Change of plans. Legoland is now 7 of 9.

So we headed out for Universal Studios shortly after 7 am. on Monday.  About 8 miles up the road, I just thought to ask Mark what the park hours were going to be on Tuesday for our Legoland trip.  Good thing I asked.  They are CLOSED on Tuesdays! 

Quick U-Turn!  Stopped at home to change out of our Universal Studios t-shirts and hats and find something more generic.  Made it to Legoland by 10 a.m. when it opened.

We spent six hours there!  Our legs were tired, but we were happy.  We had never been there before.  Mark got a Living Social coupon for far less than half price tickets, so we were quite happy to use them.  It was a lot of fun, but we do not see any reason to buy season tickets.  It is definitely a park we want to go to again, but we probably will only go once a year.

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure are now park 8 and 9 of our nine in September, the final two on the last day of September.  Been a fun project.

Because Legoland was completely new to us, I took scads of photos, over 300 in fact.  Crazy.  Anyway here are some of the highlights.

Miniland is very impressive.  Scenes of Florida, SF, NYC, Washington DC, Star Wars, Vegas, and more.

Bok Tower in central FL.

Lego otters

This land was Cypress Gardens, the main tourist attraction in the 1930s through '60s.  We were especially interested in strolling through the original botanical gardens area.  Real ladies in antebellum costumes used to be there.  Now it's a Lego Lady!

This banyan tree was AWESOME, planted from a seed in 1936 by the original owners and developers of Cypress Gardens.

Cypress Gardens started water-skiing shows and popularized the sport.

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Lego Ford!

Times Square

Enjoying the Statue of Liberty

Painted Ladies in SF

Mark is facing off against Darth Maul

Me and some new friends?

Universal is 7 AND 8 of 9

We are exhausted from Animal Kingdom, but we are up and getting ready to knock off two parks today.  We could have arrived there as early at 7 a.m., which meant leaving at 5:45.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  The park opens to the general public at 8 a.m.  I'm thinking we might make it by 9.  LOL!

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure are 7 and 8 of our quest for nine major theme parks in September.  We can do it, but we both said to each other that this idea sounded better when we were planning it than this morning when the alarm went off.  Our muscles are a bit stiff and sore from tromping all around Animal Kingdom yesterday.

But we not quitters.  This will happen!  Got to make this short to go get dressed and get out of here!

Enjoy these pictures from Animal Kingdom.

Oh, wait. I almost forgot that it's Monday and weigh-in time.  OK, I just ran into the bathroom to weigh in, 266.7  That's a small loss for the week.  I'll take it.

Love the slides for our Magic Bands

Waiting at the tram to head into Animal Kingdom

One of Mark's favorite rides and the first thing we did.

I think he followed me home.

Festival of the Lion King's new home in Harambe Village.  The outside is a HUGE improvement over the old theater and fits nicely into the African area.

Inside the theater looks the same and the show hasn't changed.

Safari ride!

We listened to this duo playing tabla and sitar.  I think they are new, or at least new for us.

Love this big tree sculpture.

Animal Kingdom 6 of 9

The High Holidays were great at our shul, and my little choir sang beautifully both days.  This was really their very finest Rosh Hashanah performances.  We also enjoyed the rabbi's sermons and the entire service.  Mark made excellent dinners for both Yom Tov nights and Shabbat.   In fact, on Shabbat Mark used two of the recipes that we got in Cozumel on our salsa shore excursion.  He made homemade roasted vegetable salsa and margaritas.  Yum.

Today we are coming down the homestretch of our quest to do nine major theme parks in September.  We will go to Animal Kingdom today, both Universal parks tomorrow, and Legoland on Tuesday.  TA DA!  We will be done.

Animal Kingdom always seems to be the Disney park that we go to the least often. I just checked our calendar, and the last time we were there was February 9.  We went then just because we realized we hadn't been there in awhile!  Today we have three Fast Pass Plus rides lined up: Safari ride, Dinosaur, and the Lion King show in its new theater over in the Africa section.  The entire area of Camp Minnie Mickey, where Lion King used to be, is now shut down and in the process of being made over as an Avatar land attraction.  A new baby gorilla was born just a few weeks ago, so we will take a walk down that trail to see the baby.  The hours for the park are 9-5, so no matter what happens, it won't be a long day.   The blister I got on my toe has been healing up nicely with several days in a row with little walking.  I hope I don't get set back too far today.  I have even more walking at Universal tomorrow!  LOL!

Apparently, I did not make a photo album of the February 9 visit to Animal Kingdom, so I'm charging up the camera.  There will be pictures today!

Rosh Hashana starts tonight.

