Nedster's World now featuring Ellis!

Late again, got jet lag as an excuse this time round though.
So with all the worry of volcanic ash clouds, the British Airways strike and even oil pumping out into the gulf of Mexico I reckon we were lucky to even make it on holiday and return in one piece really.
So after an early start we were at the airport and once we'd looked in some shops, had all our drinks confiscated and had some breakfast there was nothing left to do bar waiting, we didn't mind too much though as we were really rather excited to be going to Florida, which is in America. We watched the planes through the window for a bit:

I asked endless questions about what the time was in America so I could try and understand just what on earth was going on.
When we passed through security, the computer decided that I should be searched a bit more thoroughly than everyone else. I had to be frisked with a pat down and empty all my toys from my hand luggage to be checked out. Everyone else seemd to find this all quite entertaining, even though I wasn't so keen on it all.
We boarded the plane, how exciting, even if it was for 9 hours. I'd been well briefed so knew we were in for a long one. Inbetween playing DS, talking to Hayley, Alan and Andy and watching my very own telly on the back of the seat in front of me the time soon passed with little trauma (even if the in flight meal didn't meet my liking, good job we had a packed lunch with us).
I also rather enjoyed the flight, every seat is first class when your legs are as short as mine after all. I also got to visit the toilet several hundred times so was more than happy.
We made it to America, when we got off the plane we had to be let in the country by men with guns! When we got asked if we had any food with us, Mum let on we were carrying a jar of marmite. The man told her to shut up and move on....ahem. We didn't even need marmite in the land of hot dogs!
Next task was to pick up our car for the week, well, minivan as they are called in America.
The lady said we could go into the parking lot and pick whichever one we wanted, so we made our way to the minivan section and deliberated for a little while. I initially wanted the black one, but Alan said it would get too hot, the maroon one was just too old man for us lot and we eventually settled on bright white!
The van was cool, literally, it had so many air conditioning buttons to play with. The doors also opened and shut themselves when you pressed their buttons, I loved that.
We got the car seats installed in the best seats in the van and then hit the road, the wrong side of the road at that!
Dad was driving so Alan and I made sure he was reminded plenty of times that he should drive on the left.
I was more interested in getting him to do a u-turn whenever possible by shouting 'do a u-ey' at any oppurtunity.
Despite all this we arrived at the villa, did we mention it was hot at all? My goodness we were melting:

So it was pretty lucky that we had our own pool to cool down in:

Andy won the race to be first one in. We followed close behind though.
But I was last one to get out, when the sun started to go down, which in UK time was something like 3 in the morning. We did well I reckon?

So a few things about the villa then, it was BIG.

There were loads of little frogs hopping about at night time outside.

There was an air hockey table in the garage:

There was a great big fridge that we filled with soda (Mountain Dew, my new favourite drink)

There was a waste disposal chute in the sink that seemed to keep Dad and Alan entertained for hours while they fed it various leftover foodstuffs. The cucumber and weiners seemed to be the best judging by their reactions. The whole lime seemed to be something of a mistake by all accounts.

Ned and I's bedroom had mickey mouse pictures on the walls, Mickey mouse bedclothes and even our own telly, it was rather comfy too:

But it was all about the pool for me:

I learned to dive properly as well, even though the sign said no diving.

Our first day out then, the waterpark Aquatica:

I've never seen so many slides, tubes, lazy rivers and what have you.

There was even a massive playground for us smaller ones to explore.

The only thing we didn't like was how hot the concrete got on our bare feet.
I was completely brave and went on everything I could. There was a pool of dolphins that a tube slide went through, sadly I wasn't tall enough to go on it, but everyone else said it was rubbish anyway:

We certainly enjoyed watching the dolphins go about their business though.

Being a waterpark we didn't get too many pictures though so sorry about that.
Next day was Disneys Animal Kingdom. We went on Safari on one of these buses:

Obviously we weren't going to sit with Mum and Dad, so her I am with Alan:

While I sat with Hayley, We soon headed off for Africa and to see the animals.

And there were plenty of animals to see, Lions, Elephants, Rhino's, Hippos and Giraffes were all present and correct.

The truck were really cool and drove along the rivers and everything, where we saw some Gators of course! As well as seeing a Proper American Eagle in the bird show. I loved that!
It wasn't all animals though, there were of course rides too, here we are on the Triceratop Spin:

There was also the Expedition Everest ride, where you chase a big scary Yeti. I enjoyed it, but didn't want another go.....

We also rode the Kali River Rapids, now I really liked this to start with, but once we made a steep drop and got soaking wet I wasn't so sure after all. I did like my wristband I got to wear though as it showed I was a big girl (well big enough to go on the ride anyway)
We also went on the Dinosaur ride, which to put it mildly was terrifying, but also a lot of fun.

