Fantastic Florida!

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After the freezing cold weather in Monterrey we couldn't wait to get to the heat of Florida and we were not disappointed.

Just two planes would get us there this time - but coupled with a hangover and minimal sleep from the wedding the journey was long. We made our way at midnight to Bre, Simon and Maddie's pad who live in Venice on the east coast of Florida and tiptoed into a nice cosy room to wake up to the Florida sunshine - the hunt for the shorts was the first job before breakfast!

Bre and Simon live on one of the many gated developments in Florida which affords super lovely accommodation overlooking a lake festooned with wildlife and a shared pool that would not look out of place in a 5 star hotel. We had a chilled morning and then Hector, Heidi and myself thought we would go for a walk to another a lake to spot some alligators - which we did....we were not prepared for the hot weather though and were glad to make it back home to the air con, slightly sweaty and red!

The next day we hit Shark's Teeth beach, a 15 minute drive from Bre and Simon's (they are so lucky!). Heidi, Hector and Maddie had fun in the waves whilst Nick collected as many black Shark's teeths as he could - he managed about 12 which was not bad going considering some people had been sifting for ages with no luck! The water was cool and refreshing and the sun amazing....we had a lovely day with a yummy picnic. After a long dip in the pool, where the old people bobbed whilst having a gossip (that's why they all retire to Florida - nice life!), we returned to house for the biggest steak ever and some funny tasting green beans 😉

Our next stop was the Everglades...Nick spotted a very large alligator on the highway, just chilling on the side of the road - quite an awesome sight that I was excited by. We then stopped for the most amazing ride on a fan boat (think Gentle Ben if you are old enough!)....it was noisy, wet but lots of fun..we did 360s, 180s, sped up, slowed down and laughed a lot - loved it - even when it chucked it down every so often. Hector and Heidi also enjoyed the ride - thank goodness (would not have been able to hear their crying if they hadn't that boat was so noisy!). We also got to hold Aligators - Heidi stepping up without question - I held one and it wee'd on my leg which was quite funny!

From the Everglades we headed to Miami, it was quite a drive and as it was Spring Break we stayed in a bit of a hovel, however the beach, and holiday-like sidewalk with restaurants spilling out onto the pavements made us very happy. We had a lovely wonder on the beach and then enjoyed a yummy meal where Heidi danced with the restaurant guitarist. We so felt like we were on holiday, the atmosphere was excellent - just wished we had shared the $40 cocktail - next time!

After a quick explore the next day around the beautiful art deco buildings we got in the car for the long drive north to Orlando. It was slightly longer than we thought (5 hours) and Nick's moaning made it that bit longer still - ha ha! Still we arrived just before dinner to the All Star Music Disney resort and it was great to be in the thick of Disney, Heidi was so excited that they were playing a princess movie by the pool. The room upgrade also helped - for £60 a night for a suite was a bargain!

On Friday we were supposed to be heading to Disney but as Heidi had puked all through the night we decided to postpone it a day - bonus as we got 3 extra Fast Passes for Disney from the lovely man at reception who felt sorry for me! So Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed to the Magic Kingdom to experience some magic!

All in all a good day out, Heidi got to meet her princesses - even Ana and Elsa - her favourite being Ariel as Heidi wants to be a mermaid when she grows up! The only awkward bit was when a 40-something man was in front of us on his own also wanting to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel - weirdo!

Hector enjoyed all the rides, his favourite being the speedway me thinks - vroom vroom. Heidi then loved the playing the piano with the piano man at one of the restaurants, getting her request of 'When I'm 64' played which she enjoyed dancing to. My favourite ride was Space Mountain - its mad as I remember going on the ride when I was 16 years old - a long time ago. The Electric Lights Parade lived up to its expectations, after which we were suitably knackered and couldn't wait to get back on the Disney bus back to our hotel.

Our last day was spent at Typhoon Lagoon, a water park that was loads of fun. Hector and Heidi went down their very own toddler rapids about 20 times, we went down some rapids in a raft as a family, Heidi swam with a shark and stingray in the reef pool that was there and we all enjoyed jumping the typhoon wave machine in the main pool - what a great way to end a fantastic holiday...I could have spent another week in Florida (but had had enough French fries to last me the year) - that sun was sunny!

Thanks Simon, Bre, and Maddie for having us - I'm sure we will be back sometime soon!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Fantastic Florida
So many beaches so many time. Disney is a wonderland for the kids. Glad you had a great time.