Visiting Cypress Gardens & Splash Island

Today we decided to meet Joyce, Aron & Austin at Cypress Gardens to visit Splash Island Water Park before we left for the summer. Frank was recovering from knee surgery.

As we were running to meet up with Joyce and the boys, we saw two Cypress Garden Belles in the distance.

Marlon can never pass by a waterfall without taking a picture.

Here we are in our swimwear standing by Paradise River...actually our swimwear is in a plastic Walmart sack close by.

Here's Doug enjoying the scary Pirate Ship ride with Austin...seriously, Austin IS sitting next to Doug.

Want to experience the Triple Hurricane at Cypress Gardens? Click on the video below. Ride operators at Cypress Gardens often send the cars through the rides twice...this instance we went through three times. This is fun...as long as you don't get sick.

The next afternoon we met Frank, Joyce and the kids for a farewell dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill.

For just a few more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/april/cypress-gardens-wit/ .

To be continued...

MouseGear Costume and Deer Creek RV Resort

Tomorrow is our last day of work at Epcot's MouseGear store. We figured we should probably take pictures of us in our costume today or we may forget.

Marlon wants to know "Do you want to trade a pin?"

We spent the next few days looking at RV lots at Deer Creek RV Resort. We were trying to answer the age-old question in this time of economic uncertainty...

"to buy or not to buy?"

The current answer is "not to buy"...yet.

For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/april/mouse-gear-uniforms/ .

To be continued...

Eagle Ridge Mall & Bowling

We met Frank, Joyce, Aron & Austin at Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales today for dinner at Garfield's.

Before dinner, Aron and Austin took their ride on the merry go round. Aron spun their car too fast, though, and gave Austin a headache.

After eating, we headed over to see who was the best bowler.

Joyce claps for Austin as Frank and Marlon (in Doug's shirt) pose for the camera.

Dad congratulates Austin on a nice frame.

Time for a big gulp.

Austin demonstrates how his finger fits right in his ear.

Promptly at 9pm, the lights went out for Rock & Bowl. The music was turned up and all of us adults realized how old we had become.

We finished bowling and determined that Frank was probably the best bowler.

But...Austin was the best game player as he used The Claw to snag himself Scooby Doo.

$40 of tokens later and we had won enough tickets for about $1 worth of candy. Man, we're good!

For a few more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/march/garfields-and-bowli-1/ .

To be continued...

Cats as Protectors and Pottiers

There was a noise outside the RV tonight. Luckily, Chatfield, our watch cat, was there. Sammy looked on as Chatfield bravely investigated the sound and assured us there was nothing to fear.

One of our favorite things about living in our motorhome has to be cleaning up after our favorite pets...NOT. They leave their hair everywhere, as well as hairballs and ,sometimes, both digested and undigested food.

On top of that...they go to the bathroom a lot. Cleaning the litter box is one of our least favorite chores around the house. So we decided maybe we could train them to use the toilet.

So far, as you can see, we have gotten Chatfield to sit on the toilet. But he can't figure out how to open the lid or what that roll of paper is used for.

Sammy, on the other hand, wasn't interested at all in potty training.

But she did decide a little cleaning was in order.

She likely followed that with a little cat nap.

Are we fascinated by our cats or what? More pictures at http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/march/our-cats-1/ .

To be continued...

Marlon, Frank, Joyce, Aron & Austin Visit Epcot

While Doug worked at MouseGear, the largest store at Epcot, Marlon and Frank's family came to visit the park.

Aron, Joyce, Frank and Austin take a moment in front of the park icon, Spaceship Earth.

Joyce shows off her new Tinkerbell hoodie purchased today because it was windy and cool.

Austin and Aron are building a robot in Future World's Innoventions East. They are in the Design Studio of Fantastic Plastics Works presented by the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI).

Now father and sons are racing their robot against other guests' robots in a virtual roadrace.

After guests race their robots, they get a chance to physically assemble a robot from its various parts.

The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival was getting ready to debut on March 19th. Some of the topiary featured in the Festival was already on display.

From the 1955 Disney movie, here's that famous cocker spaniel, Lady...

and her love, the lock-picking mutt himself, Tramp.

Marlon also ran into The Three Caballeros.

Here's Panchito Pistoles who lives in Mexico and rides a horse named Senor Martinez. He is also known for having fallen for Clara Cluck.

Jose Carioca remains very famous to this day, starring in his own Brazilian comic book. He appears alongside Mickey and Donald in Brazilian Disney comics.

Donald Duck was also on hand...he was preparing for his birthday which was five days later on March 13th. Happy Birthday Donald! How old are you anyway?

For a sneak peek of the newly refurbished Spaceship Earth's conclusion, click on the video below. For a few more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/march/epcot-with-franks-family/ .

To be continued...