Orlando 2012 - Part 2

Day 5: Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom - After the intense thrill rides at Universal Studios the day before it was nice to relax and go on Safari's, take pictures and just enjoy the day.  My favourite part of the day was actually watching a show a Bug's Life (cute with surprises), also the re-enactment of Finding Nemo Musical was a great show as well.  Van got very excited to see Chip & Dale and they were the first characters we took pictures with (even delaying lunch!).  That's just how much Van loves them LOL.

Day 5: WDW - Animal kingdom

Day 5: WDW - Animal Kingdom

 Day 6: Sea World - It definitely felt like an older theme park.  There weren't many rides but the shows were quite entertaining.  I think this park was one of the shorter days we had so it was another relaxing day.

Day 6 - Sea World

 Day 7: Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom - we really don't have many pictures from Magic Kingdom as it was an extremely hot day and we were getting a bit tired of snapping photos.  Unfortunately Thunder Mountain was closed so we were a bit disappointed.  However we actually spent 10 hours at this theme park as we had to stay til the end to watch the spectacular firework show.  Definitely amazing and well worth the wait.  We ate at "Tony's" which was the restaurant from Lady & the Tramp (my favourite disney movie), but sadly the pasta was soggy. 

Day 7 - WDW - Magic Kingdom

 Day 8: Walt Disney World Epcot - this world was more of an educational world.  What was neat was that they had 11 countries foods/cultures in the world.  We were going to have a drink from each country but the prices were approximately $11/drink.  We ended up only having a drink from Germany and Japan.  I had to include the picture of the BEST COOKIE EVER!  It was a chocolate cookie with caramel inside.  Mmm definitely the highlight of the day!

Day 8 - WDW - Epcot

 Random Pictures:
We went to Downtown Disney for the nightlife on a couple of nights.  We ended up watching Sherlock Holmes 2 there and Into the Grey.  They had a neat movie concept where you could dine & watch the movie, the food wasn't that good but I would love to go back and eat/watch a movie as the chairs were so comfy and the bar lights would help (esp if it was a scary movie lol).  Here's a picture of the store displays outside the Lego store.

Downtown Disney

 Bubba Gumps: located in Universal Studio and based off the movie Forrest Gump.  Such good seafood!  One of the highlights for food on the trip.

Universal Studios - Bubba Gump

 Fulton's Crab House - we discovered this restaurant on our last night there!  DOH!!  The seafood is excellent and reasonably priced (compared to the seafood here.... but be warned the prices still set you back).  We had the best appetizer which included a whole lobster (YUM).  Then Van had 1.5lbs of crab meat, and I had Salmon with Risotto.  After our yummy appetizer I decided to order a whole lobster to myself (in my defence I had no appetite on the trip due to the Norovirus so I was trying to make up for it ;P).  Amazingly I finished my meals before Van was done... and no I didn't eat the whole thing, I think I gave up on 1/3 of the Salmon and I gave up on the potatoes that came with the lobster.... but hey I did pretty good!

Downtown Disney- Fulton Crab House

Downtown Disney - Fulton Crab House

Orlando 2012

We ended up going to Orlando, Florida in late January for 9 days.  The trip started off a bit bumpy due to plane connections and me with the Norovirus (think food poisoning but much much worst).  We also found out that we both get motion sickness which was a bit disappointing since the whole trip was Disney World, Universal Studios & Sea World.  It definitely wasn't our best trip and some would argue it might have been our worst but there were good moments and we were glad we went during low season.  Weather was beautiful and wait times for rides were 10-20 mins (I can't imagine waiting longer then that!).  We didn't have a rental so we were stuck with theme park food which was ... theme park food ... yuck!  Here are some pictures of the good moments on our trip. There are no pictures from Day 1 (outlet shopping) and Day 9 (leaving to go back home).


Day 2: Walt Disney World Hollywood Studios - we ended up spending 4 hours here.  I wasn't feeling to well so we didn't do much but walk around.  The Star Wars ride was pretty neat and the Tower of Terror looked intense! 

Day 2 - WDW: Hollywood Studios (no pictures as I was quite sick)

 Day 3: Universal Studios Islands of Adventure - Van really wanted to visit Harry Potter World so we came here the next day.  I wasn't 100% but we had the whole day so we enjoyed it very slowly.  I think we ended up spending a good 6-8 hours here.  Harry Potter Castle/Ride was pretty amazing but we made the mistake of riding it twice, which helped us realize that our motion sickness was pretty bad LOL. 

Day 3: US: Islands of Adventure - Butter Beer from Harry Potter World

Day 3: US: Island of Adventures - Pictures after the water ride (hence we look like soaked rats)

Day 4: Universal Studios - The Mummy ride was amazing!  Too bad I had my eyes closed the whole time LOL.  We loved all the characters here and how the staff would help us take pictures.  We definitely got the most pictures together this trip. 

Day 4: Universal Studios - Yay Dora/Diego & the Mummy

Day 4: Universal Studios: Shrek, Scooby-Do, Simpsons

Nicknames, petnames etc

I've been thinking alot about nicknames, petnames and their origins.  Do you still remember how you got yours?  I'm going to share some of mine....

