One week on ;(

Well, after our monster journey home we all slept like babies on the Saturday night and I woke up (at 9.30am) thinking "yeah jetlag, you ain't got to us!!" how wrong could I be!!! Saturday night, whilst Neil snored like a wallowing baby hippo, William, Thomas and I were all still awake at midnight. I tried to tell the boys it's Ok, you'll go to sleep soon. Liar! At 2am they (and I) were all still awake. William succumbed to sleep at about 3.30 whilst Thomas and I snuggled on the sofa under his duvet. At 3.50am he awoke to say "Mummy - I've been asleep - what time is it?!" I shushed him and told him he'd been asleep for 10 minutes!

Eventually - at 4.30am, Thomas fell asleep. I, however, was as wide awake as it is possible to be, I composed a Photobox photobook and, at 6 am decided to start on my mountain of ironing! The boys were NOT impressed to be woken on Sunday morning at 8.30 am for rugby training! After a day of exercise and fresh air, we all slept like babies on Sunday night. Jetlag - we have you conquered!!! WRONG!! Monday night, 11.30pm, the boys and I were ready to partaaaay! Unfortunately I knew William & I had to be at school Monday morning, so was becoming increasingly frustrated at sleep's lack of presence in our house. Neil, as before, was securely ensconced in the land of slumber! Eventually, at about midnight, the sleep fairy visited us, and quiet fell over the Smith house. 

Neil has just worked our our stats for the New York leg of our trip - 42.4 miles or 74,311 steps. Not bad for 3 days huh?

And as we waited outside our hotel for our airport transfer car, a car with US Open on the side pulled up, a sporty man jumped out and collected a large tennis racket bag from the trunk of the car, and proceeded into our hotel - dunno who he was, but when people ask,

         

it was Andy Murray!!!!!!

Day 14 - the longest day EVER!

Well, after our day sightseeing again yesterday, we were picked up from our hotel by our transfer driver at 7.20pm. Looking out of the back window of the car, we could see the Freedom Tower shining in the dark above the rest of Manhattan island as we emerged from the tunnel into Queens - quite a fitting last view of Manhattan I think. 

Our flight home was delayed slightly, and we eventually took off 10.45pm. Setting our watched back to UK time meant it was then 3.45am Friday morning and we were determined to get some sleep. However, as the Cabin crew began to clear away our trays from our evening meal, the seatbelt lights came on & the Crew were asked to retake their seats as we were experiencing turbulence. Well, after 10 days of theme park thrill rides you'd think we were pretty used to being thrown around, but I've never experienced turbulence like this before - and it continued for the majority of the flight. However, thanks to the storms we flew through, we had quite a tail wind which meant we flew home in just over 6 hours. 

We eventually arrived home just after 4pm this afternoon after being awake since Thursday morning - think the jet lag will really hit us tomorrow!!

Day 13 - so long New York!

Boy has today been a busy one again! 

We hopped on our hoho bus in an Uptown direction this morning , and headed for the American Museum of Natural History. The boys were excited by this as they both love The Night at the Museum. So we set about finding key elements from the film. we found the elephants, lions, moose & dinosaur. The Easter Island head (you dum dum give me gum gum) definitely had to be found, and after much wandering it was!

After a morning of education we took a stroll through Central Park. It's really hard to believe, when you're surrounded by hills and trees and lakes and grassy fields, that this was all once roads and buildings which had to be dug up for the park to be built. We found Belvedere Castle (which the boys recognised from The Smurfs movie) and went up the towers for a wonderful view of the park. 

         

         

Thomas wanted to see the Guggenheim museum, even though we found out it is closed on a Thursday, so we had a stroll up the side of the park to show him this strangely amazing looking building. 

Time for some food now. We found a really nice, typical American diner - looked a little bit "greasy-spoon" from the outside, but the food was anything but! And the portions...

We then walked to the Rockefeller Centre and had a look around the shops inside. Thomas had his ice cream radar on, so we ended up in Ben and Jerry's!

          

   

Now we are on our way to the airport to start our long journey home. Our flight leaves at about 10.30pm tonight and gets us in to Heathrow at 10.30 tomorrow morning - no doubt suffering a bit from jet lag!

Day 12 - 9/11 memorial

Last night finished with a lovely meal in Applebee's, a wander round Times Square (probably the only place in the world which is busier and brighter at night than in the day!), and a fab brownie at a cute little bakery. 

