.
30th December 2010

14 pairs of shoes - I love it! Will you need a convoy of cars to get to the airport??? Those lights look impressive! Does this mean you will get the bug to light up your place next year? :-)
30th December 2010

Good effort
on the shopping front! and the light display looks pretty good as well!!!!
30th December 2010

Downey vs Disney
Hello just spent 20 minutes typing a newsy message and pushed the wrong button. Suspect my message is somewhere in cyberspace so here goes again. Yesterday was almost exactely the same as yours with a couple of differences. started the day with a magical drive on the Auckland Motorway to Ponsonby. Ponsonby is a magical kingdom similar to Disney complete with queens and Kings galour...OK Queens anyway. Met Ken and Julene for Brunch and then headed into the magical kingdom which is Smith and Caugheys window display. WOW Cinderella puppet style it was fantastic. Then we headed off on an overseas adventure passing through Asia on the way Well we wlaked down Queen street to the ferry terminal. Not complete with passing thru Asia we sampled some of their food on the way. Sushi at Downtown for lunch. We the boarded a harbour cruise to...wait for it...Devenport. Had coffe and then back on the boat bound for Auckland. Half way across a voice rang out Orca Orca Orca....Nah not really but maybe one day. So we headed off to Goode Bros for tea via the Oldies home at Edgewater to see Ron and Renie. After the meal we went to the Movies at Theatro Kitto to watch inception. All in all a great day. Ok I am just a lttle jealous of your day all except the news that Mike only has one pair of shoes at home..I had a small tear in my eye at that point. Sandy stop turning your Son into a shopper leave in his usual indecision. Sounds like a good time had by all in Orlando. Ok hope this finds you all well. keep having fun. We miss you guys and look forwrd to another installment tonight. Take care. Craig and Steph

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