25th-29th December

Hello, 

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas surrounded by friends and family. I certainly had a lovely Christmas day, even if there were a few faces I didn't see in person (we caught up on Facetime or spoke on the phone).

Just before we went to bed on Christmas eve, Liv left out an apple for Rudolph and a couple of mince pies for Santa, apparently Liv and Rudolph are on close enough terms to call each other 'm8'! I'm sure the Sharpie made the apple taste extra good...

On Christmas day Liv and I woke up pretty early and we were downstairs at 8:15. We had rather pretty, personalised stockings waiting for us. 

After we had all unwrapped various gifts, it was Cleo and Flossy's turn to have some fun... They both rather like wrapping paper, or to be more specific, completely destroying it.

Liv and I got onesies for Christmas, she a pepperoni piece one and I, a Princess Leia one:

It even has Leia hair! 

We went to Mark and Marie's for Christmas lunch, they did a delicious roast turkey with all the sides. I'm not a huge fan of turkey, but the way Mark cooked it was delish. Marie's banoffee pie for desert was a fave of mine, I might have had seconds of that ;). 

Mark got a tripod with remote shutter for Christmas, so we had to have some group shots:

In the evening we watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special, although I can't say I thought much of it, but it's all part of the tradition. 

It was a fun day, spent with lovely people, just how Christmas should be. 

The next few days were spent largely relaxing at home. On one day we went to Universal, but it was shockingly full, even more so than some days in the summer! Even our go-to ride The Mummy was 75 minutes!! Usually on a busy day it's around 30 minutes, so that was an indicator of just how busy the park was. We did go to Simpsons Land and have a Donut Sundae from Lard Lad Donuts, it was a fattening pink iced donut with ice cream and whipped cream. Perfect. 

Liv and I did get on the RipSkate and Liv even tried the rollerskates, but it's fair to say that was a massive fail! I wish I'd videoed her most epic fall of all... I'm not being that mean, we did both laugh hysterically, not just me.

It took a ridiculous number of attempts to get that shot for Livs to put on her Instagram account... Instagram's very fussy apparently. 

We also made Gingerbread Oreo Milkshakes by blending up Gingerbread Oreos (no surprises there) and mixing it with ice cream and milk, we added a splash of maple syrup for good measure. They tasted really good, quite Christmassy, if milkshakes can taste like Christmas?! 

Today, we went to the Kennedy Space Center. I've never been before and I really enjoyed it, it was very interseting and quite mind blowing to see the technology that put people on the moon. 

The first thing we did was go on the bus tour, it was about 40 minutes and took us around launch pad's 39A and B. We saw where they launch rockets from and where all the control goes on. We also saw the assembly building where they build the rockets. 

At the end of the tour we were dropped off at the control place of the Saturn V launch, the rocket built to take people to the moon. We went inside the building and saw the exact computers used in the launch. 

After our pretend-launch, we went into a room with a huge rocket on display, it was strange to be so close to something like that. It was very impressive. 

Back at the Visitor Complex we saw replicas of the Mars Rovers and had a go at landing on the moon. Dad was commended as the best lander of the day, of course!

We also had a go sitting sort of like the astronauts would be for launch:

It's a tad uncomfortable...

Dad and Debbie bought us jumpers and I found a pin for my collection :). It was a good day out, very interesting, intriguing and inspiring - space and the way people have explored even just a fraction of it is pretty incred.

Right, that's about it for now, I'll be back in a few, but if for some reason I'm not, I wish a very Happy New Year to all my friends and family,

L

xxx

22nd-24th December

Merry Christmas Eve!

I thought I'd do a brief catch-up of what we've been up to, before I get too merry with festive cheer tomorrow and forget everything...

For the past few days we've been mainly frequenting shops, watching Christmas films and eating ice cream (not all at the same time!), we watched The Grinch and A Christmas Carol one evening, followed by The Holiday the next night. I won't go on much about those couple of days as I really want to get onto what we did today.

STAR WARS!!! We went to the cinema and watched 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' in 3D and it was fantastic! We got dressed up in Star Wars garb, I embarrassed myself by wearing my new StormTrooper socks and converse, but it had to be done. Liv wore her Yoda socks and like Debbie, wore her Star Wars top. 

Then this evening we went on a little trip...

You have heard of a Drive-Thru McDonalds, maybe a Drive-Thru Starbucks, but have you ever heard of a Drive-Thru Nativity? Well, it's a thing, and perhaps the highlight of my Christmas so far! We went a couple of years ago when we were here last, so we couldn't not go again. 


