Thursday 2nd
Today we stayed in. Billy came round to fit the external siren to the alarm system. The girls spent a bit of time in the pool and I managed to get a bit of Baggage web site work done.
Friday 3rd
Today we stayed in all day and again Billy came round, this time to install the remote keypad and get the alarm system connected up to the phone line. We are off out this evening though, leaving to go to Crash-a-rama at the Orlando Speedworld at 5pm. Lisa had decided not to come with us, she was staying at the house for a bit of peace and quiet and the chance for an earlier night.
The racing did not start until 8 but by the time we had got there and found a seat, plus had a ride in the racing school bus that was going round the track we only had an hour to kill. I had never experienced anything quite like this, it was motorsport on steroids. There were a number of events and they were all very much a contact sport. The races were: 50 Lap endurance; Auto roller derby; Cars with back wheels replaced by skids; School Bus figure 8 racing; cars towing trailers; Monster Trucks; and a Destruction Derby. The School Bus racing was the most fun, though they were all pretty good, when I asked the girls if they wanted to leave about an hour before the end they most definitely did not. The racing did not end until after midnight and it was nearly 2am by the time we got back to the house. For a better understanding of what it was all about visit www.beingbaggage.com and take a look at the video diary entry for Crash-a-rama.
Saturday 4th - Independence Day
The plan had been to get up and go to the Celebration Independence day parade which was at 9am this morning, sort of missed that one! Eventually got up at just after 10 and decided it was best to spend the day in as we wanted to go out to Celebration tonight to see the fireworks. Lisa and I got to spend a bit of time in the pool on our own this morning, very relaxing. For dinner we had chili and rice, which we ate at about 4pm just before we left for Celebration.
We were so glad we had decided to go to Celebration rather than one of the theme parks for 4th July, the whole place had been converted over to a 4th of July party. The road along the lake front was closed to traffic, in the centre of it there was a stage with live music playing all night and there were concessions everywhere, mostly serving up food or drink. At the end by the cinema there was an inflatable play area and we bought Baggage a wrist band for it and she kept on going back to it all night. The big girls had decided to go to the cinema before the fireworks, however it was so crowded when they got into Celebration that they did not manage to park in time to get to see the show so they watched the band and looked around, we bumped into them a couple of times.
The fireworks were spectacular, though they did have a bit of a false start when due to technical difficulties they could not be started on cue. The went on for about 20 minutes and the sky was ablaze. Were they better than Hong Kong for Chinese new year, I cannot say, the memory is now too distant, but they were great and I got some really good video footage and pictures.
Getting out of Celebration after the fireworks was a bit of a challenge, the traffic was intense and did not seem to be being managed. Katie gave us a lift back out to our car as we had used the park-and-ride to get in and it still took us half an hour to get there. Whilst in the back of Katie’s car Baggage managed to split a glow in the dark headband making the inside of Katie’s car look a little like a glow worm cave!
We eventually got back to the house a little after 11pm, another late night for Baggage.
Sunday 5th
Another change of plans, we had intended to drive into Kissimmee today for a dog agility show, but after two late nights none of us really felt like it. Instead we had a fairly lazy start to the day and then we got on with a bit of cleaning, stripping beds etc. This afternoon Lisa, Baggage and I went into Downtown Disney as I wanted to check out what days we have left on our Disney park tickets before we try to use them, it turned out we had exactly what I thought so we are good for a few visits before they run out. Whilst there we looked for a couple of birthday presents but did not find anything and in the Ghiradelli chocolate shop I managed to lose the filling I had put in whilst in Ohope on a square of chocolate, probably judgement for going back into the shop for a 2nd square!
On the way back to the house we stopped at Walmart to get a few bits and pieces including the steak for tonights dinner, steak with a green been salad.
I am still working my way through the six pack of Sam Adams Cherry wheat, but have bought myself a half case of Sam Adams white beer to see me through when it is gone, whoops another wheat bear! The Cherry wheat is a very refreshing drink, you can taste the cherries which surprisingly complement the wheat beer taste and make it best drunk very cold which is what you need in this heat.
Monday 6th
Today Katie and Rachel are off to Islands of Adventure and we are staying at the house. First thing though I get hold of Danny on Skype, it has been a while since we have talked to him and it was good to hear his voice, he is staying in Guildford for most of the summer, though next week he is down to Devon as he has a couple of gigs with his band, the last ones before they split up and stop working together. This morning Baggage and Lisa get on with some schooling whilst I concentrate on getting the backlog of Baggage videos out of the way, by the end of the day I have completed 5 new videos to put up on the web site.
Billy comes again this afternoon, his last job on the alarm system which is to get us hooked up to the central monitoring station, this takes a couple of house and now we are all set. Whilst he is here Lisa and Baggage head over to the library to return some dvds and come back with a bunch more for Baggage to watch.
For dinner we have a Chinese take-out, a good time to do it as neither Rachel nor Katie like Chinese food and this evening Lisa and I watch Windtalkers which I bought for Lisa for her birthday as large amounts of the film were shot on Kualoa Ranch which we visited whilst in Hawaii. We were supposed to be able to see the International Space Station pass overhead this evening, though there was too much cloud cover, maybe we will have better luck tomorrow when it is also visible.
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