After all that excitment it was certainly time for an ice cream, trouble is in that heat they do tend to melt rather quickly:

We met Jimminy Crickett, I have no idea at all who he is but he seemed a jolly sort of fellow:

We ducked our heads in a rather brilliant fountain and ended up getting soaked:

I showed Ellis how you get to the front in time to get a good view of the parade:

We saw Mickey Mouse in his safari gear and gave him a wave:

The tree of life was pretty cool too:

Even if the Bugs Life 3D cinema was underneath it. We hated that didn't we Ellis?

Yes, it was very scary indeed, well, we thought so anyway.

The festival of the Lion King show on the other hand was utterly brilliant, trampoling, singing, dancing, the works!

We weren't quite ready for the late afternoon downpour we encountered when we left the theatre though! Quite a shock that was, not that we cared, I was soaked from the fountain...

...and I was fast asleep in Mums arms anyway.

Next day was a trip to the West coast and Clearwater beach:

It was hot hot hot:

We set up camp:

We dug in the lovely fine sand:

We cuddled up to stay out of the sun:

And we splashed in the sea that was as warm as our bath water usually is!

My highlight was probably the 'Superman' ice cream though:

We ended up watching a bit of football on the way back during one of Ellis frequent toilet (sorry, restroom) breaks:

It was way too hot for all this running around, they must have been mad!

Next day and Alan, Hayley and Andy went to Universal studios to go on some of the scary rides (with scary ticket prices by the sounds of it too). We had a quiet day in, bit of a lay in, bit of a swim in the pool and a bit of a kip for Dad and I in the afternoon.

While Mum and I went for a walk around the lake out the back of the villa. There was a rather tame crane type of bird and a lot of ants. Didn't like the ants much, so we headed back. We spoke to the pool attendant who was very excited about the world cup and had drawn England in his sweepstake.

In the evening we went to the Magic Kingdom to see the Electric Parade and the fireworks, Andy tagged along too, he has mega them park endurance!

We got there just as the parade started and got good views, once were sat on some shoulders:

We absoloutley loved every second of it, the music, the characters, the sparkling lights.

Not quite so sure about the fireworks afterwards if truth be told, though I did venture out from behind Dad a few times.
Next on the agenda, another water park, this time Blizzard Beach, where everything looked snowy:

But once again the concrete was red hot!

I really found my feet here, there were some great slides for little ones and indeed not so little ones that I really loved. I was also happy to fly solo in a rubbber ring on the lazy river, in fact I loved it, especially under the waterfalls.

Yeah, I rather enjoyed it too, especially the aerial runway that went across a pool before coming to a sudden stop, sending you flying into the water below. Once again I went on all the slides my height would allow and only really missed out on the one with the really big drop. Technically I outdid Dad anyway as he didn't even go on the chairlift to the top the big scaredy cat.

The only small downer was my little fall down a couple of steps. Fortunatley though we were in full view of the ice cream lady and just next to the first aid station. A quick squirt of some magic spray and a funky plaster later I was all fixed up, the complimentary ice creams from the lady on the stall who saw the whole debacle went some way to speed up my recovery.

When we got back, it was Rat-a-tat-cat time, i'd been having a few sly practice games with Mum so I was well up for it. I had my strategy down and plenty of luck on my side. I recorded an historic win. To say I was pleased was rather an understatement:

Day seven, Kennedy Space Centre.

The place is so big you have to go round on a bus, brilliant, we love buses!

It's also a nature reserve, so we got to see plenty of wildlife, particularly the vultures circling. I kept moving at all times in case they thought I was dead and tried to eat me. Best of all though we got to see a real life Gator, just hanging out in his river.

I contemplated rocket engines:

We looked out over the launch pads:

After another bus ride we saw the most powerful and complicated machine ever built, the Saturn 5 rocket that took the astronauts to the moon:

It was gigantic and took us ages to walk all the way along it. And the really mad bit is that the astronauts only used the very end bit!
We had a poke around in the space shuttle:

We tried out some of the rocket capsules:

But even we decided they were far too small to be comfortable:

We wandered around the rocket garden:

And got to meet a real life astronaut, not sure he was expecting my enthusiastic cuddle I usually use on the Disney characters though:

Once were done at the space centre poor old Hayley finally gave in and made a visit to the doctor after struggling bravely on for a good few days while we took Andy to Cocoa Beach on the East coast. He was soon in the sea of course. We stayed on the sands though:

We then made a visit to Ron Jon's surf shop for some new t-shirts, I wasn't allowed these rather fabulous Doggie shoes though:

After a minor nightmare with the Sat Nav we managed to pick up Alan and Hayley again and drive back to the villa through an amazing thunderstorm.

