Phew

So we have arrived in Calgary and finally found our friends here.  More on that later.

The last few days have been a crazy, fantastic blur of Disney, beach and Lego fun which has left precious little time for anything other than travel, food, sleep and a surfeit of enjoyment.   So I'm doing a catch-up post before we head for a time in the mountains with very limited connection again.

So Saturday.  Blizzard Beach is a winter themed water park with amazing water slides and pools.  Our favourite was the family raft ride, which allowed all of us to ride together and laugh our way down the flume.  The rest of it was great too.  No sun burning!  This was a half-day.  The other half was a visit to a supermarket.  They are not much different from at home so the children didn't enjoy this so much....  Peter did have a nosebleed and need help which was the most exciting part of that visit.

Sunday we went to Epcot.  This park is huge.  We covered every major pathway and the boys were totally exhausted by the time we finished.  Even with a full day we couldn't cover everything but the park manages again to be different to the other parks.  Tomorrowland at the magic Kingdom is like a mini Epcot but the scale of this park is so much bigger.  The 'World showcase' part is fascinating and if every country is as accurately depicted as the 'UK-land' section then it is a laughable set of stereotypes and caricatures.  It is no less fun for that.  The irony of arriving at the UK part just as it started to rain was not lost on us.

There is such a mixture of attractions that it is hard to characterise the day.  There are rides and loads to see and do.  Captain EO was an interesting diversion with Michael Jackson as the lead in this 3D film from 1986.  Weird.  Talking to Crush (from finding Nemo) was hilarious.  Great fun.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/epcot/

Monday.  A day away from Disney.  Not from theme-parks though.  We headed to Legoland Florida which was an hour and a half south of our location.  This park is aimed at a younger age-group so Peter and David had an absolute blast while Andrew was enjoying things, but only really looking at the bigger coasters as worthwhile.  The park was much less busy than the Disney parks and one day was just about right for the visit.  We were offered preferred access to the rides by a 'model citizen' (one of the staff).  I think this is because we asked about wait times and she took pity on us as we had travelled from Orlando.  We didn't complain and were able to skip many of the lines that were there.

My highlight was the 'Land of Adventure' ride which is a target shooting gallery with laser guns and moving animatronics.  Miniland was also amazing with Lego versions of American cities and Star-Wars tableaux.  Andrew loved Project X - probably the scariest ride of all the parks (the only one on which Nicola was absolutely terrified!).  Peter loved everything!  Nicola enjoyed the Dragon coaster and David loved the Chima ride where we all came off soaked to the skin.  This is never a problem in Florida as we were dry in the next half-hour anyway!

http://florida.legoland.com/EXPLORE-THE-PARK/Park-Map/

Tuesday was a second round at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom to re-visit some favourite rides and to fill in some parts we had missed.  Magic Kingdom seemed even busier than before and we still didn't manage to get onto Peter Pan or the Mine Train or Haunted House.  We did visit the Tom Sawyer island, 'A Small World' (which would give nightmares to some children - animatronic marionettes) and various other displays and rides.  We then took the bus to Animal Kingdom so that the boys could finish their 'Wilderness Explorer' book.  They are now 'Senior Wilderness Explorers' and the look on their faces when this was achieved is priceless.  We also have a favourite staff member who we seemed to follow around the park.  Thanks Casey!

Wednesday.  We went to Cocoa Beach for the day.  This was a beach day and the boys learned to body-board in child-friendly waves.  I love the sea and it was warm here.  The sun was a danger here and we were all pinker than we should have been even with thorough Factor spf 50 coating.  I have realised one of the dangers of aging as my head burned beneath the thinning hair at the back.  I may well get Grandad Nicholls's hairline rather than Grandad Belleini's.  Ho-Hum.

Thursday was travel day so we checked out of Tropical Palms and headed to... Typhoon Lagoon!  The morning at a water-park (tropical themed) meant that the children had something to look forward to rather than the flying and waiting and travelling.  This was again lovely.   Nicola especially enjoyed floating round the lazy river on an inflatable "doughnut" ring.  The flights were uneventful and dull - though the film on the second flight was okay (about American Football - "Draft Day").  The line (see how American I have become!) for the hire car was ridiculous (45 minutes) and then we drove to the wrong address - this led to us arriving at midnight at our hosts (though this was 2am for us having crossed two time zones).  The children had given up well before this and were fast asleep. Nicola and Tamara, however, couldn't resist an hour of catching up in the middle of the night!

And here we are at today.  We are not camping today as the turnaround was impossible, so that is put back until tomorrow when we will head off to Lake Louise.  Tamara is like a Canadian Petra - so accommodating, friendly and wonderful, and we feel at home already.  I have loved having a day off with good company.  Boys have vegetated in front of a movie with Tamara's girls Sabrina and Julia and are now calmed down and will be ready to go again tomorrow.  I think a visit to a local lake this afternoon will be in order.

Our mobile is not working in Canada and camping rarely has Wi-Fi so we may well not be online for a while.  Enforced unplugging is good for the soul.  Nature beckons.  Mountains, rivers, camping, bears.  This part of the holiday is mine.