**Florida**

Sorry, it's been a crazy week and when I came back I had to hit the ground running.

So, to recap, it looks like I left the East Coast in time to miss another rainy weekend last week. Florida greeted us with blue cloudless skies and bright green palm trees and colorful flowers. I so needed a vacation.

Coincidentally, the hotel we were at wasn't too far from the hotel we stayed a a couple years ago when we came for my cousin's wedding.

On our first day we got a rental car and drove to the Welcome Center and then to Rangatsu, a Japanese Restaurant that a friend of mine claimed was the best Japanese place she's ever eaten at. I had to take her word on it since she's been to a lot of Asian countries. We tried to go there for lunch but they only had dinner hours so we made our way to the hotel instead.

We parked the car and walked a few blocks to International Drive, where there were a lot of sites and attractions to see and it was SO nice to feel the warm sun on our skins. The totem poles was a golf course we passed by on our walk as well as Wonderworks.

We tried to hold out for the Sushi place but we caved in! We were SO hungry! We ended up going to a place called Tu Tu Tango, a tapas restaurant, and got a pitcher of...guess what! You know it! The food was pretty okay and it helped us continue our walk.

We then went to play mini golf at one of the places we walked by: Pirates Cove. The course had some pretty neat obstacles: rocks, hills, marsh, holes, water. It has been a very long time since I have played, but I did pretty well! It was a lot of fun and I was SO happy to be out! It was a perfect day. =)


Afterwards we went back to the hotel and payed a visit to the pool. We went in it for a bit but got skeeved out! There was an egg in the pool and it wasn't hard boiled if you know what I mean! Eww!

So we just sat outside on the chairs talking and reading books and newpapers. 2 ducks came by and decided to take dip as well. Perhaps they were looking for a lost egg? *Shiver* After relaxing a bit we went back out to international drive. By the way, my pedometer counted 30,924 steps or 11.22 miles we walked! International drive was a decent walk away. We went to a place called "Howl at the Moon" where they had a dueling piano show. It was awesome! There was a full band and even a keytar! They let you request songs and they had all these people coming up in stage. It was a lotof fun to watch and cheer on. Afterwards we were hungry for dinner so we stopped by a steakhouse next door, by then we had quite a few drinks and the camera caught what happened to the rest of my Mango drinky-drink. =) I don't even remember what those egg-roll looking things were. Ivan claims they were mozzerella sticks but I barely recall.



Saturday we went to some timeshare event and Universal Studio. We didn't expect to spend that much time in the former, but who knew we'd end up with property in Missouri? Universal was kinda crowded, hot, and over-rated. It's really not that much different than great adventure, except it has different "themes, which means it's painted different colors. Don't be fooled. But who knows, perhaps if it wasn't so crowded it would have been more fun.

Then we went to a Colombian restaurant named Lenos y Carbon to meet my cousin, her husband, my aunt, and Ivan's parents for dinner. The food there was really good and it was a really good time! It was nice to see and catch up with my cousins and my aunt and Ivan's parents, I just wish I had more time to spend with them. It was out Happy Mother's Day dinner for them too! There was lots of plantains, chorizos, and sangria, which was way better than the one we had the other day.
Afterwards, we followed Ivan's parents to there house, which was over an hour away. It was dark by the time we reached there house.


The following day Ivan's dad took us around there development to the Community house, which had its own swimming pool, a gym, a library with computers, an auditorium with a stage, a pool tables, and a library of movies to borrow for free! We also stopped by the golf center (below with the palm trees and flowers), which had a lot of golf carts and a nice golf store. By the end of the tour I wanted to move in! It was like being in college without the homework! They also had all kinda of activities going on - walking clubs, pilates, tap dancing, couples golf tournaments -- basically, loads of fun. The country club also was planning all these shows, including a musical tribute to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass! I NEED to see that. By the way, every day I realize how old fashioned I really am. Anyway, they only thing they were missing was a yearbook club. In the tone of Maebe: Hire me!

Their neighbor came over and brought 2 bottles of wine and we had a BBQ. There were all kinds of steaks available - mmm. Below you can see the wine and flowers sent to the Mrs. from her daughters. The neighbor which was an older woman, was apparently a golf pro and won 2nd place in a tournament, which had monetary benefits, in the community a few times. Ivan's mom said she's not into golf, but the neighbor responded,

OH! Once you start playing, you'll be addicted - IT'S LIKE CRACK COCAINE!

That was the last thing we were all expecting her to say and we were laughing histerically. SO funny!

After we ate, Ivan's dad jumped in the pool and we soon followed. As you can see, out heads got more sun than the rest of our bodies and we looked like Oomps Loompas as we get caught doing our synchronized swimming routine!

Their pool had a whole meshed fence around and on top of it - I think all the pools in the community were required to have those enclosures around them. I think it's to prevent alligators, but it's also good for keeping bugs out of the back as well as twigs and things out of the pool.

It was a much-needed relaxing day and in the evening we watched Bringing Down the House. It was actually kinda funny and everyone was laughing. The next day we drove back to the airport and arrived early enought to catch an earlier flight back home. My parents met us at the airport and took us to luch at Natives, a Colombian restaurant in Queens. I had a steak with arepa con queso. MMMMM. Apparently there was a fire in there and it was closed for a few months, but now it looks like they're expanding. This is the same restaurant I had my college graduation party at, complete with Mariachi and open bar. Afterwards people were asking me if we had ties to influential families, if you know what I mean.