Quick Trip

We left Saturday afternoon (after work) for Orlando. Martha and Tony were arriving from Hawaii at about 4:30pm...and we got checked in just a few minutes before that. We went to our hotel in Lake Buena Vista. A Wyndham Hotel...not bad for the price. The property was nice, convenient to Disney and had everything we needed. It was too too crowded...as it is still early in the season...I imagine as the month goes on they will book up. Lots of families with little kids...of course.

Santa display at the mall

Martha-Tony-John -Anne

wearing our new dresses...

Martha and Tony were staying down the road at the Marriott World Center Hotel...which they were told was completely sold out...something that the hotel has  not had happen in a while. Martha was attending a big conference.....and since it didn't really start until Monday...we planned to spend the day together on Sunday while John and Tony golfed. We decided to head to the Mall at Millena (of Millena...whatever it is)...and we thought it opened at 10:00am. We arrived shortly before 10:00 and should have known when we didn't see any other cars...that something was up. I figured everyone was late getting out of church or something...haha. Fortunately Starbucks was open...we went in and had a nice cup of coffee. Welll...we had to make it last since we discovered that the stores didn't actually open until 11:00. (we thought for sure there would be "holiday" hours...oh well. We sat, talked and walked around...deciding what stores we wanted to go in once they opened. The time went by pretty quickly and we had a good time shopping....especially when we went into White House Black Market! haha We left there with a couple of bags each. The saleswomen were great and we both found several things we liked.Martha was good...she managed to get everything on her shopping list...I didn't have a list...so...I didn't...but it was fun.

Entrance at the Waldorf Astoria-Orlando

We ventured into The Cheesecake Factory for lunch...it was a little crazy in there....but we only had to wait about 15-20 minutes. We had delicious salads....I'd go back anytime. We got back to the hotel around the same time the guys finished golfing. We saw Alan and Rick...some of Martha and Tony's old friends. Later that night we went to have a delicious dinner at the Bull and Bear at the Waldorf. The steaks were so good...really everything was good.
Monday morning, the guys went golfing again...we went to breakfast and then I hung out in the room while Martha went to check out some of the poster presentations. There was thick fog everywhere...and it was kind of fun to sit on the balcony of their 24th room room...and feel like I was up in the clouds. haha. It cleared out quickly enough  for the golfers...and it kept the temperature down...so I enjoyed sitting outside, reading, writing Christmas cards and just watching the goings on down below.
It was a nice long weekend....and a great way to have an early birthday celebration.
YAY! I guess I deleted enough duplicate pictures from my Picasa web albums...that   I could post pictures on my blog again....it was a shot in the dark...(isn't everything for me...haha) but I figured I didn't have a problem before I started using the program...and I knew I had lots of duplicate files...so I started deleting them....tried once...no luck...tried again...no luck...but I guess I reached the lucky number...or something...anyway the pictures are back...and they make this much more interesting....haha