Sabal Palms: We’re at the Sabal Palms complex; that means we have access to the BIG pool over at the adjacent Marriott. It’s a five minute walk (the other pool pictured earlier is about 30 seconds away from our room)…..so, we gather up the troops and head out.
Of course, we have the waterproof camera on hand for this adventure:
Two shots of the pool…
The picture groupings here are by title (I usually try and go chronological..). Since Cpher took most of the pictures before Mom and Dad hit the pool, there are more of his brothers than him…..
You’ll note he has his goggles on upside down in the first picture :)
Cpher spent more than a few minutes with Mom when she hit the pool…..
More than a few pictures of Kevin. He has his contacts on underneath the goggles.
This last picture is during the moments when Kevin and Matthew were attacking me (grabbing my legs and tipping me backwards underwater)
I’m not sure what Matthew and Christopher were trying for in this photo…Matthew must have just jumped in the pool to get this level of bubble action
Matthew and Kevin are hanging on my back at this point. It’s a lull between the wrestling that’s been going on…..
and that you can see going on here….I’ve dragged Kevin over to the waterfalls and am holding him while he gets pelted from above. Matthew is trying to get to me to help Kevin….Christopher is coming over to pull Matthew away
Blue Man Group:
The evening plan was to attend the 9 pm showing of Blue Man Group. The afternoon was taken up by a Mom and Kevin disaster of a shopping trip to Best Buy to get a camera (the trip was so bad that Suzanne promises never to shop at Best Buy, ever, anywhere, again) and some more swimming for Fric and Frac.
Around 5 pm a set of thunderstorms (complete with tornado warnings and watches) blows through….50-60 mph winds and tree branches are down everywhere.
But, at 5:30, things seem to be easing up. Hop in the car and head to the City Walk at Universal for dinner…we have reservations at Pat O’ Briens. Suzanne figured the boys would like the piano bar concept and so that’s the plan.
Dinner, at least for the first 40 minutes, was a disaster of epic proportions (Suzanne remarked she’s never had a customer service day like this…). We sit down…no one comes over to take our order. Three other tables sit down around us….those parties are promptly greeted and drinks furnished. We don’t even notice at first that there’s a delay since we’re talking, etc.
But, finally, I have to get up and go to the front and ask if they are going to have someone wait on us….and a guy comes over, he apologizes, just got on shift, it’s not his table, blah blah blah. We order our drinks and appetizer and they show up pretty quickly. We finish our drinks….and we finish our appetizer, and another 15-20 minutes go by…no waiter. We still haven’t ordered our meal. I have to get up again; I find the first guy, tell him we’d like to order, and now I’d like to speak with the manager.
The guy takes our order right there and then. The manager comes over, again starts with the talk of just got on shift, blah blah blah….asks what he can do to make things right. Blah blah blah…we just want our food.
So, that’s the first part of the Pat story…and it deserved it’s own discussion.
The second part was all good times…..The boys eventually warmed up to the piano bar concept (especially after we yelled up and got “Hound Dog” playing for Christopher). He played American Pie that Kevin and I sang the Weird Al Star Wars version for (….maybe Vader someday later…). Suzanne had me shot out “Brown Eyed Girl” and the boys liked that…and then some fool says “Katy Perry!”…..
The guy stops and goes, really, a Katy Perry song?
(go back a few days…..on the drive to Orlando I posted this facebook update)
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I can’t even begin to tell you how much I dislike that Katy Perry song, there’s a lot of songs that I like at first but dislike over time after they are played to death. This song I’ve disliked from day one.
So, of course, he picks out Firework to sing. And the boys love this; they are singing loud and laughing at me since they know how much I don’t like this song.
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The other part of the fun was what Suzanne and Kris were talking about above….
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Suzanne hasn’t been that tipsy around me…ever. So combine that with being around the boys and that made things even better. Suzanne’s not sure she can walk steadily to the bathroom….the boys are using the language they’ve heard from tv and songs….asking Mom is she booze’d it up and if she’s an alcoholic and in general making quite a big deal about it. Suzanne’s face is flushed red; several people told her she really got sunburned!
All that before the show!!
A panorama of the City Walk; you can see the Universal Globe on the left…
Kevin was constantly asking “what kind of show is this? Music?” Yes. “Comedy? Yes….
We were in the ‘poncho’ zone…..the possibility of getting wet or slimed existed. Didn’t come to pass….
Really really wish you could take pictures and video at the show…..the family featured prominently in the proceedings. At the beginning, they have red signs with the text that moves in them that say things…..as the show starts this announcement comes up “We have a few special guests with us tonight”…..”Scott H. won the Gold Medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics”. “Let’s welcome Scott H. to the show” “Repeat after me” “Congratulations Scott on winning the gold medal”…..
The show begins, and the boys are really enjoying it, and then, the blue dudes come out into the audience and grab three people…..and one dude snags Matthew! That boy has all of the participation luck! They take him on stage, and attach a drumstick with a little tie to each ear. When the blue man ‘yanks’ the drumstick an electronic “Ow!” is produced….they play parts of Beethoven’s Fifth and a few other things before returning Matthew (with the drumsticks as a souvenir) to the audience.
A good and memorable night!
