HHN -or Halloween Horror Nights - Commence

I remember when I broke the news to C.J. in the spring of 2014 that we would have to wait another whole year to move down to Florida...he was understandably upset.  

His biggest objective has been to get me to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights and he was facing another 18 months before he would be able to get me there.

Well...18 months flies by quickly and tomorrow begins my very first experience with HHN. And I'm told this one will be one for the books.  
       First of all Jack is back: last seen in 2007 and he has a new "weathered" look to show age progression. This is a big one people.


     This year also features 5 scare zones
- Phycoscareapy 

- Icons *more on this later*

-Scarey Tales
- Evil's Roots
- All Nite Die In

   and 9 houses...one more than any other year.
- Freddy vs Jason
- Insidious

- The Walking Dead

- The Purge
- An American Werewolf in London - a fan favorite I'm told

- Jack Presents
- RUN
- Asylum in Wonderland
- The Body Collectors


Guests walk through the houses in a steady flow and each house is a 3 or 4 minute experience.

    This year features 2 shows
- Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure - a staple since 1992
- Jack the Clown

     Take a break from the houses and go on a ride...the following are open during HHN
- Simpsons
- Hollywood's Rip Ride Rockit
- Men in Black
- The Mummy
- Transformers
- Gringotts

     ABOUT THE ICONS
The earliest icons of HHN - the director, the caretaker, the storyteller, and the usher - are back this year. First time since 2006 (I believe)



 To say I'm excited is an understatement. 

Afternoon Tea

Now that  summer is over, the tourist traffic at Universal has reduced quite a bit.  And of the remaining tourists, most of them are from Europe...specifically England.  

Mid afternoon we can count on a cluster of Britain's appearing and ordering tea - which they apparently drink with milk.    

The conversation inevitably goes something like this:

Hand the person their hot tea...

Person: "Do you have any milk?"

Me: "Well we actually have half and half. If you want milk you have to buy the whole bottle."

Person: "What is half and half?"  Seriously they have not heard of it.

Me: "It's half milk and half cream." 

Person: "okay, I'll try it."

And incidentally, Brits are the kindest, sweetest, and happiest people.  It is always a pleasure to interact with them.  

Image from google

Celebrating With Family

One of the reasons Zack and I moved back to Florida is so that we could be with family for special days.  Even though we are about an hour away from my parents and sister we made the drive a couple times this summer to meet them for Sunday pizza - Father's Day and their anniversary.  

Yesterday was my mom's birthday so Sunday, fresh on the heels of our spontaneous trip to Gainesville, we drove to Daytona Beach to have pizza with the family again.

Then went back to my sister's place for cake...or rather chocolate cream pie she picked up instead.  Still good.

Ollie comes along and, in typical Ollie style, completely scares my sister's poor cat with the idea that they should be great friends.  The overwhelmed cat jumps on the top of the refrigerator while Ollie spends his time whining and trying to get up there himself. 

Tongue hanging out the side of his mouth - completely exhausting himself

I Made His Dream Come True

I was on facebook Saturday morning and because I 'like' the Florida Gators I get updates from them.  This particular update Saturday morning had a link to available tickets for that night's game. Having no expectations of finding affordable  tickets I clicked on the link and, well, YES there was!  

I was able to wake up my son with the news that we would not be watching the Gators game on TV that night but we would actually be watching the game- live in the Swamp!!!!

Our seats weren't too bad, I was expecting much worse. We were, of course, smack dab in the middle of the student section.  I was, at first, dreading this but it actually turned out okay.   The people we sat around were very nice...giving us high fives when the gators made a good play....

which, I have to say, wasn't often.  It was a terrible game in the context of execution and discipline.  A lot of stupid penalties and an offense that was average at best.  I normally don't blame refs but they certainly didn't help the cause.  There were four major plays involving turnovers and big penalties and every single one of them went against the gators.  Neutral commentators on the TV agreed - the calls were bad. 

They ended with the win so there's at least that. But ugly man... just ugly.

It was also one of the longest games in the history of football - or maybe it only felt that way. It started at 7, we left at 10, and it was still only the end of the 3rd quarter. 

This is not fog but rather smoke from fireworks set off after a pick 6.    I can't believe they allowed the kickoff to take place

Who could even see the ball through all that smoke?

Link to kickoff

Link to Gator TD

Such fun..hopefully there will be many more games through the years.  

Another 9/11

Squirrels and Cats

Some pictures from our walk yesterday...

Ollie stalks squirrels and then chases them up a tree

I think it's cute that they run up the tree and then turn around and look for the "predator"

They keep a close eye on us

Another poor squirrel chased up a tree

Lucy has been nesting lately...too bad there is nothing in the eggs

 Sometimes we run into more than just a squirrel...

Ollie just doesn't understand why the cats don't love him like he loves them.  Yesterday he even chased a petrified black cat up a palm tree.  I'm not sure if these cats are feral or just outdoor pets. I wouldn't mind taking one in if Ollie wouldn't be so overbearing in his offer of friendship. There is only one cat, an orangish one, that tolerates him and that cat I know for sure is someone's pet.  

Pool Problems

We've been here in our apartment for a little over three months now and have had the use of our pool for only one week - the first week.  
I'm not sure how but this happened to our pool the first week of June:

And it still has not been fixed.  Now I'm a pretty patient person and I know there are three other pools around the complex...but I think I am paying all this money to live here and I should be able to have my pool!  Instead, I have this:

Most of the time, I don't even want to use the pool...I just want to sit on a lawn chair and read.  But as you see that chain link lock around the gate will not allow me to do even that.  

At least the yellow caution tape that was covering the pool for a couple months is gone which improves the view.