20th August - Bargain shopping, GCSE results, Pirates

It is humid and wet today. The storm has passed over, but there are showers. Lots of people in other counties have been flooded, they have really suffered, stupid people still surfing on the telly. decide to give the parks a miss today, so we all meet up and go bargain shopping instead. We have found a great taxi driver and have hired him to take us to the premium Outlets, lots of designer stores and reduced prices. Buy Richard some new trainers as his got so wet yesterday they haven't dried out properly $11, some new Reeboks for me $31 and eldest is in search of something called skaters which he assures me are trainers of sorts but all the ones he has seen so far would eat into his holiday spends far to much so decides to give it a miss.

Take the I trolley along Internationl drive which I am not a great fan of but some shops have their uses and there are good restaurants along here as well.

We pop into Ponderosafor something to eat. I like Ponderosa, you can have an all you can eat buffet for $10 per person and there is so much to choose from including what we are all craving for by now fresh fruit and vegetables after a diet of fast food! I ate some tacos with some salad and had some fruit for desert. I won't tell you what Nig had because believe me he had three main meals, two desserts and another main meal to finish it off the pig! Mind you he had an upset stomach for the rest of the day so at least I could laugh at him:)

After looking in a few sports shops and electrical shops, clothes shops and cheap Disney shops (Si bought an Ipod 2GB $28) we headed back to Premium outlets to stock up on perfume and then had a nice drink by the pool back at the resort.

21st August - Results Day

I had a huge row with Simon yesterday, both snapping at each other till he got on my nerves. Still today I have turned my phone on to check my emails. Simon's GCSE results come out today and a friend is sending them to me and sure enough they are there:

Maths A
Additional Science A
Science B
History C
Statistics C
English C
English Lit C
Geography C
RE D
French D

8 A-C's for his GCSE, the relief is immense and the atmosphere has cleared between us. He was obviously worried about them and concerned that he wouldn't get the results he needed for the courses he wants to do at sixth form, but he has, all that studying of Maths and Science and the extra tuition has paid off.

It is raining again so at his suggestion we head off to Epcot and do the innovations centre. We look round the house of the future, sit in a hurricane, do planet space which has been updated and now Judi Dench narrates as we move through the different phases of the planet with live on. Then we walk over to the world showcase so that they can spend some more money in Japan where they are delighted that Simon is trying to learn the language and recommend a book for him - he says thank you in Japanese which they seem pleased with.

We go back to the pool, Richard wants to do some swimming as the weather has cleared up a little. I do some washing in the laundry while keeping an eye on him and it starts to rain agin.

This evening we celebrated Simon's success by going to the Pirates Dinner Party (Nick you would love this buxom wenches, a big ship and pirates!) All good fun especially when Nigel was picked to take part in a game! Food wasn't up to much, either plate of chicken and seafood, chicken and pork with rice and potatoes - no vegetables! Everyone had fun and we all had an enjoyable evening, just wish I hadn't left the camera in the hotel room!