Christmas, friends and Mummy's birthday

Well it's been an eventful few weeks to say the least! I had a few visitors...some tall, some short and one very hairy old man in a red coat. December started with all of these crazy Americans putting lights up around their houses.

Not quite sure why they can't just switch on their porch lights but needless to say mummy and daddy felt the pressure and soon we had some pretty fairy lights lighting up the bush in front of our house.

No sooner had I just got used to all these lights but a fat man in a red suit drove passed our house in a fire truck...I thought he was supposed to fly through the skies, but mummy says he was just driving by to check where we had moved to since we left old Blighty. Fair enough I thought as I like getting presents, but did he need to be so noisy?

 

I'm beginning to understand this Christmas thing is quite big. We visited Winter Garden old town to see more lights being switched on. This time they had a big tree and something they call 'snow'.

The next day, Daddy brought home our own tree. I got bored with helping mummy with putting the decorations on so I took this selfie...say cheeeeeese!

A few days passed and I was really getting in to Christmas. Mummy had started baking cookies, daddy had stocked up the cupboards and fridge with lots of goodies for me to munch on. All was going so well when I suddenly woke up one afternoon to find myself being pushed around a fishing shop. Yes that's right Daddy had discovered a Bass Pro Shop here in Orlando. I couldn't believe my eyes though when all of a sudden that fat hairy man in the red coat appeared in front of me. That's right, mummy and daddy had heard that he was doing his Christmas Shopping at Bass Pro so they brought me along to meet him. They said that I would be asleep when he comes to visit our house on Christmas Eve....yeah well we'll see about that. Anyway, he was a very nice man so I allowed him to have his photograph taken with me.

T'was the night before the day before Christmas when Uncle Stu arrived from snowy Canada. I didn't get to see him until the morning, but when I did I was so excited and interested in the size of his nose! That's a big hooter! Anyway, we were off to have a day of fun at Magic Kingdom. I had such a fun day. I saw lots of my favourite Disney characters...

I also went on my first two rides...what is this devilry?

 

 

I got soaking wet on Pirates of the Caribbean. Nobody told me that there was a big drop. I loved it though!

We had such a great day.

On reflection though I believe this was cunning plan from mum and dad to tire me out as I slept through the fireworks and missed Santa leaving all of these amazing presents!

Whilst I was busy playing with all the wrapping paper, mummy, daddy and uncle Stu were all busy getting ready for dinner. 

Daddy forgot to buy the crackers, so Uncle Stu crafted us all our own Christmas Hats

We had a great day as lots of our friends and family from Blighty wished us a Merry Xmas over Skype. It was so lovely to see so many people in one day.

On Boxing Day we went to see Violet, Janelle and Adrian where we chilled out and watched some men running around in shoulder pads....they called it 'football' but I didn't see much of them actually kicking the ball with their feet! Anyway, the next day we hit the beach! This was my first time playing with a bucket and spade and I also dipped my toes in the sea, but it was too cold for me to stay in for too long.  Daddy and Uncle Stu though went for a quick swim.

It was soon time for Uncle Stu to return back to Canada. Lucky santa had brought him a new scarf as he was a little poorly and I hear it's very cold up north. It was great to spend time with him though and I hope to see him again soon.

Before I new it I was off to Animal Kingdom. Another great day was had and I met Rafiki from the Lion King as well as having great fun with Nemo.

 

A few days later and it was 2015!! This meant that I was approaching my 9 month birthday. All was going so well...mummy and daddy had taken me to see a nice lady call Dr Patel. She was really friendly, but then all of a sudden she stuck two sharp needles in me!  I mean, what's that all about?? Mummy said that everything was ok and that it was to stop me from getting poorly....hmmm not so sure myself but mummy knows best!

Two days later I find myself back in front of a doctor again...they say something about a second degree burn...a cup of tea...and lots of bandages. Not quite sure what happened but daddy was wrapping my arm in a bandage twice a day for a week. Didn't bother me though as I'm well tough!

