Saturday, September 1st
.our final full day in Orlando. Mother Nature had blessed us YET AGAIN with another gorgeous, sunny, HOT weather day, and we werent interested in wasting a second of it.
We started the morning with a hearty breakfast at Golden Corral, as selected by the boys. By hearty, I mean stick-to-your-ribs (and probably clog-your-arteries) hearty! This was the most expansive and possibly most bizarre breakfast buffet I have ever seen, with things like mac and cheese, pork tenderloin, creamed chipped beef and boneless breaded chicken breast bites just a sample of the offerings (in addition to all your favourite breakfast standards). Heck, you could have even had an ice cream sundae if you so chose (and shockingly, we saw more than one person helping themselves to a piece of cake or bowl of soft serve
).
The waitress must have thought Jake looked particularly thirsty that morning, because when he ordered orange juice to drink, she brought him four glasses
.
Following breakfast, Jake chilled at the resort while Steve and I ran a couple of errands (we had to pick up our portrait order at Studio One to One at the Florida Mall, plus we had some prints to pick up at Walgreens). We opted to choose a more relaxing path for this last day of vacation, as the boys wanted the opportunity to enjoy some of the other wonderful amenities that Westgate Lakes had to offer (and that we hadnt yet had a chance to utilize on our more busy Aquatica, Discovery Cove and Kissimmee activity days).
The Citrus Breeze pool and activity center (which you may remember was located almost right outside the front entrance to our villa) was the site for the Saturday pool party bash at the Lakes, and that was our first focus of the day. For four hours (11 am to 3 pm), the pool and activity center were rocking with music from a live DJ (who was EXCELLENT!!), dancing, food, drinks, and tons of games and activities from limbo to hoola hooping. The whole event was very, very well put together, a ton of fun, and well attended and well received by the guests (lots of participation all around, from every age group). We swam, we sunned, we sang along to the tunes, we even did the Macarena (funny how no one minds shaking their booty in front of a bunch of strangers!!) and just simply enjoyed ourselves immensely. It was both relaxing and entertaining all at the same time. So much fun!
The limbo contest for the Under-15 crowd:
Once the pool party ended, we dried off and changed out of our swimwear, then decided to head down to the marina (also very perfectly located at the rear of our building) and head out onto Turkey Lake for a cruise on the paddleboats.
Jake was a little leery to try this out after watching the gators swimming along near the shore each morning just as the sun came up (the marina attendant said there was one resident alligator who measured a full 4 long) but the staffers at the dock assured us that they were more afraid of us than we were of them. Not sure I believe them but we appreciated the reassurance (we did watch a waterskier practice each morning on the marked course on Turkey Lake and the gators seemed to leave him alone
.so maybe the gators really are big chickens? Hard to say.). At any rate, Steve and Jake piled into the front (they were our drivers) and I got the relaxing job of taking pictures from my prime seating on the rear of the boat. Ah, good times!
The Skipper:
The First Mate:
What a view we had from the lake. Simply beautiful.
We must have spent about an hour or so on tour, breaking occasionally to admire the view, enjoy the breeze, and allow the boys to rest their pedalling legs.
By the time we headed back to the dock, our heads were baked so we opted for a short rehydration break back at the villa before heading out of the resort for one more attraction before dinner. Our trio of history buffs still had a stop on the to-do list, and this late steamy afternoon was the perfect time to enjoy it!