Can't believe that it's almost 2006! Where did 2005 go?? I'd like to wish everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have a safe and fun holiday!

Google has a new SMS service which looks up movies times, weather, restaurants, directions, etc. Very cool. Find it here: http://www.google.com/sms/

Oh no!  Only a few more days in Orlando before we have to end our vacation and head back to the arctic cold that we call home. Today, Bryan and Wes went golfing at Disney's Osprey Ridge golf course. It's very beautiful out there. Tara, Wes & Louise's daughter, took me shopping in Downtown Disney. Bought a few souvenirs and had lunch at Wolfgang Puck's cafe. Again, very good food. I could just hang out in Orlando and eat my way around. Tonight we went to Downtown Disney and walked around the shops and had dinner at Wolfgang Puck and Raglan Road. Very tasty. It started drizzling late in the evening, so we retreated back to the hotel to relax. It is supposed to rain again tomorrow, too.  Oh well, we've gotten to do everything that we wanted to.

We went to the two Universal theme parks today- Universal Studios and Island of Adventure. Bryan loves Universal. We went to the one in Hollywood right before our wedding a year and a half ago. Went to see all of the shows and then stopped for a drink at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and watched the volcano erupt. The bartender turned it on becuase I asked him to :) I didn't realize that they could control when the volcano erupted! Rode the Incredible Hulk roller coaster- which was AWESOME! Then we got really, really wet on a Popeye river rapids ride. So, we made it back to the hotel to change clothes. We had dinner at Emeril's Orlando, a fantastic restaurant. The food was great and I've always wanted to eat at an Emeril's! Walked around the Universal Citywalk area for a while and browsed in the shops.

WOW! What a really busy day. Today, we went to ALL 4 Disney parks- Epcot, MGM, Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom. Crazy!! We started out at Epcot, went on quite a few rides, had lunch in France- yum! Then we took the boat over to MGM and went on Aerosmith's Rock n' Roller Coaster- very fast and very fun! Ended up going on that ride twice. Bryan felt a bit sick after. After MGM, we headed over to the Animal Kingdom and went on the safari and the Kali River Rapids. What a neat park. This was the first time to the Animal Kingdom for both of us, since we hadn't been there since we were about 12 and the park opened in 1998. After Animal Kingdom, we went to the Magic Kingdom and rode Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Carribean, Bryan's favorite. Headed back to Epcot, where Bryan had dinner in China and I had dinner in Japan and we shopped our way through all of the different countries- France, China, Japan, United Kingdom, Morocco, Italy... skipped the USA and Canada for the most part. I love Epcot! Especially the eating! :) There was also a wonderful fireworks show that never ended, right before the park closed at 9:30pm. Walked for more than 12 hours today. Bryan is in the whirlpool tub with a glass of wine from France. Tomorrow we are heading to the two Universal theme parks. The weather was perfect today- about 80 degrees. In fact, it's almost 10pm right now and it's still above 70 degrees out right now! Yay for warm weather!!

Today, we woke up early and Bryan went golfing at Disney's Palm golf course with family friends Wes and Louise. I took the International Drive trolley to the outlet mall and did some shopping. Later that evening, we went to look at Wes and Louise's house, located not too far away and then we all had dinner together at Miller's Ale House. Their daughter Tara works for Disney and her husband works for Universal, so they were extremely generous and gave us free park tickets! We are planning on going to Epcot tomorrow and to Universal on Tuesday.

Today, we slept in and took our time getting ready in the morning. Then, we headed down International Drive and went mini golfing at Pirate's Cove. All 36 holes. There are so many mini golf courses here! With a variety of themes- dinosaurs, Hawaiian luau, gators, pirates, etc. After that, we went to a few shopping malls and had lunch at Dixie Crossroads Seafood restaurant. Then we headed to Downtown Disney and did some shopping. Had dinner at House of Blues and went to the Cirque du Soleil La Nouba show. It's my 3rd show- I've also seen Mystere and O and Bryan's first Cirque experience. We both thought that it was AMAZING. The performers are SO talented. If you ever have the opportunity to go to one, it's HIGHLY recommended!! We got tickets only this morning, so we were not able to get seats next to each other, but still had an awesome time. Now it's time for bed.

Arrived at the Grand Forks airport at 7am. Flight left at 8am to Minneapolis. Then to Atlanta then to our final destination- Orlando, Florida! We finally got there are about 6pm. Took the bus to the Enterprise rental car place, which was quite the distance away from the airport and picked up our rental car. Headed over to the hotel- the Marriott Grande Vista and checked it. The place had the LONGEST driveway I have ever seen. Took forever to get to the actual hotel. The place is fantastic!! We have a two bedroom, two bath with a living area, dining room, laundry, whirlpool... you get the idea. Bryan wanted to go to Wendy's, which we drove past when we were coming to the hotel so we bought some groceries and Wendy's and came back to the hotel to eat and put away everything. Then we checked out one of the four hot tub and pool areas at the hotel. It felt very relaxing after a day of traveling and the stress of work. And that was the first day of our honeymoon... to be continued...