It's brilliant, they give you a CD to play in the car which narrates the story as you drive round and watch the live acting from the church goers. We even took the dogs with us, Cleo was fascinated and was pressed up against the window the whole time, she may have returned as a new dog. 

At the end they exchange the CD for some candy canes, wish you a Merry Christmas and send you on your way. Can't say I feel much holier, but I feel more festive, so I think that's a win. 

A couple of photos from the Drive-Thru Nativity...

Afterwards we took a drive around, finding Christmas lights to look at down side streets and cul-de-sacs. Some of them were incredible. One we found was insane, it was decked top to bottom in lights, even their boat parked on the drive was covered. They had the lights, inflatables and even someone standing outside in a Santa hat giving out candy canes to cars passing by- as we slowed he came over and gave us a few. For some reason my phone wouldn't focus so I couldn't take any photos or videos, but it looked amazing. 

One house I could take a photo and video of is one I saw a couple of years ago and it was as good as I remembered:

As you can see, they even decorated their rather fancy car... It was pretty impressive!

It was a good evening and I'm feeling ready for Christmas now. 

And it's taken me about an hour to write this because we're watching Notting Hill, so I'm going to go finish the film and then go to bed and see if Santa turns up at any point tonight...

So, goodnight and Merry Christmas, 

L
xxx

19th- 21st December

Hello, here I am again. Back with the last few days worth of pictures to give you a quick overview of what we've been up to.

19th December:

On Saturday morning we decided to put up the Christmas lights on the front of the house. First we had to go to Walmart to find things to hang them up with, we also picked up another box of blue icicle lights. We put the net lights across the bushes, the Christmas cacti along the wall, some lights around the doorway arch and the icicle lights above the garage. We then attempted to put the giant inflatable santa, penguin and palm tree up, but unfortunately the palm tree kept falling over, there must have been a puncture somewhere, so they had to go. We looked for something else in Home Depot, but the Christmas Yoda and Darth Vader were stupidly priced so we found some other big bulb lights and got them instead. 

In the evening we got all dressed up to go and see The Nutcracker Ballet at the Dr.Phillip's Center for Performing Arts where the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra were playing. I'd never been to a ballet before so it was something new. The only way I could vaguely remember the story of The Nutcracker was from the Barbie video I used to watch at my Grandma and Grandpa's when I was younger! The ballet was amazing, the women looked light as a feather when they were being held in the air by a single hand, and I can't believe how long they can stay on pointe for. It's amazing how much you can enjoy watching something with no words and just music. It was a lovely way to make us feel suitably festive on the run up to Christmas. (And it was better than the Barbie version!).

                                      

20th December:

On Sunday morning we had our caramel apples for breakfast. We got them at Universal on Friday. Liv had a cookies 'n' cream one and I had the seasonal one that looks like a bauble:

It was covered in caramel, then white chocolate and then blue glitter. The gold bit was a white chocolate covered marshmallow painted gold. It was very yummy, although I couldn't manage it in one sitting since it was pretty big.

Much of Sunday was spent chilling out at home, watching films and snacking. 

We went out to Waterford Lakes in the afternoon. We went to Petsmart for dog food, which I had to take a photo of, because look at these 'flavours':









Poor Maggie certainly doesn't get this sort of luxury at home (although she can't complain too much as she always gets the meat bones after a roast lamb).




We also saw these at the store:


Actual pushchairs for dogs!  I've only ever seen one in real life, we were in a department store and there was a man pushing a Schnauzer in a tutu (yep, pink tutu) around in a stroller. 

And no, we didn't buy one before you ask!





At 7pm we went out with a neighborhood friend to judge the Christmas lights. We had to pick 1st-6th. First place was pretty impressive, adorned with plenty of lights, inflatables and even outside music. I won't post a photo as I don't want to post photos of houses without the owner's permission, but it was very cool and makes the late night dog walks that bit more festive :). It was nice to walk round and see all the lights. 

When we got back we watched Santa's Little Helper, or at least watched part of it... 

It was so riveting we ended up asleep part way through, it's not a Christmas movie I'd recommend, I'd stick with watching Love Actually on repeat ;).

21st December:

Yesterday, we built our mini-gingerbread village. It consists of a Toy Shop, Sweet Shop, Chalet and Santa's House:

In the evening we went to the Indian shop to buy samosas and look for mincemeat, they sell some British stuff too like Heinz beans and soups so we were hoping to find another jar of mincemeat so Liv could make a giant mince pie (because we can't find any pastry cutters to make small ones!). Unfortunately we had no such luck, but did get some good looking samosas. 