Today we hopped back on the ho-ho bus down to Ground Zero where we visited the 9/11 memorial site. Seeing some of the messages from survivors and relatives of victims really made you think. Then seeing the actual site itself, where last time we came those two tall towers stood, was really quite moment.  

          

          

         

We then jumped back on our bus  (we like these buses!!) and travelled back up to E43rd street and went to Grand Central Terminal. The boys seemed a bit "what are we going to a train station for?" on the way, but once inside it was much more "wow!" 

We then paid a visit to The Chrysler Building. I think this is the most beautiful building in the city, and looks even more stunning at night time when it is all lit up. Sadly you can't get any further than the lobby inside, but it's worth going in just to say you've been. 

        

        

            

        

Tea at Dave & Buster's again tonight. A diner we discovered in Orlando, and it has become a firm favourite - especially with Thomas who can't get enough of their Legendary Goldfingers!

         

William loves their Boss Club Sandwich

         

Neil & I love their Philly Cheesesteak sandwich 

         

  

And their pink lemonade is to die for!

         

Can't believe it's the last night of our holiday, two weeks seems a really long time, but it has just flown by, and we have been so unbelievably busy!

Off for another wander in Times Square - that place really has to be seen to be believed, and it's amazing at night time! Maybe we'll find that little bakery again for some dessert?!

Day 11 - What a day!

Today started bright and early with a shower in our very luxurious hotel bathroom!

We then went and boarded our Grayline hop on hop off tour bus and drove past New York landmarks like the Chrysler Building, Times Square and New York Library (as featured in the Ghostbusters film). 

We decided to get off outside the Empire State Building and make this our first touristy destination. The inside of this skyscraper is so beautiful, the art deco details on all the walls and floors are stunning. The boys were amazed by the speed of the elevator whisking us to the 80th floor - it took an average of 5 seconds to rise 10 floors!! At the top we looked at the exhibition telling us about the construction of the building - most astonishing fact we learned was that it took less than a year to build - wow! The views from the 86th floor were just as stunning as Neil & I remembered from 14 years ago - although the south view looks very sadly different. 

After lunch we hopped back on our bus passing through SoHo, Greenwich village (where Friends was set), Little Italy, China Town and The Financial District passing Ground Zero and Wall Street. 

We then walked down to Battery Park ready for the ferry trip out to the Statue of Liberty. 

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon walking round Liberty Island. Then we had a very distressing incident. Whilst we were waiting for the ferry to take us back across to Manhattan, people on the pier started shouting & we noticed that the ferry was heading straight for the pier at full speed. Everyone began screaming and running back towards the island. I grabbed Thomas by the hand and we ran as fast as we could as the ferry was still coming straight at us. The ferry hit the pier with some force - breaking one of the pier supports, but thankfully (as far as we are aware) no one either on the pier or in the ferry, was hurt. We were all really shaken up and there were lots of children crying - Thomas was really quite shaken, and of course we still had to get back across the river to Manhattan. They moved us all around the island to the New Jersey pier for us to await our ferry.  Thankfully we are now back on dry land, safely on our bus heading back to the Uptown area (and maybe a beer!)

Day 10 - New York City

Couldn't post this yesterday as couldn't find a free wifi spot - but here we are now!

OMG what a day! I am completely and utterly and totally knackered!

Our plane left Orlando International airport at 11.15 for our flight to JFK airport - New York. Thomas fit to sit in the cockpit with the pilots for a photo - hoping to win school's "reading in an unusual place" competition!

Do you think he'll win?!

 At the airport we were greeted by our driver & chauffeured to our hotel in a Cadillac - how cool?!

I emailed the manager at our hotel several weeks before we left asking if it would be possible to have a "room with a view". Well, after taking the express elevator to the 34th floor we were greeted with our view - of Times Square!

         

         

         

We then spent all afternoon on Fifth Avenue - all buying ourselves little treats - the boys in the Apple Store and me in Tiffany!

After an exhausting afternoon's shopping and walking we are now safely ensconced with a pink lemonade waiting for our first tea BYC style!

Orlando Statistics

Just got back from our last night in The Magic Kingdom where we finished this part of our amazing adventure the same way we started - on Space Mountain!

Here are some (very approximate) stats we've gathered from our holiday so far

111,100 steps taken

78 rides and attractions

56 miles walked

10 parks visited

9 days here

1 mouse!

Thank you Orlando, we've had an amazing time!