Delayed flight home!!

So excited here this morn...we're staying an extra few days because of Paul's work so we get to see the last shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral!! Great for the kids to witness history in the making like this!!

Paul home this eve so will get to blog later about yesterdays trip to the zoo!!

Followers!

Hi guys,

For those of you panicking, don't worry about not being able to figure out how to "follow" blog!

You don't have to as we're not selling advertising on the site : )

All that matters is that you can read/see it if you want to keep up with our travels!

M
x

Sunday 26th June - Tarpon Springs!

Headed off on a little adventure today to Tarpon Springs. Paul met a police chief on the flight back from Mexico last week and he recommended this fishing village. He told us it's the biggest producer of natural sponges in the world. We had to do a little upselling to the kids..

Tom....."What? Sponges!!! You're kidding me!!! A whole day looking at sponges? NOT cool Mom!!".....
Mom...."No Tom, it's really cool, it's just above Bikini Bottom where Spongebob lives".....
Tom....."Oh My God!!! Faye?! Spongebob is from Tarpon Springs!! Let's go Dad!"

We stopped off for lunch on the way and came out of the restaurant to find Tom trying to get into a strangers car! He was so excited about going to Spongebobs birthplace, he forgot what we were driving!

It rained for most of the drive to Tarpon Springs but cleared up once we got there and returned to unbearable temps again.

The majority of the inhabitants in Tarpon Springs are Greek, the shops are Greek and sell Greek produce and the restaurants are all Greek too! Really weird!

We found a fantastic Aquarium at the end of the pier and it made the kids holiday. They got to pet lot's of small fish and turtles but they also got to feed some small sharks and pet the only female croc Alex.

Petting the turtles and little fish

Tom having a chat to a turtle!

Croc being fed from above the tank!

Alex the female croc.

Tom thought Alex felt like a couch!

Walkies! It was amazing how quickly the floor emptied out! People ran behind anything they could find!

Faye gets a bit closer!

Feeding the sharks. You put some bait on the end of the stick. stick it through the mesh and they SNAP it off. The noise is quite frightening actually.

Feeding time for the bigger sharks!

We found Nemo!

Tom reckons this guy is half Dinosaur and half Croc!

We stopped off at a really retro ice-cream parlour to cool down! It was the only American looking place in the town.

We bought some sponges and kept a look out for some Manatees!

Another wonderful day : )

Saturday 25th June - Disney Hollywood Studios

Went to Hollywood Studios today defying the weather forecast! Sure enough, as we scanned our tickets and went through the gates, the lightening began and the heavens opened! Thankfully, our adaptation to rain encouraged us to run around the park regardless and get Fast Passes for the most important rides!
Faye and I started with Beauty and The Beast musical, while the boys headed off for the rollercoasters! The show was fab and brought back so many happy memories of my days as a dancer in pantomines and summer shows. Faye LOVED it and couldn't stop singing afterwards.

The boys didn't get onto the Hotel of Horrors ride, much to mum's relief!!! but there was so much other stuff to do, that they weren't too put out. While waiting for the Star Wars ride, we got to watch Darth Vadar being defeated and the little Jedi's in training!

We got to meet Lightening McQueen and Mater!

 And Paul was devastated when he read the sign on the gate of American Idol auditions...he has such a great singing voice!

So, he decided to become a bouncer for the next time Faye enters....

Tom reminded us that Captain Pat Burke and Ronan would LOVE this exhibit!...

And the Prendergasts found a few ways to chill out on yet another scorcher in Florida!

The lid of the bottle lifts slightly to release some "pressure" which is actually a light mist of water to cool you down : )

Friday June 24th - Cars 2 Premiere!

Mommy needed a little quiet time by the time Dad came back. Fortunately, Cars 2 was showing in Downtown Disney and Paul managed to get tickets! Dropped them off at the cinema and the excitement was palpable!

Asked Tom for his opinions on the differences between the Irish cinema and the American ones....and here they are.....

     - You don't have to pull the seat down - it's down already!
     - You can order Popcorn from your seat OR have dinner while watching the movie! (He loved this!)
     - The screen was HUGE!!! compared to home!
     - The sound was VERY loud, which Faye didn't like at all!

They loved Cars 2, which saw McQueen and his team heading to Europe...."SO cool Mom!"

Unfortunately when I came to pick them up, there was a really bad storm and they were absolutely saturated. You can't drive through Downtown Disney so we worked out the easiest meeting point and the lads bolted for the jeep!

They had a fantastic time and the Burger King drive through on the way home, ensured that Mom was saturated too (they don't do rain shelters here)!

Off to meet the Cars at Disney next so no one minded getting wet today!