In Florida

We made it safely to Tampa, Florida, on Saturday night. The flights went well and I managed to find a way to pass the time.


We stayed with my brother on Saturday and Sunday and had a great time laughing and catching up on life. He's been a great host and even bought fresh flowers for the dining room - I always appreciate centerpieces.

The highlight of Sunday was the Portugal-Netherlands game. Our nerves were all on edge, but Portugal has made it to the quarter-finals! It wasn't a pretty game with the ref breaking the World Cup record for yellow & red cards, but it made for an exciting game full of drama. At one point, the satellite service went out because of the monsoon weather outside, so I was on the phone with my sister for the play-by-play...I was less panicky when I couldn't see anything, but my sister was freaking out enough for both of us. At one point she said "I can't even watch...I'm going to throw up!" Ahh, soccer.

Today, Monday, we made our way to Orlando. Before we left Tampa we went to the Florida Aquarium. Here are some pictures:

Wouldn't it be great to have one of these cylindrical aquariums in the middle of the living room?

Now we're at the hotel in Orlando. We went to International Drive this evening, had dinner, watched the Sling Shot bungee ride (no way am I sitting in that thing...), and got frustrated at the signage in Orlando. If you're not wanting to go to one of Disney Parks, then you're on your own - they don't really provide a ton of signage for anything else. We made it back to the hotel though, so all is well.

The hotel is nice, we'll take pictures tomorrow...it's been rainy since we got here, so that great pool may not get used. At least it's not blistering hot.

On the agenda for tomorrow - Brazil vs. Ghana, Downtown Disney, and Cirque du Soleil!