(1) Cynthia Nickname's/Petnames
(a) Mui - I had this chinese nickname growing up and I think it literally translates to "little girl".  It was only my parents and their friends that used it and luckily I grew out of it when there were other little girls that were there and when my niece was born as she has now inherited the title of "Mui Mui" or "Mai Mai" if you prefer in mandarin

(b) Cyncha - I thought I was so smart when I came up with this online nickname.  I actually copied it from Cujo (part hockey, part Stephen King novel).  I had this one for a couple of years until my Mom started calling me this out loud *shudder*.  That quickly killed the nickname

(c) Cynthia - Now you think, this is my full name, how is it a nickname/petname?  Well everyone I know is quite lazy and has shortened my name to 1 syllable by calling me Cyn.  When I met Van he made a promise before we went out that he would forever call me Cynthia as it was my full name and never shorten it.  He's kept that promise as I've never heard him call me anything else.  It's very endearing to me and thus I consider it a petname :)

(2) Van's Nickname/Petnames
(a) Vanie - I've been calling my husband Vanie since probably the first month.  I know I know what a girly nickname/petname right?  Well thats exactly the point.  Imagine a teddybear of a man being called that and not mind at all.  Not once has Van complained and he lets me call him this.  As no one else calls him Vanie, it puts a special touch on the endearment to me.

(3) Eugene (my brother) Nickname
(a) Gu - I started this nickname for my brother probably about 15 years ago.  I just started calling him Gu and he always responded.  He's never really asked me why, and same with my parents though they know I'm referring to him when I say Gu.  It's probably time to reveal the origin of this silly nickname.  Since we've been young we've called our aunts "Go" in Chinese.  I had always thought it represented Cantonese, but found out in my teens that it was Chaozhou.  In Cantonese aunts on your father's side are called "Gu".  I remember thinking.... my brother has a G in his name... and a U.... I'm going to call him Gu.  Surprisingly 15 years later it still works and everyone's accustomed to it.  LOL. 

On a final note, Happy 34th Birthday Gu! :)

Audi Update

It's time for an Audi update!  Audi is now 7 months old and is doing very well!  He can shake, roll over and speak.  Course if you have a treat in your hand he'll just keep doing all 3 continuously until he gets his treat, sooo I'm not really sure if he understands the commands.

Audi's very lucky that he has Khuno (Samoyed) and Chalk (Pug) as his relatives.  Each week he gets very excited to play with them, especially since one is so big and one is so small.  His favourite lady friend (and only one) is Slinky.  She's a 9 month old Lab/Corgi mix so he just loves how they're the same size and same energy level!


Here are some pictures:

Audi - look at my long Corgi body

Audi - Daddy promises that Mommy's not going to dress me up anymore

Audi, Khuno, Chalk

Slinky & Audi (You can't see it here but Slinky has the cutest ears, where 1 sticks out horizontal and the other lies flat down)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years

I know this post may be a little late but Merry Christmas everyone!
This past year has been full of challenges and delightful surprises!  In a nutshell, we attended 2 weddings outside of the country, we got to watch Van's baby sister get married, we sold a car and are down to 1 car and we ended up getting a puppy!   I definately can't wait to see what 2012 will bring!

So how did everyone do on their New Years Resolutions?
I did not do so well... only because I can't find the sheet where I wrote all the resolutions down!!

Here are some that I remember:
- Get landscaping done (check!)
- Finish fence (this didn't happen as we have 5 neighbours so it didn't end up going through, but it actually worked out as last year was tight with all the vacation)
- Pay off all the vacation (this one is debatable, as we could call it checked off but then it's like saying we have alot of groceries that aren't paid off for.  I'll leave this unchecked for now)
- Obtain Insurance designation (check!  And I ended up winning an award too, woot woot!)

An extra items that were done:
- Put stone around fireplace (this was suppose to be done before our housewarming... but a 2 year delay isn't so bad right?  Especially with the way it turned out!  We really have to thank Van's dad for helping us Van on this one!  Here's the before & after:

So it's about a 50/50 split which really isn't bad!  This year I think for new years resolution it will be:
(1) Finish Fence (I'm sure the dog will appreciate this)
(2) Pay off all Vacation
(3) Buy a second vehicle

I wish you guys all luck with your resolutions and wish me luck with mine :)



Please meet Audi!

On Tuesday the Hubby listened to my random ramblings and allowed me to adopt a beautifuly Husky/Corgi puppy from the SPCA. 

So please meet Audi!  He's a four month old puppy who loves to follow you around and plop at your feet.  He loves to snuggle and doesn't mind if you put clothes on him.  He's alot like his adopted mommy/daddy and likes to sleep while watching TV.  Mommy loves him alot and Daddy is slowly warming up to him.

Here's Audi with Daddy's Grumpy face

One of Audi's sleeping positions

Course Audi has two bigger brothers as well.  There's sweet Khuno who is loved by Sandy & Jamie, and there's hyper Chalk who is loved by Vans parents (and especially Van).  So I thought it was only fitting to include baby pictures of all!

Chalk when he first arrived

Khuno when he first arrived

Audi when he first arrived

Congratulations to Sandy & Jamie!

This October Sandy (Van's baby sister) and Jamie got married!!  It was an exciting day filled with love!  We weren't able to get any pictures as we had to run some errands but we did squeeze some in with the professional photographer with the happy couple!

It was such a memorable occasion and we truly felt their love, heart, and commitment when they spoke... stole a glance at each other ... and celebrated their joy! 

Congrats Sandy & Jamie, we are so happy to be part of your special day, and so proud to be part of the family!