Yesterday and today have been very, very low-key days.  There are several people who regularly comment to us about how much energy we have and wonder how we do so much.  Well, the answer is that it runs out sooner or later.  These two days have been the crash days for me.  I also ended up with a huge blister on my left pinkie toe Monday.  It's been great walking in my soft squishy slippers in the house.  In fact, I've been keeping the walking to a minimum, trying to get it to heal up as fast as possible.  Tomorrow I'll be going to shul for hours and hours and wearing shoes.  Friday, too!  Haha!  Saturday, too!  When a holiday starts on a Wednesday night, it means three straight days in shul.

The only thing I did yesterday, besides watching TV and playing on the computer, was go to the surgeon.  He took the packing material out of the cyst.  Although he said it would sting, it did not.  He bandaged it up again.  Now Mark has to pour hydrogen peroxide in to the hole once a day for three days.  Then I just keep it bandaged, changing it daily, until it looks completely closed up or until I see him again on October 15 for the final removal of the entire capsule.  At that point, it will have stitches for 10 days and continue to be bandaged.  I'm a little bummed that I cannot be in a pool until after this whole thing is done, no sooner than October 25, but at least it will be GONE!  I do want it to be gone forever!

Today I'm going nowhere.  I might not even get dressed at all today.  My nightie and slippers are feeling pretty good right now.

Mark is heading out to do some final shopping for the High Holidays and to get some hydrogen peroxide.  I thought we had some at home, but I was wrong.

Mark is going to make a low-carb honey cake today. He did that last year, and it was yummy. This may or may not be the same recipe, but we are going to love it anyway. He will be making a delicious chicken dinner for tonight and tomorrow night. With round raisin challah, wine, apples and honey, pomegranate, and the honey cake, this is going to be a wonderful holiday!  It may just be the two of us around the table, but we will make the most of it.

To anyone reading this blog today, Jewish or not, let me wish you a wonderful, sweet New Year.  L'Shanah Tovah.

Mini-Golf, Karaoke, and Surgeon's Appointment

Mini-Golf at Universal Studios was a lot of fun yesterday.  The course was really entertaining with clever themeing.  Barbara was the big winner with Al a close second. Mark and I tied for third.  We all want to go back and do the other course up there some day.

After golf and lunch out at Perkin's, Mark and I shopped at BJs and the comic book store and had a lovely dinner at Outback courtesy of gift cards we had accumulated from friends in the past year or so.  Then we had a special rehearsal at SOJC.  We polished up some things, so hopefully they will be great Thursday and Friday for Rosh Hashanah.

Afterwards, six of us went to an Irish pub nearby called Kitty O'Shea's to celebrate Loren's birthday and sing karaoke.  Crazy night.  We didn't get home until after midnight and in bed by 2 a.m.  I'm in a sort of stupor today.  We are just chillin' out and watching the three hours of TV we missed last night.

i have a HUGE blister on my left pinkie toe, so I'm also enjoying staying barefoot and not walking too much.

At 3 we have to leave to got the surgeon's office.  He will take out the packing material inside the cyst.  Last week he said it would need to "calm down" for awhile before a deeper surgery to remove it.  Hopefully taking the packing out this afternoon isn't too big a deal.

Meanwhile here are some pictures from the golf and karaoke.

Monday Weigh-In

Up one today to 269.  Last Monday 268.  So that's that.

Yesterday we had a wonderful time at Epcot.  We enjoyed riding Maelstrom for the final time and seeing Off Kilter one last time.  The Fife and Drum Corps did not play on Sundays, so we didn't get to see them.  We also really enjoyed Jo Dee Messina's performance.  It was her first time at the Eat to the Beat concerts at Epcot.  We had lunch at the Terra (Vegan) kiosk and the Greek kiosk, our favorite.

Today we are picking up our friends Barb and Al to go play mini-golf at Universal Studios.  This is counting as part of our 9 of 9 since we are not going into the park.  We will also have lunch out with them.  After that, we have some errands to run at BJs and the comic book store, dinner out using a gift card, and a 7 p.m. rehearsal at SOJC.  This is our last rehearsal before the High Holiday performance on Thursday.  Mark is coming to help put up chairs for the holiday.  Then we are going out to an Irish pub with some choir members because one of them is celebrating her birthday today.  She wants us to go have some karaoke time at this bar.  Seven of us are going, but the website says it doesn't start until 10 p.m.  UGH!  I don't think she knew that.  I'm pretty sure that if we get there around 8:30, not many of us will be left by 10 p.m.

Enjoy these pictures of Epcot from yesterday.

First ride of the day, always a favorite

Second ride just because there was no line

First lunch stop

Faux crab cake on pepper slaw with spicy remoulade

Gardein chik'n breast on farro with spicy gumbo sauce

Farewell Maelstrom!  You've been great.

We got the front row for our last ride.

Our second lunch kiosk

Top to Bottom: veggie moussaka (new this year), griddle cheese with honey and pistachios (all time fave food here), and spannikopita.  All delicious!

Great show by Off Kilter.  Good luck guys for the next phase of your career.

She gave a great concert, but she didn't sing two of our favorite songs.