On the way home we went to Publix and picked up some chicken tenders and potato salad to go with the tortilla chips and guacamole Dad made. 

We then watched Cool Runnings which I can't have seen in something like ten years, but it all came flooding back with it's 'Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it's Bobsled time!' and 'Rise and shine, it's butt whipping time!' Such a good film, even better with a good slice of Neapolitan and hard shell chocolate sauce ;).

And then it was time for bed, and once again I was knackered, decorating gingerbread houses, watching films and eating ice cream is a tough business apparently. 

I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas holiday and feeling festive,

L 
xxx

17th and 18th December

Hello again! 

We're back in America for Christmas. We flew into Miami on the 17th and Dad drove us to Orlando that evening. Before the flight we went to the Number One lounge, Paul bought Liv and I entry into the lounge. There was a cinema room, buffet, chance to order hot food and lots of space to sit in comfort. 

I had a fruit salad first and Liv went for the potato salad. Then we ordered a beef stew each.

We also ate plenty of desserts, the chocolate brownies were particularly delish. We might have had a couple of plates of those ;).

We went to the gate at 12:15, however, we were delayed leaving by about an hour. 

On the flight I watched Love Actually and listened to a Christmas album. The flight seemed to go quite quickly, although the smell of the plane food seemed to last way too long...

As we landed in Miami, it was dark with the sun setting in the distance, all the lights were on, it's my favourite time to land because from above it looks amazing.

We were home and in bed by about 12:30am- I was shattered. I think I managed to sleep a bit in the car, which just shows how tired I was as I've never really been able to sleep in the car. 

18th December

I woke up pretty early for me on Friday, but had an hour lie in before getting up. For breakfast we had Star Wars Lucky Charms.

After breakfast Liv and I got on the Christmas decorating wagon and put up the Christmas tree:

Liv putting the finishing touches on the tree

It wouldn't be a Florida Christmas without a couple of Santa's getting their sun-game on and a Flamingo with a cocktail all hanging on the tree...

In the afternoon we went to Universal Studios. When I checked the weather I was a little shocked to find it was chillier here than at home, but I persevered with the shorts and only got goose bumps once or twice! We probably stood out as tourists like a sore thumb as there were a fair few people in hoodies, jeans and even one woman in a pair of Ugg boots...

Universal was suitably festive with their Christmas decorations, we particularly liked their giant Christmas tree:

It was also very good for bauble-selfies:

We headed straight for The Mummy, we were practically straight on, the walk round took most of the ten minute wait time. We then headed into Diagon Alley and bought a Frozen Butterbeer and a Fishy Green Ale... We were lucky enough to get a second Butterbeer when they accidentally made us an extra one. The Fishy Green Ale was suitably green and thankfully not fishy! It had tiny purple balls at the bottom which burst with juice when you bite them. I liked the juicy balls but the green stuff tasted a bit iffy... I think I'll stick with the Butterbeer!

We then caught the Hogwarts Express across to Islands of Adventure and headed to watch the Grinchmas show. 

On the way out we headed into the all-year-round Christmas shop and found some funky looking hats:

For dinner we had Chipotle!! And it was as good as ever, definitely worth waiting 3+ months for :)!

By about nine o'clock I was knackered and so it was early to bed for me. 

I'll be back with another update soon.

L

xxx

17th Birthday!

Hello everyone!

I'm so sorry it has taken me over a week to upload this.... I started writing this on the evening of the 29th, but was so shattered I decided to postpone.. only I didn't manage to get back until now. Instead of re-writing everything and putting the day in the past, I thought I would just leave what I wrote on my birthday, but just add this foreword. Sorry for such a long delay...

29th October 2015:

Today is the day I turn 17.. Wow! That sounds so weird, so grown up and I don't feel like that at all. I'm typing this whilst wearing a new fluffy onesie for goodness sake! Grown-up people don't do that, do they?! 

I've had such an amazing day. As you might imagine, I was given driving lessons by various friends and family- as nerve-wracking as the prospect of driving is, I'm feeling slightly more excited now, especially since the first one is booked for the 20th November. At least I've got a few weeks to practise the act of starting and changing gears before that. 

I was awake extremely early this morning, so early in fact I was able to see my sister's post on my Facebook wall at 00:00 this morning! She got in there very speedy, I was impressed. I then managed to fall back asleep pretty quickly, awoken by some lovely birthday texts from the family. When I got up and went downstairs I was welcomed by an exciting spread of cards and presents, some spotty pink balloons and a big 'Happy 17th Birthday!' helium balloon. 