 

In between all of this excitement we had a visit from that short man they call Dave. We all went to watch him and his friend Reuben running in the Dopey Challenge. We spotted them just before the finish line at Epcot where they had just been running in the marathon. Well done Dave and Reuben!

Next up was mummy's birthday. Daddy had to go to work in the morning as they were installing the first capsule on to the Orlando Eye. I saw him on TV again! Anyway, daddy managed to get home by lunch time and he took us off for a mini adventure. We went in a helicopter...yes a real one...not one of the cartoon ones they make me watch on TV.

When we landed safely daddy then took me and mummy out for dinner. We went to City Walk at Universal Studios and found a nice place to eat called Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. We all had a great day and with that I am signing off as I need a sleep....until next time folks x

 

 

Moving and Thanks giving

Date: 9th November - 1st December 2014
Location: Windermere / Winter Garden

Hey everyone, sincere apologies for not updating my blog. I could spout out several reasons for not doing so, but mainly because there wasn't a lot to tell and I didn't have access to the computer, because my mummy and daddy were constantly on it sorting out moving stuff.

So let me go back a few weeks. Mummy and myself have not been that busy in those weeks. Mummy kept herself busy doing some arty stuff for my bedroom (see evidence 1)

Evidence 1 - Crayola monogram a letter 'H' for yours truly.

We also played a lot of games. One I particularly liked was camps and hiding under sheets, see evidence 2.

Evidence 2. Not a very flattering photo of me, look at my hamster cheeks. Need cut down drinking all that milk.

 On 13th November I turned 7 months, woop woop. This meant that I could now sit on my own and I could start looking at getting myself across the room. I started to scare mummy, as I would move and hide under a table or behind the side of the couch. I am doing what is known as army crawling and I can get myself in all sorts of places. It can be frustrating at times, when I just can't get somewhere quick enough.

Here I am surprising mummy under the table.

The main highlight of the day was seeing daddy on TV. That's right we get a phone call from him saying that he has just done an interview for fox tv. I couldn't quite believe that my daddy was on this screen and sitting next to me at the same time, how does that happen?? He also did a performed video promoting the Orlando eye. This was done in several takes but looked great in the end. So proud of my daddy.

 

Here's a very dark picture of me watching daddy on TV.

For those of you who have been unlucky enough not to have seen his video on FB please see the link below. Enjoy!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2DHJp9GxJk

 

So on the 16th November we went Citrus Fruit picking at a local citrus farm in Clermont. It was a lovely hot day and it was great to be out in the sun. When we first arrived we parked up right by these ginormous shark teeth. They were huge! I managed to sit amongst them, glad I didn't see the real beast these came from. After a few photos with the teeth and a look at the lake to see if we could spot any alligators we eventually went in to the farm.

We found these when we first arrived. Look how big they are!

 We decided that before we went and picked all our fruits that we wanted we would have a ride on this massive monster truck. If I didn't know anything different I would've thought this was the land of the giants and not a citrus farm.

This is the big monster truck I went for a ride on.

We went travelling around the groves for an hour, with a guide explaining the harvest and stopping every now and then to stop and look at local wildlife. He kept saying that he would catch an alligator if we saw one, but I didn't believe him. Luckily for him there was not one to be seen. Funny that!

 

On our trip we came across a big ford of water, I thought oh no we going to have to turn around now. Oh no our guide had other plans, he was going to happily drive through the water. you should've seen the looks on peoples faces. I knew there was nothing to worry about we were in a MONSTER truck.

Halfway through the ride we decided to get a family selfie, not a bad bunch of people I must say.

My family selfie on the Truck

 

We came across a massive ford of water, it was ok we were in the MONSTER truck.

