The End of the Annual Pass

When in Rome do as the Romans do, Right?? Well when we moved to Orlando we did what most Orlando residents do...we purchased the mac daddy Disney Annual Pass. Living next door to Disney, armed with these new passes we were free to come and go to the parks as we pleased for a year. What a glorious year it was, we weren't compelled to spend the whole day at a park...we could just hop over to MGM and see Fantasmic...cruise the streets of "foreign countries" at EPCOT, etc. However all good things come to and end...and our annual passes were due to expire on July 6th, 2007. Though we LOVED the freedom of the annual pass it does come at a nice little price and we decided that we weren't going to renew them. Diapers and gas are slightly more important than Mickey these days. Plus Mark now gets a pass for him and a guest to each of the Disney parks and plus he got free SeaWorld annual passes...so bring on Shamu.

We are big lovers of the Animal Kingdom and decided to take the kids to the park on the last day of our passes. Braving the parks in July is a feat of epic proportions...the heat and humidity alone is brutal...not to mention the crowds. However we have to say our day at the Animal Kingdom was magical. The park is fairly shaded...it wasn't too hot...the park wasn't overcrowded... Noah slept most of the time...and we left RIGHT before the afternoon rain.

It was one of those days that only Disney can create...truly magical from the eyes of adults and kids.

Crazy Black Man at Our Door

Just the other day at about 3 in the afternoon the doorbell rang. Now when the doorbell rings in the Bedford household chaos ensues...Nala barks, Joshua squeals and I pray that Noah doesn't wake up...thank goodness he is a good sleeper because sometimes I think the Fedex and UPS guys have a delivery radar during his naptime...or maybe I just need to curb the internet shopping. Anyway I peer out of the window on our front door to see this tall, bald black man hiding in a corner on my porch. Okay I will admit I did have a split second of pure terror then I saw the big whites of his eyes and no it was not a mass murder is was LEROY JORDAN!! For those of you who do not know Leroy..he is a dear friend of ours from the Cayman Islands. Leroy is the employee you hope you encounter during your vacation....extremely friendly and willing to do about anything to please a guest.

So you can imagine my astonishment at his suprise visit...wait aren't you supposed to be in Cayman...how are you in Orlando...and why did you not call us. Leroy relishes in the art of suprise and was connecting through Tampa on his way to see his family in Canada.

In true Leroy style we had to go and surprise Mark at work as well. I couldn't just call and say "Guess who showed up on our doorstep". We ended up having dinner at the Hyatt and soon discovered that Leroy is magical with children. Joshua was entranced by him and Noah was quiet in his arms. Well, Leroy is a really a kid at heart!

Rain and the 4th of July

Celebration prides itself on being "All-American" and makes a big deal out of the 4th of July. There are the traditional parades and fireworks along with food and beer tents, entertainment, cooking demonstations, and this year RAIN. Holidays are events that we rarely get to partake in as family (things you don't think about when you choose Hospitality as a career at age 18!!). So when Mark realized he would be home in time for us to go downtown and partake in some festivities we were very excited. Too excited to really notice the BIG, dark clouds looming overhead as we walked downtown. Always optimistic we figured they would just be "passing showers" if that.

Luck was on our side we scored a nice table next to the sushi and beer tent. Noah was asleep and Joshua was happy just people watching. Wow this was going to be a great holiday! Then Mother Nature called and down came the rain...and down she came. As we trudged back home soaking wet two hours later we realized it really wasn't that bad...it wasn't cold, there wasn't any lightning...Joshua had a blast playing in the puddles..we kept Noah dry under the awning of the sushi restaurant...and we could still hear the band "Flock of Seagulls" that was headlining that night.