We have enjoyed a quiet weekend. Some walks, some lunches out by the water and some scrapping. I have also finished my latest painting. This time we were given a picture of a dog to paint. I wasn't inspired but the techniques were good and I was quite pleased with the finished picture.

I also made this page from the suggestion and page on Created by ATDML. I couldn't resist doing it.

The sad thing is that I spent ages and ages decorating the word love. I inked it with stencils and then other stencils and it ended up looking like a piece of patterned paper. I might as well have not bothered and just used the patterned paper in the first place.

The other anomaly is that I chose the colours and patterns as they matched the top I was wearing perfectly. I then covered the top with the frame! ah well.

The noises I refer to were the od electrical issues yesterday. we had the fuses trip twice which may have been the dryer and then the stranges noise from the airing cupboard and the central heating pump appears not to stop any longer!! Oh dear - I feel expense coming. we have to switch the heating off with the master switch now.
- Today I am thankful for
- finishing a painting project - I can start on Fiki now
- The heating at least working providing we supervise
Sunday 10th December 2017
Start time 10.26 out
Start miles 17489
End time 7.00
End miles 17635
We were a little late up again and moseyed over to breakfast at 10.15 ... Worried I would be late. It was still very very busy. We then headed round the resort to take some photos before going to meet Mike. The plan was that we would meet at the bottom of the escalator in the lime garage., I guess the best laid plans and all that. We knew there was an issue as the queue for the lime garage started way way before the orange garage. We couldn't understand it ... It had been so quiet every time we visited ... Except today of course. And we knew Mike did not know the lay of the land like we did and so would panic. We finally made the light and headed In But several floors were showing full and we ended on the top deck and even that was pretty full. We found a space but Nigel had to ring Mike and he was stuck at the speedway garage where he had turned off as he didn't know what to do. I was driving and so headed out of the garage to drive over to the speedway gas station. I earned my wheel spin stamp, my I turn stamp, my block three lanes until they let me out stamp and my solo driving stamp as we met Mike and Nigel rode with him back to our resort. I was on a mission. I was on fire!!! We walked around showing off our new home. It is a very beautiful resort and although it was cold and hoodie weather, the sky was blue and the views were gorgeous.



We headed off to Celebration and went to the Starbucks there and I finally managed to try a Christmas Tree Frap ... Peppermint mocha, macha tea flavoured cream, sprinkles and a strawberry topper. Very cute.
We sat on the rocking chairs, cold as it was, took some pictures of the Celebration tree and drove Mike around this surreal town that we love.





Back to our resort and a final chat and then it was time for us to say farewell to Mike and to head off to the parks.

We went in for our final visit this trip to Epcot. Our first stop was Test Track, using one of our VIP extra fast passes. It was a cool ride but nothing like as good as Radiator Springs racers although it uses the same track and technology. I felt quite poorly after the ride ... Nothing to do with the ride. I had chest pains all over my right side so we took things steady. I was happy to sit whilst Nigel played at designing things.




We stopped and watched the Jamminators, who were quite entertaining.

We went over to Norway and rode Frozen ever after for the second time. We both love the ride ... They utilise new technology like the projection on the faces and it is such a pretty pretty ride. It is a really good ride.


From there we went to China and enjoyed a meal at the Lotus Blossom Cafe. I know it gets rubbish reviews but we love it. We couldn't get round to America as the bridge was open to get the pontoons in place for the night show so we went on the Mexican boat ride again as there was no wait and it is cute. Our final stop was mission space .... Green of course. I was up for it despite being frozen solid. The simulator part didn't worry me, the dark did t worry me, the lack of space didn't worry me but when they showed you the over the shoulder restraints I was OUT. NIgel tells me it was fabulous though.






