Visitor number 1

So we've had our first visitor of the year, and so far the only person who's booked in to see us. Ami was a temp with Annalie's team at Rolls-Royce a couple of years back and has kept in touch since moving on. He now works for Virgin so used his ridiculous staff travel concessions to do a tour of North America and the Caribbean (or at least that's what it sounded like!).

Ian had to act as "babysitter" on Friday as Annalie had to work. So he took Ami up to Manchester to shoot some pool. Apparently the score was quite one-sided in the end.

Annalie decided to take a couple of nights off from writing her dissertation to entertain him. The first night was simply a meal at a local Mexican that we had not tried before. After a stressful Friday at work though, Annalie felt like some more serious relaxation and took Ami down to Mohegan Sun for a dabble on the card tables.

Ami had been more of a slots player in the past but Annalie managed to get him hooked on the Black Jack when, after losing a bit on one table, he moved to another and didn't seem able to lose! We both came away up. Annalie could have been up more, but she decided to wager her two $5 chips in an attempt to walk away with $100, and therefore doubling her money. It didn't work though, but she still walked away $25 up. Ami managed $20 up - not bad for a beginner!

This weekend we've had a taste of what might be in store for us this summer as we've experienced temperature well into the 80s It's been quite incredible Ian had a full-on day outside at the Fire Academy doing ladder drills and the heat managed to send one of the more experienced firefighters to hospital!

As the sun got its hat on, we thought it would be a prime opportunity to crack open the grill - sorry, barbeque! - for its inaugural cook out. The corn has appeared in the shops again, although not local as it's not quite the weather for our Connecticut crops just yet. But we got some ears anyway and grilled some pork chops to accompany them. Yum! We also made sure we had a lunch sat outside at the Diamond Bar to catch a few rays. We didn't realise that they hadn't got their awning up yet so we were trying to shade ourselves under a small umbrella that only just provided enough cover for the two of us! As the sun moved, Annalie was getting sizzled.

Other than that we didn't have much opportunity to enjoy the weather. Annalie has been cracking on with her dissertation again, and has even squeezed in another trip to JetBlue this week. It wasn't as fruitful as she'd hoped but it's better than nothing. She even took a trip to work this weekend to print out what she's got so far - nearly 100 pages of it! But that will come down quite a bit as she starts rewriting the content.

We didn't even manage to sneak in a game of golf to really make the most of the outdoors. Although last weekend we tried Minnechaug Golf Course for the first time this year and both had pretty poor games. Although on the 8th hole, which is an island green, Ian somehow managed to "bounce" his ball from the water to the green! A bit of a fluke, but it worked! After this poor performance Annalie decided it was about time for another lesson and headed back to our mate Don for some proper instruction. By the end of her hour she was hitting like Tiger again (she wishes!). Well, certainly a lot better than she had been at the start.

Annalie also had an impromptu half-day break from work, of the paid kind, because she still worked on her dissertation. As a response to the economic downturn, Pratt & Whitney has declared five furlough days for their staff - basically enforced unpaid leave. Easter Monday is not a bank holiday here so we were expected to work, except that P&W had declared it a furlough. So with only a quarter of the usual employees in that day, not much was really happening and the management took the decision to send everyone home at lunchtime. It didn't help that P&W Security was arguing with every member of staff turning up for work, telling them they shouldn't be there and it was a lock-down due to the furlough

Visiting the Mouse House

With Annalie's sister and family holidaying in Orlando this Easter, we decided it was a good excuse for ourselves to get down to the "Mouse House" Annalie made an excuse to use the trip as part of her Masters research as Orlando is the location of JetBlue's "University" where all new employees go through their induction, or Orientation process. She was invited to participate in one such session, so travelled down to Florida the Tuesday before the family arrived to attend "JetBlue U" on the Wednesday. It proved to be great fodder for her dissertation so she was glad of the opportunity to do it. She should have a lot of good material for the thesis now, it's now just a case of making sense of it academically.

Ian arrived on the Friday so she introduced him to all things Orlando before some lunch and dinner and some serious discussions about what we were going to do with our relatively free Saturday. The family weren't due to arrive until the late afternoon, so we had the day to kill. With all the attractions and activities we could have done, we ended up playing golf! Again!

The course we chose happened to be right beside Kissimmee executive airport, so we sometimes played dodge the light aircraft with our drives! Ian did manage to stick one ball on the end of the runway, but we're sure it's not the first time...The round was pretty abysmal for both of us so we almost wish we hadn't bothered with it and that we'd spent more money and gone somewhere else or done something different!

By the time we got back, the Twemlows were unpacking in their room so we went to wake them up (with the time difference we were sure the kids would be flagging!). To our surprise all were awake and happy to see us (we think! ).

We took them off for an early dinner as we knew an early night would be in order. The plan was to hit Epcot on Sunday as we'd been advised to do the Magic Kingdom last. It meant that we would both miss out on the opportunity to go there but at least it's easier for us to go back than it is for the family. And making their holiday good was more important.

