[Benjamin:] second

  Dad hired a car, which was silver. In that car we went to a ride. On the way we saw a pyramid. We went on a boat ride where we saw five alligators, and purple gallinules. Then we watched gator boys, a wrestling show. Mum fainted of heat.
   For lunch I had macaroni cheese, broccoli, apple juice, and water. In the afternoon I went in the pool, and had some down time. For tea I had carrots, garlic bread, chili and rice, plus two cups of apple juice. Next we finished pirates of the Carribean, and had some Harry Potter.
   The next day we went to flamingo park. We saw five laughing parrots, a ibis, aerial roots, and a skink. Harris hawks, red shouldered hawk, ferry ferruginous hawk. Four peacocks, got four feet away from a squirrel, and turkey vultures. Orb spiders caught something. Barn owl, great horned owl, barred owl, screech owl and burrowing owl. Florida pine snake, red rat snake. Brown Basilisk, marine toad. Stalks, pelicans, coot, spoon bill, gulls and ducks. Cormorant, great white egret. Yellow bellied slider, raccoon, blue gill. Falcon, short tailed hawk, merlin.
     For breakfast the next day I had fruit loops and cold milk. I also went to surf camp, where I played dodge ball, and surfed. In the afternoon I finished Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. The next Day I had fruit loops for breakfast.
 

[Amelie:] The Bobs and turtles

While Ben and Kaleigh were doing surf camp, me and Scott and mummy jumped Bobs, which are waves. So when waves come we say 'Bob', we jump because waves are coming, and we go very far out that means there a big waves we need to jump.

Mummy was being silly: when big waves came and she wasn't ready, she got salt water in her eye and maybe swallowed some as well. And one time she said, "When we say 'go', it means we're ready"; and then, when she didn't say 'go' a big wave came and me and Scott jumped but mummy didn't jump and then she got grumpy.

There were turtle nests on the beach, and they were all buried in the sand. Underneath the sand were turtle eggs, and Dad said "turtles are about this big"

[Amelie:] Scott and Kaleigh's house

We are having fun staying at Scott and Kaleigh's house. They have a swimming pool with lots of toys and one of them is a rubber dinghy. Another one is a big ball, and a little basketball in the water, and there is a deep end and shallow end in the pool, and there's a basketball net on the edge and you try to throw it in and it's not too high and sometimes you miss and if you hit the post it will bounce back and you have to try to get it.

Me and scott found a frog at the bottom of the pool in the shallow end, and it only had 3 legs and Scott's daddy had to fish it out with a big net. Scott and Kaleigh have some dogs, one's called Colony and the other is Henley. The way you tell the difference is Colony's a girl and has a pink collar, and Henley who is a boy has a blue collar .

I like the building toys Kaleigh has a balancing beam because she goes to gymnastics so she balances on it and she can do a forward flip. She can do gymnastics in the pool and she is showing me how to do it.

Hanging 9 3/4

As well as his first surfing lesson, Benjamin (and I) finish Harry Potter book 4 yesterday.

Immediately after the ride below, Benjamin rode a wave all the way into shore: of course, I didn't catch that one on video...

Chocolate bananas!

... at The Flamingo Gardens. Yum!

[Amelie:] alligator post

We went on an airboat to see alligators, and we saw 5 alligators. One was called Grumpy, and another was Speedy and she only had three legs.

I held a baby alligator, it was heavy.

I got this from the gift shop, can you guess what this is? He has pop-out eyes and he is my pet.

... and I've drawn him as well:

 

Gater!

We went to the Everglades Holiday Park today, and saw a number of these beauties...

[Amelie:] The great aeroplane ride

I think I had 9 videos on the plane and in the taxi, because I had lots of videos and games.

Blasphemy beer

Paul and I went to a local supermarket, where we found an amazing variety of beers, both domestic and international.

Three classily named US beers were Hoptimus Prime, Hoptical Illusion, and Hoptimum; but my favourite has to be a UK beer, which I've not seen before - Holy Grail Ale.

UPDATE: found another: Hopsecutioner.

[Benjamin:] first

Once I got to the airport, I went to baggage drop twenty nine. There was a woman with a bun in her hair, and glasses who dad gave our passports. We went through security gate twelve, where they scanned our bags and us. We did Dr Who puzzles.
   When we got onto plane VS005, I watched Rise of the Guardians, while for a snack I ate pretzels and apple juice. For lunch I had a buttered roll, potato, carrot and steak and mushroom cobbler! I also played, chess, caveman, battleships, a small amount of sudoku and moshi magazine. For tea I had two cheese sandwiches and a banana and fudge cupcake. After the flight we went to see the pilot (Richard Moss), and  found out our grandpa used to be his boss!
   When we were in America we went on a seven lane road, in a gigantic blue car\truck. We played sorry sliders (a race game), I was blue and Scott was yellow. For tea I had pizza and pink lemonade. I slept in a bunk bed, Amelie slept on the top bunk, I slept on the bottom bunk and I had scooby-doo covers. For breakfast I had chocolate chip waffles, whipped cream, maple syrup and cold milk.
For lunch I had two burgers, french fries, and broccoli, plus sprite.  I also tried alligator (yuk). We also fed fish so big they had pilot fish! We spent the almost whole afternoon in the pool, or having water fights. Except a small amount of time watching Pirates of the Carribean. In the morning the next day, I had two bowls of fruit loops and cold milk.

Setting off

Some part of my brain decided to wake up 10 mins before the early alarm this morning. Better than Philippa's, she woke 2 hours early.

We had in-car entertainment on the way down, and now we're through security with a couple of hours to go before take off, and substituting Pret coffee for sleep.

[Amelie:] America

I am going to America when I will be at America one day I will see a whale jump up and if you sit in the front  row then you might get splashed and if you do get splashed then you will smell of fish! 

When I will be at America I will swim in warm sea!

First post: the past

What's the story here? My company gives its employees a sabbatical after five year's employment, so we've used this as an excuse for a "holiday of a lifetime" (aka, it'll take that long to pay it off).

We're off to the US for some fun and culture, spending 6 weeks on the East Coast: family in Fort Lauderdale; friend in Boston; and strangers in Washington DC, New York, and Kissimmee/Orlando. The latter 3 are all via Airbnb, which we hope will be an inspired choice for accommodation in good locations but at sub-ruinous prices.
[BTW, before I forget, I hope you're not here expecting a poetic reliving of some Hemingwaysian adventure: it's mostly for the kids, and I'm hoping most of the content will come from them.]

It started with our traditional New Year's Eve — home-bound with kids in their beds — and we finally bit the bullet. I got on the web, and after a bit of hassle (it took until midday the following day to confirm the booking) I'd spent 20+ years of accumulated Virgin Atlantic air miles plus some top-up on return tickets for the four of us to Miami.

Now there was no turning back. A busy few weeks confirmed all the big ticket items: destinations, accommodation, transportation, and theme park tickets (but not Disney).

Then there was a lull for a few months, and normality returned: piano and ballet lessons, tennis, chess tournaments, and whatever the kids got up to. And then we looked at the date, and I shifted gear such that the Google planning spreadsheet was now permanently pinned in all my browsers, and not just occasionally referenced.

So here we are with 9 days to go. Wish us luck...