Lizzy Lemon
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2006
- Messages
- 2,551
Thursday 29th July
Up first again with my coffee on the balcony. Showered, had breakfast and finished packing all while kids still asleep. Finally had to wake them to get on the road. We planned on breaking the journey up with a stop at Busch Gardens. We arrived there about 10.30am which was about the same time we arrived last year when we went on the bus from Seaworld. Got stuck behind the person who has a problem with their ticket (as it seems, like everyone else on these boards, we always do!)
I've not mentioned how hot it was, most days according to the TV weather forecast it was 96 degrees but they kept saying it felt like 107 degrees. It did seem hotter than we had it the same time last year, John and I felt fine but the boys seemed to suffer from it as were these kangaroos.
Lunch time and we found the Garden Gate Cafe that did a buffet lunch of pizza, pasta, salad, desert and drinks for $9.99 each, so in we went.
While I was paying Ashley sat down exclaiming "Florida is too flamin' hot"
Coming out of a lovely air conditioned cafe into the heat is a bit of a shock, we wandered around and found another kiddie play area where we tried to cool off (not very elegantly I know but no one knows us
Managed to look around all the areas we missed last year and finally called in for an ice cream before carrying on our journey.
Back to the car in brilliant sunshine and half an hour down the road torrential rain. We thought we'd better top up with petrol (I knew about going in the kiosk and pre paying but we didn't know how much to ask for) I explained to the chap inside it was our first time and didn't know how much to pay for so he suggested $20 and that's what we did. Bit scary driving in the rain but most people are really sensible and slow right down. Arrived at Tropical Shores, Siesta Key about 6pm. It was hot and sunny again. We had room number 102 which was just behind the reception area. Accordingly to the information pack there were beach chairs, balls, buckets and spades etc for you to take down to the beach free of charge on a first come, first served basis. There was also a little garden area in the middle of the apartments with a BBQ for anyone to use.
Back to sharing the sleeping area.
We had some sandwiches for tea (I refused to cook on holiday, done that too many times in the past when the boys were really little but loved being able to have a simple sandwich and crisps when we just wanted a small meal, starting to like the self catering apartments)
Took the short walk down to the beach passing a shuffleboard court the boys would make a lot of use of over the next few days.
The sunset was truly beautiful, we've only managed to take about 200 photos of sunsets over the next 5 nights
It was 9pm by now and the beach was pitch black, one night John stayed on the beach after we'd left, he was watching a thunderstorm in the distance. He stayed that long he couldn't find the gap in the bushes to get back on the path to the apartment!!!! Found it eventually, I didn't have to go searching for him. Glen had picked up a DVD in the reception when we checked in, there are a selection of movies you can borrow free of charge and he chose RV a comedy with Robin Williams about a family touring in an RV. We spent the next couple of hours relaxing watching that.
Up first again with my coffee on the balcony. Showered, had breakfast and finished packing all while kids still asleep. Finally had to wake them to get on the road. We planned on breaking the journey up with a stop at Busch Gardens. We arrived there about 10.30am which was about the same time we arrived last year when we went on the bus from Seaworld. Got stuck behind the person who has a problem with their ticket (as it seems, like everyone else on these boards, we always do!)
I've not mentioned how hot it was, most days according to the TV weather forecast it was 96 degrees but they kept saying it felt like 107 degrees. It did seem hotter than we had it the same time last year, John and I felt fine but the boys seemed to suffer from it as were these kangaroos.
Lunch time and we found the Garden Gate Cafe that did a buffet lunch of pizza, pasta, salad, desert and drinks for $9.99 each, so in we went.
While I was paying Ashley sat down exclaiming "Florida is too flamin' hot"
Coming out of a lovely air conditioned cafe into the heat is a bit of a shock, we wandered around and found another kiddie play area where we tried to cool off (not very elegantly I know but no one knows us
Managed to look around all the areas we missed last year and finally called in for an ice cream before carrying on our journey.
Back to the car in brilliant sunshine and half an hour down the road torrential rain. We thought we'd better top up with petrol (I knew about going in the kiosk and pre paying but we didn't know how much to ask for) I explained to the chap inside it was our first time and didn't know how much to pay for so he suggested $20 and that's what we did. Bit scary driving in the rain but most people are really sensible and slow right down. Arrived at Tropical Shores, Siesta Key about 6pm. It was hot and sunny again. We had room number 102 which was just behind the reception area. Accordingly to the information pack there were beach chairs, balls, buckets and spades etc for you to take down to the beach free of charge on a first come, first served basis. There was also a little garden area in the middle of the apartments with a BBQ for anyone to use.
Back to sharing the sleeping area.
We had some sandwiches for tea (I refused to cook on holiday, done that too many times in the past when the boys were really little but loved being able to have a simple sandwich and crisps when we just wanted a small meal, starting to like the self catering apartments)
Took the short walk down to the beach passing a shuffleboard court the boys would make a lot of use of over the next few days.
The sunset was truly beautiful, we've only managed to take about 200 photos of sunsets over the next 5 nights
It was 9pm by now and the beach was pitch black, one night John stayed on the beach after we'd left, he was watching a thunderstorm in the distance. He stayed that long he couldn't find the gap in the bushes to get back on the path to the apartment!!!! Found it eventually, I didn't have to go searching for him. Glen had picked up a DVD in the reception when we checked in, there are a selection of movies you can borrow free of charge and he chose RV a comedy with Robin Williams about a family touring in an RV. We spent the next couple of hours relaxing watching that.
Love the sunset photo too 