So then, day 7, the 3rd of June, MY BIRTHDAY! I even had presents this far away from home, cool or what?

I had some lovely things but we were soon heading out to the Magic Kingdom for the day:

And here we are on Main Street USA:

As it was my birthday we pushed the boat out and had a double stroller for the day (and some rather fetching hats of course):

We went on mums favourite ride, and this time I was old enough:

We met Stitch, thought i'd give him a kiss:

We went into Minnie's house for a mooch about:

We even got to meet Mickey and Minnie themselves:

I also managed to tick off Space Mountain (after a lot of deliberation, turns out I loved it) and big Thunder Mountain Railroad (twice it was so good).

I loved the Many adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Cinderella's carousel.

But then of course it was the main event, my birthday meal with Winnie and the gang.

I wasn't too sure of Eeyore to be honest, Ned seemed okay with him though:

He also seemed to like the main man himself, Winnie:

And with Mum in tow, Tigger seemed kind of okay:

But it was Piglet I really warmed to:

So much so that I gave him a little kiss:

And was very pleased with myself:

I got a mickey Mouse cake with my name on it and three candles:

And I even got a Birthday Card from Winnie, Tigger, Eeyore and of course the lovely Piglet.

After a while I was quite happy with all of them and gave Winnie a good old tickling with Ned:

We hung around to watch the night time parade again, we loved it so much last time:

Mickey was on form, having made a costume change since we saw him earlier in the day:

As had Minnie:

I gave her a wave, as did Alan:

We didn't stay for the fireworks this time though, it had been a long, long day. What a great birthday I had, hope this happens every year?

So there was a bit of a lay in the next day, when we finally got out we headed for Disney Hollywood Studios. We watched the Beauty and the Beast stage show which went down well (well it wasn't a 3D cinema was it).

Then it was time for the Tower Of Terror ride, i'd been fretting on this one for a while but I decided I was up for it, so on it we went. I loved it, not enough for two goes, but I was certainly very pleased with myself for going on:

The taller members of the party then got to go on the Rock and Rollercoaster that I had to sit out. Still, we had a nice dance in the gift shop (video to follow later).

So then it was our last proper day, and out trip to Discovery Cove, to see the fishes.

And to swim with the Dolphins, I was so up for this. We arrived and got stuck into breakfast before getting issued with our masks, snorkels and thick, stodgy dolphin friendly sun cream.

There was a really big lagoon filled with sting rays and all sorts of brightly coloured fish, we weren't too sure of them to be honest but we enjoyed watching them go by.

We headed off for our dolphin swim soon afterwards. We watched a really cool video and then our guide took us out to the dolphin pool. Our dolphin was called CJ, and he was half bottlenose, half atlantic dolphin. He was really playfull, let us stroke his skin and waved at us with his flippers, I loved him. After we learned a bit about him and I asked the keeper plenty of questions (not as many as Mum did mind you) it was swim time. We held him by the fin and the flipper and he took us for a zoom accross the pool, it was fantastic. Some pictures may surface at a later date.....

I didn't get to go in but sat in the rocks with Andy, Alan and Hayley. I loved watching them in the water though.

After that we went for a float through the lazy river and I got the hang of my snorkel and mask in no time at all. I loved it, there was even an aviary on one section and there were loads of brightly coloured birds you could feed. I preferred it in the water though, exploring the depths.

I loved the lazy river, good excuse for a cuddle when you're litte isn't it?

We watched the others have their dolphin swim and then it was onto the Ray Lagoon, I got all brave and stroked one, it was really slimey actually. Once i'd touched on there was no stopping me.

I tried, but kept missing as they kept swimming too deep and i've only got short arms.

I gave Mum a quick snorkel lesson and she was soon off accross the lagoon looking at the fish, I think she was pretty pleased with her progress.

As it was an early finish, we headed for the Mall, we hadn't really done any shopping all week so I suppose it wasn't the end of the world. There were a good selection of ride-ons anyway, they helped hoover up all the spare quarters we had amassed anyway.

As usual, Dad had a hidden agenda, the Vans Skatepark just so happened to be in the mall. It looked great and I really wanted a go, next time.......

I slept through the whole shopping experience, can't believe I missed out on some potential new stuff!

So that was the end of the holiday, all we had to do was pack, kill some time, eat some lunch, take the car back and board the plane for a long flight home.

I'd like to thank everyone who gave me dollars to take, you can rest assure I put them to good use (except for the sweets I bought with my change in the airport, truly yucky).

And of course a big thanks to Uncle Alan for sorting it all out and Hayley and Andy for putting up with us!

So here's our last picture, here I am living the dream, a hot dog in my Mickey Mouse bed!