A trip to Florida is not complete without a swim in the ocean and a visit to Disneyworld.

We swam in the warm tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Being northerners, we are used to swimming the cool Canadian currents of the Atlantic. So, getting the opportunity to swim in the Atlantic, further south was a treat. When we swim in the ocean at the Jersey shore the water temperature is usually about 67 to 72 degrees. The water this morning at Delray Beach was 81 degrees. It was lovely...but even lovelier was the time we spent at Disneyworld.

In a word, Disneyworld was great!

I am not going to bore you with the day to day details of our stay in Disneyworld. I will simply talk about a few highlights.

We were at Disneyworld the week of July 4th. We expected it to be extremely hot, and the parks to be very crowded. We were quite surprised to find the weather very tolerable and the parks less crowded than expected. We had a few heavy rains (which lasted only an hour or two), but they did not place a damper on anything we wanted to do thanks to our Dollar Store rain slickers. And thanks to the Fast Pass system, we didn't have any long waits for any ride or attraction. In fact, there were times we had a Fast Pass for a ride, and the regular lines were so short, we didn't even use the Fast Pass.

Of all the thrill rides, the Tower Of Terror was still our favorite, and Space Mountain was my second favorite. The Aerosmith Coaster was good, but didn't live up to the hype. I guess having ridden Storm Runner in Hershey Park set the bar very high for me, and the Aerosmith Coaster did not meet the new standard set by Storm Runner. Space Mountain is still a classic ride, and the Tower Of Terror was even better than I remembered it to be. In fact, we liked the Tower Of Terror so much we rode it four times!

Each time we entered the Tower Of Terror we searched for Twighlight Zone artifacts in the queing room. We found a few, and I believe there many we didn't find. We saw the trumpet used by Jack Klugman in one episode (he plays a jazz musician), the broken glasses worn by Burgess Merideth (all the time to read the books in the library and then his glasses break episode), the flying saucer with the little people who attack the lady (I believe Agness Moorehead) and they turn out to be from the USA, and we spotted the fortune telling machine which entrances William Shatner in the diner. In fact, the person from the Tower Of Terror was very impressed we spotted the fortune telling machine. He said we were the first people he ever saw spot the fortune telling machine up on the ledge!

Although we passed on most of the kiddie attractions such as the Country Bear Jamboree, we did ride through It's A Small World, and of course we had to go to the Carousel Of Progress. We also rode the People Mover...in fact, we rode the People Mover twice. The new attraction at Animal Kingdom was pretty good as was the attraction called Dinosaurs. Our only real disappointment was when we went to see the new Nemo show. It is similar to Avenue Q in staging (people with puppets). The show was good, but right in the middle, without any explanation they stoped and canceled the show and made evryone leave the theater. We believe the roof was leaking, causing a hazard for the actors, but no explanation was given to the audiance. It was very unprofessional for them to simply tell us to leave without an explanation, and certainly not something you would expect to happen at Disneyworld.

While at Disney we were on their food plan. We were worried that we wouldn't have enough to eat since the plan covered four days of food and we were there five days, but we were wrong. In fact, we couldn't even eat all the meals because there was too much to eat. But what we did eat was real good. And the soft ice cream we had a few times was as good, if not better than the custard we get at Korh Brothers in Ocean City. It was thick, rich creamy and yummy...not the crappy frozen stuff you get at Cactus Willies.

All in all it was great at Disneyworld. The rides, shows, weather, food, hotel, everything was top notch.

I slept to about 9:00AM. When I woke up my wife was already up, as were my in-laws. My daughter was still asleep. It looked as though it would be a nice day. Run some errands, spend some time socializing, and maybe go to the pool or beach for an hour or two. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, my in-laws had an appointment scheduled which took up most of the day.

Finally, late in the afternoon, my wife, daughter and I went for a swim at the pool.

When we returned, I volunteered to make dinner. Yep, it was 6:30PM, and we didn't have supper.

I began creating.
I needed some melted butter.
I took a tablespoon of butter, placed it in a cup, and microwaved it for 30 seconds.
The micro beeped.
I grabbed the cup...and never in mylife did I feel such pain.

It was as if the cup was on on fire.

I have burned myself with hot coals.
A fishing hook once thought my cheek was a piece of bait.
My thigh is missing a thumb size piece of flesh thanks to a wild box cutter.
Yes, I know pain.
Baseball bat into head, knee into groin, teeth marks on my shoulder (I won't even attempt an explanation).

Well, when I grabbed the cup from the microwave, it was so hot I was dumbfounded. Rather than immediately remove my hand, I kept my hand on the cup and thought "what the f...". A moment later reality took over, and I screamed "what the f...". I then lunged my hand under cool water, and knew it was problem time.

My fingers were burning.
The skin was turning colors
Blisters were forming.

Everyone felt sorry for me. They all had advise...aloe, bacitracin, cool water, emergency room, bandages.

I did nothing, except run my hand under cool water.
Eventually the pain subsided, but the blisters grew.

I expect to have five burn blisters come tomorrow morning. I will pop them and then feel better (or infect them and feel worse).

Oh, vacations are so much fun!

It is 4:00AM as I begin writing today. In my previous entry I was in Reisterstown, Maryland. Now, I am sitting in Delray Beach, Florida. I arrived about three hours ago, and I spent the time troubleshooting, and fixing my in-laws computer. Word of advice, don't encourage your parents (or spouse's parents) to buy computers unless you want to spend the rest of your life fixing their problems.

The flight down was interesting. Our plane was delayed an hour, so...by the time we arrived in in Florida, the airport's rental car desk was closed. On the plane my daughter asked for an extra pack of peanuts, and the stewardess came back with a sealed bag filled with dozens of peanut packs, and asked my daughter (with a smile) if that was enough peanuts for her.

My daughter said yes, and took the bag!

The rental car we were suppose to get was not available, so they gave us an upgrade. I am not sure if I am happy with the upgrade. I reserved a full size sedan, and received a SUV. It is nice, but I am not crazy about it.

When filling out the paper work, the clerk asked me if anyone else was going to drive the car. I said, yes--my wife. The clerk then said that would be an extra $9.95 a day. I took a long pause and told the clerk I was mistaken...only I will drive the car.

Well, I would like to chat some more, but I am in Florida. People here eat supper at 4:00 PM (in less than 12 hours from now). That means it is almost breakfast time. I better catch a little sleep because soon the house will be hustling and bustling. And the cries of "Honey, make sure you don't wake the children" will certainly awaken me.