fun zone and pool fun!

This smiley face truly captures the mood for this
birthday60 portion of this year's vacation60,
shared with my first niece and her man!
The smile was at the Fun Zone amusement park in Orlando, which was huge compared to the one in Kissimmee by Old Town.

Christina and Christian had offered to buy
the all-day bracelet for me when we went there
yesterday afternoon, but I declined.
I preferred being on the ground watching them
get twirled and spun and sped around!
Like here, on the roller coaster!

And here, on the Enterprise, which not only
spun around horizontally, but also completely
vertically at its most scary point!

And here, on the Rip Curl!
This time they went around on a rollicking course,
with the first few times being forward...
and the last few times speeding backwards!
Nope, not for me any more!

Now, then, the go-karts I maybe could have done!
Here they are, each with their own ride,
racing along on the Commander track!
Ah, to have the breeze in the hair!

Then it was time for the Blaster Boats,
where they pummeled each other with their
massive water guns!
Hahahaha hahaha!

Then it was onto the Ferris wheel for a bit of
snuggle time together!
Aw, ain't they sweet?
(smile)

Then we all went to the alligator site -
thanks, Chris, for the bracelet there!
I spent a lot of time visiting Jeyan Kroc,
the blue-eyed, blue-spotted, white-skinned beast.
He and his young siblings were rescued in 1986.
He's blind now, but he stopped on the way to his private pool when he heard me speaking softly to him.
I even read the legend on the wall to him during our twenty minutes together.
Then others came by to see him and I took my leave, allowing him to continue on his path.
What a blessing to spend that time there!
Then, what a blessing to be a pirate last night!
Woohoo!!!

Today has been low-key and spent right here -
inside joke with the bfe, y'all! -
at the resort, for the Labor Day cookout.
Very nice!

While we waited for the food to settle,
we had a few tasty libations -
after all, it was five o'clock somewhere!

Hey, Chris, nice umbrella in your drink!
In fact, nice umbrellas in all of our beverages,
even in my very refreshing margarita!
Thanks, man!

Then they were off to the pool!
They had tried to convince me to do so,
but the sun was too high and I already have
a few moles looking tricky -
just shade for me, thanks!

We were all together for the exotic animals show.
Here they are making nice with Bambam,
the 7-year-old skunk.
Such a pretty boy he is and so lucky -
he's twice as old as he'd be in the wild.
Courtney works for an animal rescue group
that takes in unusual pets that become
abandoned by irresponsible humans.

In addition to the elderly skunk, she also had
a monitor lizard, a pink-belly turtle, a gator,
a bearded dragon, a lilac-headed macaw, and
this golden Burmese python.
Yes, I do believe Thelma was my favorite!
I guess that's because I was the "snake lady"!
That's an inside joke with Mama.
(smile)

She was definitely there today,
on our last day together in Orlando,
sharing her love from above.
Right place, right time.
i thank You, God.

Tomorrow, I leave for home, but they will still have two days here,
going off to Universal Studios for both of those.
As Carol Burnett would say:
"I'm so glad we had this time together..."


Here's to looking forward to time together on the vacation with my nephew, Michael, and his family in October!
What a blessing to be 'retired' and have this time available to share with loved ones!
i thank You, God!