Fun day

Yesterday Tammy and I were awakened at the crack of dawn by a phone call from Chris. Since we were up, we got ready and headed out for lunch at the new Fudruckers at Festival Bay. I love hamburgers. Let me tell you...the hamburgers at Fudruckers are pretty darn good. They even bake their own buns. And the onion rings are quite possibly the best ones I've ever eaten. It was all quite tasty! It's a bit expensive (two burgers, regular fries, large onion rings and two cokes cost $19) so we won't be dining there every day, but it's a nice treat.

We then walked around Festival Bay and did some shopping and peeked in the Vans Skate Park. It is HUGE! We stood around and watched the kids skateboard and rollerblade. It seems like a nice, safe place for the kids to skate around.

After we left Festival Bay, we went to Belz Outlet Mall and walked around. Tammy bought a nice skirt and shirt while we were there. Then we headed home for a bit.

We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom around 17:30 (that's 5:30 p.m. for normal people). We had a really nice time. We just walked around a bit, ate some dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe (the old Tomorrowland Terrace--I like eating there because we sit outside with a nice view of Cinderella Castle and Tomorrowland) and rode some attractions. We went on the WEDway PeopleMover, Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. We also took some pictures of our evening. You can see them here.

We left the Magic Kingdom when SpectroMagic started so we could beat the crowds. We went to Downtown Disney and did some shopping. We bought the new "Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs" cookbook. It's great because it has recipes from the Disney Cruise Line, as well as recipes from Disneyland and WDW. I also picked up the new WDW CD.

We got home about 22:30 (10:30 p.m.). I TiVo'd the race from Bristol so I watched that. At least until Jeff Gordon was unfairly penalized and was black flagged. Then I fast-forwarded to the end to see who won, and saw that rube Dale Jr. jumping up and down in Victory Lane so I turned it off and deleted it to make room for something else worthwhile.

The best thing about the day was spending it with Tammy. Saturday is the only full day we have together because of her work schedule. That's what made it a perfect day.

Back from vacation

We're back in Orlando now. We spent a week in New Orleans with our families. I know I had a great time, and I'm pretty sure Tammy did too. I was a groomsman in my cousin Marc's wedding on Saturday. Tiffany has photos of the wedding and reception on her web site, WelchFamilyNOLA.com. And I have pictures of some of the stuff I did during the week on our site. Take a look!

Tammy's family had a get-together for her birthday and I've posted pictures on our site. Her birthday is actually tomorrow (8/18), but since we couldn't be in N.O. on the day, we celebrated a bit early.

We returned on Sunday evening, and we saw the destruction that Hurricane Charley had caused. It is pretty bad throughout the area. Our property survived pretty well, but there's tons of uprooted trees all around our apartment complex. And around Orlando, half the homes are still without power and there's plenty of damage.

All quiet on the Orlando front

Man, has it really been two weeks since I posted? Jeez...where does the time go?

So, what's been going on? Chris got me hooked on a couple of first-person shooter games: Battlefield 1942 and Unreal Tournament 2004. I NEVER thought I would enjoy these types of games, but they're completely engrossing and I'm obsessed with them. I'm playing them so much that I dream about them at night. Thanks, Chris!

Other than the games, it's been a pretty eventful couple of weeks, but I can't go into that here (personal stuff).

We are going to New York this fall. We bought the plane tickets last week and we're going to stay at my uncle's apartment. We're going to meet my Mom, sister, brother and grandmother up there and spend three full days there. I'm getting really excited about going. I've always wanted to visit NY, and now I'm getting the chance. Cool!