Last Saturday I met them before work and had a quick wander of the outlets and some lunch and then they kept on shopping. I had PM shifts (what else!) on Sunday and Monday and then they picked me up from the Commons on Monday night when I got in from work. My mum said to bring anything I needed washed... hadn't done proper laundry in a good couple of weeks so I literally stuffed everything into my massive pink laundry bag and dragged it out to the car with me. My mum washed, dried and ironed it all :) Result! My drier is pretty crap, it only seems to like making clothes hot and damp so this was a proper novelty.
Got some food at the villa and stayed up chatting for a bit, had some of their duty free booze then went off to bed. Would of gone straight to sleep but I discovered the tv in my own room. Yayyyy! Small things in life people!
On the Tuesday we were having an Epcot day... my family have never done this park before so I've been holding off from doing a lot of the attractions until they got here so we could do them together. Had breakfast and then headed out to the park. First thing we did was Spaceship Earth, mainly so my mum would finally know what is in the "big golf ball". Then we headed over to Test Track and already the fast passes were at the later stages of the day so we decided just to do the standby line.. it said two hours but it wasn't even one. My brother really enjoyed it and I discovered that he hysterically laughs on the rides like I do. I'm not the only weird one!
After this we walked over to the Showcase and just went to the American pavilion for some lunch as my brother is a right fussy person and loves chicken nuggets lol. Then we went back to Mexico and worked our way right around the whole showcase. Had to give my mum and stepdad a row at the UK pavilion as I was not up for them embarrassing me, I do enough of that myself thanks! We then went back and stood in the massive line for Soaring (which they all loved so that was a result), then headed back to the car to go back to the villa for dinner and freshen up a bit.
Got back to the park around 8pm and found a spot between Canada and the UK for the fireworks and my mum and I went to get ourselves a margarita. I see the fireworks about 5 days a week, but to be able to see it as a guest is a bit different so I used the opportunity to get some really good photos. It was Extra Magic that means that the park is open until 11 but only resort guests can go on any attractions (booo). My mum bought some presents for my nephews first birthday at Mouse Gears using my discount and then we were just having a bit of a wander, while waiting for the park to clear out a bit and a really nice cast member let us on the Nemo ride. The ride itself is not all that exciting but the aquarium is pretty cool (who doesn't like dolphins?!) so it was a good end to the night.
The next day we headed off to Tarpon Springs which is bit further past Tampa on the coast. It has the highest percentage of Greek people in the whole of the USA and this is very apparent! The little touristy shore front is full of Greek restaurants, bakerys, shops full of tacky crap and a hell of a lot of sea sponges. There are fishermen who go into the Gulf for 4 weeks at a time and come back with a hell of a lot of sponges and then these are sold in all the little stores. All the architecture is very Greek, all blue and white colours everywhere and it really felt like I was in Greece and not Florida! My stepdad had already inquired about a boat trip so we got lunch and then had a wander about the shops before heading off on the boat.
The boat trip took us along the Anclote river and the Gulf of Mexico and is one of the only boat trips where you can see dolphins and maybe manatees. We were lucky as the boat path goes directly through the area where a pod of dolphins are living. The boat stopped for a bit so we could watch them and try to get photos (easier said than done). There was even a baby dolphin, not more than a couple months old that was swimming right up to the boat, so cute! There are a lot of huge sandbanks and we headed out to an island which is home to a lighthouse, a lot of shells and not much else! Everyone on the boat went off to collect shells for half an hour and I finally got my feet in some real sand... and the sea! The water was unbelievably hot! It was like the best bath ever, with crystal clear water and white sand. We then got back on the boat and headed back to land.
We then decided to spend the last hour or so of sunshine at another beach nearby so drove out to it... it was the weirdest beach! The sand was like mud that we all got stuck in and the water was even hotter here! No graceful exits in or out! The amount of boats that got stuck as they also tried to come in was also hilarious. Watching men being all brave, and getting out the ladders on the back of their boat as they descend into the water... and then they realise it only comes up to their knees. Rinsed as much sand off of us as we could and then got back in the car for the journey home.
On Thursday I had work in the afternoon so we spent the morning at their pool and then they dropped me back off at the Commons :( Really felt like I had been on holiday and wasn't very keen to go back right away! The plan for this week will be the same sort of schedule so we are going to hit both Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom on the Tuesday and then probs another beach place on the Wednesday. I finally look like I have a tan again!
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