 

 

We saw some scary wildlife on our travels. Daddy held a banana spider, he's either very brave or rather stupid, you guys decide. As he's my daddy I would say he's quite brave. I may be like him one day. We also saw our very first snake. I was glad I was on the truck when we did. He didn't look very friendly and I didn't fancy going to hospital because of it. He did however squirm off pretty quickly, we had just enough time to get a picture.

 

Our first Diamond Back Rattlesnake, glad I was in the truck!

Daddy holding what I think they called a banana spider

 The farm, had many animals, like a farm would have I suppose. They had cows, donkeys, a horse, which got mentioned a few times, as if it was famous or something. There was also a random Zebra and plenty of buffalo. We stopped a few times to feed the cows with oranges. These must be some really healthy cows, eating oranges like they do.

 

Me feeding the cows with oranges.

 When the ride had finished we went off with our bag to collect what we came for, oranges, grapefruit, lemons and limes. There were hundreds of trees with orange, yellow and green fruit on them, so confused on which ones to pick. We just guessed and managed to get some nice tasty bits of fruit, so I am told, as I'm not allowed to eat them yet.

 

Helping to gather the oranges.

 

 

Bag was almost full, just needed to get some lemon and limes.

 This day was fun, but it had to end as daddy had to go to work and show off the wheel. Oh well we had next weekend.

 

Nothing much happened during the week this week. There was lots of preparing for our move, we went on a few last walks of the beautiful lake by our apartment, where I got to go down the slide and on the swings. 2 big things happened for me this week, I got 2 teeth. They are still growing. Apparently they supposed to hurt all the time, but I did really well and only had one bad evening with them. Here are the start of my teeth for everyone to see. Although, they are much bigger now since I took this photo.

 

 

At the weekend however, we went to a local village called Mt Dora. This was a quaint little village where you can stroll around the local individual shops or have something to eat in one of the various pubs, cafes or restaurants. We chose to eat at the Lost Parrot. Very friendly and even had a band playing whilst we ate.

Outside a lovely pub in Mt Dora, called the Lost Parrot

 

We then went for a stroll and I saw my very first christmas tree. It was very pretty but not sure what the point of it is. I hope I like this Christmas tradition that my family celebrate.

 

 

We then drove back preparing ourselves for what will be a manic week.

We finally moved in to our new house the day before Thanks Giving. It was hectic, all this stuff turned up and I watched them start to move stuff in. However I didn't see what went on that day, as I was whisked off to spend some quality time with my new mate Adrian. It would be telling what we did, but safe to say it was good fun and Adrian looked after me well.

Here are a few pictures of what it looks like inside. Although we've still got a lot of unpacking to do and to purchase some new furniture.

Kitchen / Diner

 

Living room area (I think it could do with a massive picture on the wall,

but not sure if my opinion counts)

 

Dining Area (no camera trickery yes the table is only that big)

 

My room (hey who took the picture whilst I was asleep)

 

Mummy and Daddys room.

There is also a guest room and 2 bathrooms, but didn't feel you needed to see those.

 

Next blog I'll show you the local area.

So the last big highlight during November was my families first ever thanks giving. I am still trying to understand what this tradition is about. Its celebrated by the Americans with their families, where they get together and east lots of turkey and other food such as apple pie and some of them have a few drinks and watch the football (American football to me, as you know real football is played with a round ball!)

We went round daddy's bosses place and we had a lovely roast dinner with apple pie for afters. The grown ups also played a few games, whilst I slept.

Pictures of our very first thanks giving are below.

The lads on Thanks Giving.

My family on Thanks Giving

Now that holiday is over we are now preparing for the next big holiday of Christmas. As you can see I am already joining in with the fun wearing santas hat. Apparently he left one behind one year and never took it back.

Finally I will end this post with an updated picture of  me and my teeth. Apparently I get more teeth like this as I keep growing. So I better continue to eat all my dinners.

Thanks for reading my blog. Anything you would like me to do or you would like to see please let me know.

Signing out for November
Hxxxx

Happy teethy smile