The Houghs' Return to Florida: Day V

(contd.)

Day V

The Voigts

Another morning of sleeping in (somewhat.)

Pop for breakfast.  'Cause vacation.

After slowly getting around for the day, we loaded up into the car and headed down the road for Downtown Disney Disney Springs, in order to let the girls do some more shopping for awhile before we met up with the Voigts at their place for lunch.

Not sure how/why they ended on this name.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.  These parking structures were built just as we were preparing to move to Michigan, but we'd never seen them until this morning.

Kinda cool that they post how many available parking spaces there are per level.

We nabbed a spot a short walk from an escalator that went right into the shopping area.

It's sure changed a lot since the last time we were here.  This whole area used to be nothing but a large parking lot.

This store's still standing, though.  We decided to hit this place up first.

Abby, modeling a headband she ended up putting back.

The princess section of the store.  Abby (and, consequently, Yours Truly) spent quite a bit of time in here.

I had to convince her that $10 was way too much for a frickin' keychain. . .

Decisions, decisions.  Abby ended up buying a set of Disney princesses over a miniature Snow White/Seven Dwarfs house.  They were, like, $25 each, and she only brought $50 of her spending money with her.

Cuteness overload.

Abby's an impulse buyer, so this store was incredibly challenging for her.

While Abby and I struggled through multiple purchasing decisions, Kris and Alayna apparently tried on various hats.

Damn it, Disney.

Rocket the Raccoon, from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.  Fortunately, she didn't buy this.

Kris and I took turns running across to this store to pick up free chocolate samples for the kids.  Awesome they still do this.

Leaving the Disney store.  Abby bought herself that previously-shown set of Disney Princesses, Alayna didn't buy anything (she takes after her mom, definitely.)

Definitely wanted to check this store out, but we'd have to hit it on our way out.  The girls really wanted to go to the Rainforest Cafe first - the gift shop part of it at any rate, God knows the food and service there sucks.

Not sure, but I think this is historically accurate.

Alayna's been gunning for a ring lately.  She's been keeping an eye out for one that would fit her even-small-for-her-age fingers.

To her credit, I didn't have to yell at Abby to get off the rocks at all.  Not once.

Surprisingly, the prices in this particular store weren't half bad.

Oh, how I hate these f***ing things. . .

. . . and these.

Kris was way too amused by this.

Following Rainforest Cafe, we back-peddled to the Star Wars store to satisfy my nerdiness.  The girls - who have both kind of outgrown the whole Star Wars thing over the last couple years - had no interest in buying anything in this store, but wanted to put together lightsabers.  Whatever keeps 'em occupied.

I saw these sitting on the shelf, for a cool $200.  These look and feel like the real thing, but I could never justify spending that much money on a frickin' toy.

Not to mention the fact that these lightsabers take a huge, steaming shit on TRUE Star Wars fans' faces.  Are you SERIOUSLY rebranding the lightsaber of Anakin and Luke Skywalker and calling it REY's lightsaber, Disney?  Shame on you.  I hate you now.

After leaving the Star Wars store (empty-handed, mind you - the whole rebranding of the famous Skywalker saber put me in a bad mood), we swung by this Left-Handed kiosk on our way back to the parking garage.  The Cannonball herself is a Southpaw, so we figured she might get a kick out of the store.

A scrap piece of paper for people to try out left-handed pens on.  Apparently we must all fear the impending revolution from the dorky legions of Gamers. . .

The Lego Store.  We didn't go inside, but you kinda have to take a picture of their displays whenever you're there.  I think it's a rule.

The Outlets - new to Disney Springs.

Back to the Parking Garage

What the f*** is this signal?  Green, Yellow, Red.  That's what I've been taught.  Circles, once and awhile an arrow.  What the hell is a WHITE DASH??

Setting off for the Voigts' house.  We didn't cross the infamous Scary Bridge along the way (seeing how we were coming from a different part of Orlando than our old house in Southchase), so I snapped a quick pic of this bridge as we got close to Winter Garden and texted it to Adam instead.

After arriving at Adam and Lindsey's, the kids immediately all jumped in their pool.  Adam and I drove up to a nearby beer store in order to pick up drink supplies for the afternoon and evening.  While there, we came upon these badass things. . . which I wouldn't mind having for my own birthday sometime. 

Picked up a sixer of this old favorite from my years in Orlando - it's hard to get up in Michigan, so I pounced on it when I saw it the store.

Back at the Voigts'.  They put in their pool a couple years ago, and it's a good thing they did 'cause it was still hot as holy hell outside.

Kris gets up for a refill.

Adam's gotten really into margaritas over the last couple years.  Probably 'cause he has a pool now.

Alayna attempts to catch a lizard on the inside of the screen.  God knows she couldn't have cared less when she used to live down here, but now that it's a novelty, she was all over that shit.

The hot tub section of the pool.  Not sure how that works.

Pretty decent poolside beer Adam had lying around.

Some wind-down time with a movie before dinner.

We randomly texted this to our old roommate and fellow Virgil Q JamMaster, Zack Learman.  He was weirded out.

Back to the condo, with the usual car ride experience from the girls. . .

To be continued. . .

- Brian