It was bitterly cold so we headed home, stopping off for an ice cream cookie sandwich ... Well what else do you do when it is freezing.
Back to our room and time to chill, figuratively speaking of course
Monday 11th December 2017
Start time 12.00 after packing
Start miles 17535
End time 8.30
Today was another lie in day. We knew we would have little sleep for the next couple of days so we tried to max out today. We bought a whole mess of snacks with left over snack credits whilst we were at breakfast and then I did the thing I dread – the packing. This year we had been reasonably circumspect with purchases though I still needed both of the suitcases I had packed inside the other cases. We had some quite big things to pack like the globes etc which were in boxes. But it all went in and everything was packed and locked and ready to go apart from hand luggage.
We went for a drive round to say goodbye to Orlando. We went down I Drive as we haven’t been there for years and then popped to a Michales at Dr Phillips before going back to MGM for our final day.


It was far less cold – we were in long pants but shorter sleeves, though we did have our hoodies in readiness. We started off at the Trolley Car Café and had a special Christmas cupcake and a frap. It will be my last frap. I did enjoy it though as it was a peppermint mocha. Back to green tea lemonade when I get home. We enjoyed sitting in the sun and then we started to use up our fast passes.





We had been gifted 6 VIP fast passes at DVC and we still had our bonus paper fast pass. We used quite a lot of them on Toy Story Midway Mania. The final result was that Nigel beat me over the holiday 4 games to 3. 7 outings in all – brilliant. We also went to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Show that we hadn’t seen in years and it was really very good. We both enjoyed it.



I was so pleased witht his picture.

Dinner at Rosies by which time it had gotten a little cold and we were thinking we might not stay for the night shows. Then they put the heaters on and it was lovely. Whoever thought we would be sitting under heaters in Florida.

We then used our fast passes up on Tower of Terror which was brilliant and to ride it over and over is great fun. I think, on balance, it really is my favourite ride in the whole of Disney World.
We wandered along to Hollywood Boulevard and watched the two shows, ending with Jingle Bam which is so vibrant and I love the lazers and the snow, before heading home, satiated after an amazing holiday and an amazing Disney trip.
Tuesday 12th December 2017
Start time 7.50 departure
Start miles 17570
End time 1.00
End miles 17867
Total miles travelled 3037
A very short report for today – partly because not a lot happened and partly because I have simply run out of steam.
We enjoyed a final breakfast at Riverside Mill … we have had breakfast here almost every day and we have loved it. We took a few last pictures of our new home, knowing we would be back soon, and then loaded the car, left our spare drinks and snacks in the laundry for the next guests and said a sad farewell to Disney World.
It is an easy drive to Miami and we don’t mind it at all. We decided to come off the interstate at West Palm Beach this time, a place we have not visited. It was interesting to see the huge houses on the beach road. There were no places to stop and the beaches were all private. These huge homes had the beach all to themselves and many had their own beach houses on the sands.




We decided to stop and get a quick lunch at a Dennys in Boca Raton (the name of the house we almost bought) and I can honestly say it was the very worst service we have ever experienced anywhere in America. I would not recommend it.
It was time and so we headed into the airport. I confess I am not a good traveler although Nigel is the first to admit I am a lot more relaxed than I used to be. Not so this time. Things did not go quite as smoothly as I hoped at the airport and there was a little bit of upset crept out. OK, I disgraced myself. But I do get stressed by TSA and that is my excuse and I am sticking to it.
Eventually we got to the airport lounge, which is a seriously disappointing lounge. It was a good job we had something to eat before we arrived.


The flight coming in was delayed and so we were late leaving by almost an hour. However, it was an amazing flight. The flight in had been late as they had battled a storm all the way. We had the storm on our side pushing us home and so instead of almost 9 hours it was just over seven and we arrived early. However, the price for that was the most turbulent flight we have ever been on. Even the crew said it was awful. They had to suspend the meal service as it was too dangerous for them to be walking around. Thankfully I was not sick, though I felt it. We landed early, Tim was there to collect us and in less than two hours we were home and had our babies back.
It had been the most amazing holiday. We had seen things we thought we would never see, we had visited cities, and enjoyed them, and we had seen Disney at a new time of year and are now hooked on Disney Christmases. It was awesome but, as always, it was lovely to be home with our fur family, in our own beds and have all of those memories to look back on forever.