The family trooped off to the welcome meeting to get sorted with their tickets while we waited for the text to say they were done. By the time all the paperwork had been sorted and breakfast had been eaten, we didn't get to the park until about 11.30. We all queued up to pick up our tickets. Annalie had no problem with hers, but it seemed that Andrea's rep had sold her a pony! We had to wait about 20 minutes before we were able to all get in the park. But we were given a priority pass for a ride of our choosing for our trouble

And we were in. Annalie introduced the family to the concept of FastPass (getting a timed entry to a ride ahead of time). We got one for a new ride called Soarin' before going on the Lucy (and Greg )-friendly Nemo and Friends. We had a go at Honey I Shrunk the Audience and then headed over to Test Track to do a "proper" ride for Jack The queue was huge and even FastPass was showing a time of 8pm, but we got one anyway. Ian and Jack then decided to try the "single rider" line to make up the numbers in other cars. It was only showing a 20-minute wait, so we thought it would be a short wait. As we stood trying to shade from the sun, the single rider wait time crept up to 30 minutes, and then 40. We thought we might be in for a much longer stay, but they reappeared just over 20 minutes later.

We then used our priority pass to go on the ride next door, Mission to Mars, that succeeded in sending us all a bit queasy with it's good simulation of a rocket launch. Some playing with toys later and we were all ready for some dinner, so we headed off round the "World Showcase" to find something edible. Greg voted for the United Kingdom, but fish and chips was vetoed for some native American cuisine burgers and hot dogs!

After dinner had settled (very important that!) we headed off in the direction of our FastPass rides. Soarin' was our first stop, which was an innovative experiential ride. Then we headed for Test Track. Lucy even managed to enjoy the fast car ride - although the obligatory photo came out a treat with Andrea desperately trying to hold on to Lucy's head to stop her banging herself!

After all that we'd had enough for one day and made our way back to the car, just missing the fireworks.

The next day we thought we'd go for something a little less strenuous, so we settled on Gatorland for something more subdued! We all got to get very close to the animals, which seemed to have a penchant for turkey frankfurters! Even the heavy rain showers didn't seem to deter them!

For Ian's last night we ventured to CiCi's Pizza for an all-you-can-eat buffet for just $5.99. Plus we had buy one get one free vouchers There was a distinct liking for the cheesey garlic bread around the table. I think there will be another visit there before the Twemlows leave!

Tuesday saw an early drop-off to the airport for Ian's return flight as he had to get back for the Fire Academy. Annalie and co decided to make it their day to visit Disney Hollywood Studios. Most of this park was a bit of a disappointment. It was very crowded and a relatively cold day with a cold wind blowing through clear blue skies. Annalie and Jack went off to try and find some of the more interesting rides seeing as both the Tower of Terror and the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster both had late FastPass times. Annalie and Andrea managed to sneak extra Passes for the latter - because we'd already got Passes for the Tower, the Rollercoaster wouldn't allow us to get tickets for it. But the machines were playing up, so we played dumb to the attendant handing out tickets and wangled some extras

There was a Star Tours simulator ride and the Studio Backlot Tour, plus a ride through the Movies, but nothing quite held the excitement of the two major rides. After we'd watched the Lights, Motors, Action show, we headed over to the Tower only to find a big queue because only half the ride was working. Annalie and Jack still endured the 50-minute wait and were rewarded with a cool ride We were just in time to make the Rollercoaster and had probably the first "proper" ride of the holiday! Andrea and Annalie were mean though and teased Jack about screaming like a girl throughout the ride The photo did nothing to convince us otherwise!

Wednesday was a lazy day by the pool to work on the tan and to allow Annalie some time to recharge the batteries before leaving for home the following day. She tried to drop the family off at Seaworld before going back to pack, but after getting stuck in traffic, she kicked them out to walk the last bit and just got back to her hotel with about 15 minutes before check out A rushed pack and made the deadline.

Getting back to CT meant that Annalie could get back to focusing on eating correctly, which hadn't exactly been easy while in Orlando. She's hoping the walking made up for it a little. Although there was also a fair bit of standing. In queues!

In Annalie's absence, Ian has been selling flowers(!) for the Fire Department. Each Spring they have a plant sale as a fundraiser. As a volunteer with not much else to occupy his time, Ian got stuck with a couple of shifts. He really does live the high life while the Mrs is away

On Friday Ian went for a bit of a briefing as part of his flight ground school, getting some one-to-one time with his instructor, who has offered to teach him to fly (the actual flying bit, not just the ground school!) for a cheaper rate than the school is offering. Annalie wonders what he's giving in return for this cheap rate

Saturday saw another day at the Fire Academy, giving Annalie some time to work on her dissertation. Oh yeah. She'd managed to forget about that a bit while on holiday, so now it's back to the grindstone . We took the night off though and headed out to the Funny Bone comedy show. There were some good acts on stage but the headliner, Mark Eddie, was in that spot for a reason. Very funny and a great voice. Colin would have liked it for the guitar improv that took place

We've been trying to upload the photos from Orlando but the website is having a few "issues." Annalie has put some on Facebook though, if any of you are "friends"