I opened lots of lovely things from lovely people. Just some of my presents being a new 'pin board' my mum had made me. I'm a bit of a pin collector, picking them up from wherever we go, so this board is specifically for the pins of places I've been. The fabric has postcards and stamps on it, so it's perfect and I love it. I was also given 7 driving lesson tokens from my mum and a blue leather wrap bracelet with a silver heart engraved with my name. My name is quite uncommon so there's never any keyrings or anything with my name on, so it was really nice to have something personalised. 

I was given a stunning watch from my Dad and Debbie. It's a Kate Spade one, so naturally it's beautiful, I love it!

From Liv I was given a pair of earrings which I've worn all day, and I'm not going to be taking them out any time soon. She also gave me a decorative heart made up of tiny buttons, for anyone that knows me, it's definitely 'me' all over! 

We then went into town and had a wander around, I spotted this onesie (literally, 'this' onesie that I'm wearing now!) and then we met Nanny at Wagamama for lunch. I hardly ever go, but it's such delicious food. 

I had the Yasai Katsu Curry. The sweet potato was delish. I recommend it to anyone that goes.

Yasai Katsu Curry

I also had a 'Clean Green' smoothie, it consists of kiwi, avocado and apple. I also highly recommend that, it was so good. I was a tiny bit dubious when it arrived, but after tasting it I was sold, it may look green and murky, but it tastes fantastic. Is it weird to say it just tasted 'healthy', like it was going to make me live longer?!

The 'Clean Green' smoothie

My Nanny and Grandad gave me a driving lesson token and a necklace for my birthday. I chose the necklace, but I was still mesmerised when I saw it again. The colours are gorgeous and it's from the same shop as the earrings Livs bought me, coincidentally my Nanny and Liv both happened to pick jewellery the same colour, it's as if they are part of a set. So there's no doubt I'll be wearing them at the same time. (And I have been, everyday since my birthday!)

After lunch we went home and I had a hot chocolate and birthday cake.

The cake, as you can see below, is amazing!! My mum and Liv made it. Even the car has a tiny 'L' plate on it. It tasted just as good as it looked too :).

In the evening, Mum, Liv and I all went next door to spend the evening with our neighbours. They cooked me a delicious steak and chips with garlic mushrooms. Steak and chips is my ultimate favourite meal, you can't beat it. They each gave me a driving lesson which was very kind of them. After some sweaty dancing to some crazy songs, we came home and chilled by the TV.

Right now I'm writing this and listening to a bit of Breaking Dawn Part 2, nothing like a nice cheesy vampire movie to lull you to sleep.

I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday, sent me cards and gave me presents. I've had such a good day, definitely one to remember. I've got some more birthday-related plans so I'm sure I'll write about that in the next few days. 

Okay, so I didn't write about my other birthday plans 'in the next few days', but here they are now...

On the 31st I went to the Salisbury Escape Rooms with Lizzie, Meg, Alice, my mum and sister. We named ourselves 'The Sharknadoes', for anyone having read my blog in the summer, you may just recognise that reference... The Escape Rooms were absolutely brilliant. They were challenging, but we had a great team that worked together and we made it out in under an hour. We had to solve a murder that had been committed at the Smithsonian Museum, I'm not sure if I can mention details of the case so I better keep my mouth shut just in case ;). It was great fun though, and I would love to go back and do another challenge when they create another one. They were very kind and even left a chocolate muffin with a candle in the final room (so I'm very glad we found the key to that one!!).

'The Sharknadoes'

After solving a murder we were a bit hungry so we headed to Pizza Express. My lovely friends gave me some very nice presents. I never thought I would say a mask of Tom Fletcher would be in the mix but it was, along with a 'cocktail a day' book and even a Lush Bubble Bar shaped as a pumpkin! And that's just a sprinkle of things my friends found for me. Meg even gave me a selection of old-style keys that I can turn into necklaces- that reminds me, I need to find a chain for those...

Thank you friends. I love you all and your generous gifting. 

I had an awesome birthday party, thanks to my friends and fam, so thank you everyone that was there. 

I just have one more thing to add- a couple of pictures from the Pumpkin bath I had- courtesy of Alice :).

Lush Pumpkin Bubble Bar- and it was 'lush' :)

Thankfully this didn't turn me into an Oompa Loompa...

That's about it for now. So, I'll say goodbye. Once again, thanks for all the birthday celebrations everyone. I'm afraid there's no 'Today....' as this is a weird post.

Enjoy November everyone, 

L
xxx