Wednesday, November 4th:
The parks are out of the way, so today is the day for shopping. I love vacation shopping! It’s almost as if you get to spend money and it doesn’t count.
When we plan for a trip, we usually plan ahead. That means there is plenty of time to set money aside for whatever trip it is that we have planned. We usually manage to get all of the upcoming bills paid ahead of time, and our rooms and park tickets are always taken care before we go, so that check that finds its way into our checking account before we leave, is strickly for vacation. All we really have left to spend our money on is food, fun, and whatever else it is we might fancy while we are away.
This day started off with us downstairs at the Embassy Suites, eating omelettes and drinking coffee. We weren’t in any kind of hurry today. Nothing but shopping was on the schedule for most of it. After breakfast, we headed back upstairs to get dressed and ready to go. I am not even sorry to say we threw on our most basic lounge clothes when we went down to eat, and I didn’t even bother to brush my hair. It’s not like we were the worst looking few at breakfast though, some even still had their pajamas on.
Once we were ready, we were off. The first stop was just a few minutes down the road, and we even arrived there about 15 minutes before the whole store opened.
This trip’s thoughtless spending mostly took place at IKEA. Oh, IKEA, how I have wanted to see you again! And this time, my guy was with me. I have wanted him to see this place since I first went, back in 2009 at the Sunrise store, just out of Miami. (At the time I didn’t even realize I was in a suburb of Miami. IKEA was the only thing I was thinking of.)
We got to browse those few rooms as you walk in before the official opening hour, and we weren’t the only ones waiting for the rest of the place to open. It was so much fun! I love this store. Stephen even liked it. I found more than a few things that I wanted, but then narrowed that list down because it wasn’t like we were going to be able to go drop the stuff off at home that day. We still had to make sure we had room for all of our luggage. We were, however, in better shape as far as buying things since we didn’t take the Mini on this trip. I would have only been able to buy that duvet cover that I wanted, and even then the car would have probably been too full. So, yes, we did spend some of that vacation money here, and I am so happy with all the things that I got: a coat rack, duvet cover, vallet stand, and a cutting board, just to name a few.
Once we were done here, we made a quick stop back at the room because we also bought lots of chocolate bars for the cousins, and all that candy would have never made it had it sat in the hot car all day. Now we were off to the outlet mall. There were lots of people, it was hot, and it rained a little on us. But none of that stopped us from finding a thing or two. And the one thing I found that made me the happiest, my wishlist pair of sunglasses. There they were in the Oakley store after all that time hunting and hunting for them in all those Sunglass Huts.
The shopping now done, and a little less money in hand, we stopped for our late lunch/early dinner. We went, once again, somewhere close to our room, just next door in fact, to the Brick House Tavern and Tap. It was pretty much empty, and we got to sit by the fire. Never mind that we were in the hot and humid Florida weather. It was cozy though, and we really liked the place. My drink today, a Blood Orange & Stormy. It had Oakheart Bacardi in it, which is one of my favorite from Bacardi. And to eat, I chose a bowl of chili with jalapeno cornbread. Also, very good!
This evening was our nice evening out. We got dressed up and went over to the Disney side of Orlando to see the Cirque du Soleil show. We had seen this one before, but it was way back in 2003. The boy was 2 and didn’t remember it, we were a bit younger as well, and remembered only bits of it. (You sometimes miss out on a few things when you are seeing shows with a toddler.) We thought Ethan would like it because of all the gymnastic and acrobatic stunt performances, he did. It was great! I think we will all remember the show a lot longer this time.
The night was not over yet, one more stop at the room – I needed to change because now we were going go-karting. This was not your regular ol’ go-karting either: fast, electric go-karts. You start out slow, then the operator flips a switch, and away you go – did I mention these were FAST? My guy and the boy can be pretty competitive when it comes to things like this, so I was just making sure I was not at the wrong place at the wrong time. There were several other racers on one particular round, and they were all in it to win as well. I got bumped a time or two, both times by Stephen, but after getting the hang of all the people on the track I was feeling better. By round three, I was a lot more comfortable, and even took a turn fast enough to feel my cart drift, it was crazy fun!
The boy told us he would have done this all night if he could. People get really into it too. A few couples were regulars, and it was fun just standing there watching them while they had their turns. They even came with their own, personal helmets. I foresee another day on the track sometime soon. Stephen has been to one of these places in Nashville, and the boy is more than ready to go again.
Now it was finally time to start winding down. We made it back to the room, for good this time, and after a long, wonderful day, we called it a night.
We’ll be headed to the beach next…
Rejoice for the Day 