Day 3 in Orlando Florida

What a beautiful day!! I am sitting on our patio having a bud as the sun sets on the golf course (we really could be at Sun City right now – even the weather is the same) We had a wonderfully relaxing day today – we slept late, I went for a run and then we did my favourite thing – we went shopping!!!

We went to Florida Mall – when we finally arrived (we got stuck in some serious traffic – no idea why??) and spent a few hours shopping….

The boys got a new psp game (ben 10 series 2) and I got a new camera – Sony Cybershot T500 – the electronics are really cheap here compared to SA. Then we stopped at The Publix and did some more grocery shopping (food is not bad here but we really don’t enjoy all the take-outs here, most of them seem to fry things and everything smells of oil (YUCK!!) so we eat mostly at home or pack our own snacks which is good for the wallet and the waist!

We really feel relaxed now and we seem to have adjusted to the time difference – it is great to be here and we are loving every minute of it!!

Well, it’s day 2 of our holiday and it’s been another amazing day! As I type this, I am absolutely exhausted though, yet the children are still going strong.  They are playing games in the hotel arcade with their dad and I am having a coffee at the internet cafe next door! What a good life….

Last night, Ryan and I put the children to bed and then went to Downtown Disney (not before stopping at a few electronics stores to price some cameras – I have my eye on the new Sony Cybershot as well as either the Canon 50D or Canon 5D Mark II camera as well as the Canon 18mm – 200mm lens). Downtown Disney was packed and very, very festive! We walked around the stores and had a cinnamon pretzel and cafe late for dinner. We bought Demi the cutest little Minnie Mouse Cheerleaders outfit and Mickey Mouse earrings she has them on today and she looks too cute! We had a lovely evening and only got to bed quite late!

We were up early this morning again and went to Universal Studio’s “Islands of Adventure” today! This park is new so we weren’t there last time we came to the states (14 years ago) – all I can say about this park is “WOW!!” – we absolutely loved it!

First up, we went to Seus Landing to ride “the cat in the hat” – what an awesome ride – the kids loved it (even Demi went on the ride and loved it) – of course we had to go on it again just for fun! Then we went on  another Seus ride: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish and got quite wet as we tried to no avail to figure out how to beat the fish shooting water at us! They loved this too and we had to go on it again just to make sure we get really wet. Ryan is convinced that Mikey got it wrong just to get wet!

Then we went on the High In The Sky Seus Trolley Train Ride and got to see all of Seus Landing from high above while listening to some of Dr Seus’ favourite stories…. I really loved Seus Landing – it was fun and clean and colourful and magical and made me feel like a kid again!!!

Then Ryan & I headed of to the “Dueling Dragons” rollercoaster in he Lost Continent, while the children had a snack. It was full of skeletons and dungeons on the way up and really got the adrenalin pumping before we even got to the ride. It was a great roller coaster ride with tons of sharp twists and turns – I loved it and screamed  and screamed (all part of the fun!!)

Next, we got soaking wet on The Jurassic Park River Adventure – a wonderful ride through Jurassic park admiring all the friendly dinosaurs until they get out of control and then things do downhill – a steep downhill that leaves you soaking at the end! This is not for the faint-hearted and my boys did really well to get through it – though the look on their faces as we plummeted was not a pretty sight! My brave little men….

After some discovering and exploring at Camp Jurassic, it was straight onto Popeye’s Barges in Toon Town for an absolute drenching! The boys loved this and Mikey insisted on going again -  this time Florence volunteered and had a blast too!

Then we were up on the ship: “Me Ship, The Olive” for lots of fun and play – Demi especially enjoyed this and the boys couldn’t resist shooting water at the river rafters down below…

Then we had a quick visit to Marvel Super Hero Island just before the Sinbad stunt show. This was a fantastic stunt show filled with explosives, fires, water bombs and all kinds of stunts (and a love story at the end!) It was a wonderful show packed with entertainment. Demi watched the show and I was absolutely amazed at how she enjoyed it and didn’t get scared. There were extremely loud bangs at times, coupled with unexpected bombs of water being blast at us, and she just watched and clapped and loved it… she really thinks she’s 5 or 6 just like her brothers…

To end the day, we got the boys some huge chocolate fudge sundae ice-creams (Ryan & I had a beer instead – Budweiser of course!) and we watched  “Grinchmas – How the Grinch stole Christmas!” It was a lovely end to an awesome day.

We left Universal at 3:30pm and came home for a much needed break… ten minutes later, we took the boys swimming and to the arcade at this wonderful hotel. Then it was back home for bath, dinner and bed for the children and some quiet time for us. what a beautiful day – I loved spending time with each of our children and seeing the absolute delight on their faces at times. They really are special!!!

Who knows what tomorrow brings… what I know for sure is that today is a day that we will all remember for many, many years to come!

Pics to follow….

Today, 27th Dec 2008, we were up really early and decided to go to SeaWorld! What an amazing place! Jamie said it was the best place he had ever been to. We were there at 8:30am before opening time and that allowed us to get to some of the cool rides before there were any long waits. First, we went on Journey to Atlantis which is a cool water ride. Mikey loved it but Jamie wasn’t impressed and looked like he had seen a ghost. Mikey, Ryan and I went on first (Jamie was too scared) we all got soaked – Mikey loved it so much he wanted to go again and so did Jamie this time, so I convinced Flora to go with. She was scared but I told her it’s nothing so she went and really enjoyed it!

Then Ryan and I went on Kraken, the second longest, fastest, tallest roller coaster in Florida – MY WORD!!! It is fast!!! It was so cool and I have been dizzy ever since! Then we took the boys to play some games at Shamu’s happy harbour – what an awesome kids activity area – with a huge jungle gym (HUGE!!) water fountains, games, carousel and lots and lots and lots of shops!!!

By the way, it was an absolutely beautiful day – felt about 25 degress celsius – just perfect for a wonderful day at Sea World! Next it was time to watch “Believe” – the wonderful show bu Shamu the killer whale and the rest of her crew. It is just an incredibly special and inspiring show and brought tears to my eyes. I looked at them as they were watching the show, absolutely enthralled, and I was filled with gratitude – being here with my children has been a dream of ours for the last five years and we have visualised moments like this for a long, long time now and to see it actually happen was an incredible feeling for me. I am so so grateful….
it’s a beautiful feeling!

After that amazing show, we took the boys to play a few more games and I won a little Shamu teddy for the boys – so cute! Next was “Clyde and Seamore take Pirate Island” – a wonderful slapstick show that had us all in hysterics. The boys really enjoyed it! Then it was off to another show called “A’lure the call of the ocean”
- a wondrous undersea journey brought to life through acrobatic artistry, dance, lights and lasers!
It was lovely. By then Demi was exhausted so we had to come home. (Actually we all were exhausted so it was a good time to leave)  We got home at about 4:30pm and finished unpacking and just relaxed. The boys have had a ball searching in the veldt outside our room looking for golf balls (the resort is on the golf course) They found 18 golf balls (can see there are no caddies here – at least not south african ones) and they are planning to sell them for $1 dollar each tomorrow.

Ryan and I have had a much enjoyed beer and are planning on going out for a while once the children are bathed and in bed. It has been an amazing first day and we are having an absolute blast!

Orlando is a magical place….

Pics to follow….

It’s Christmas Day! – Merry Christmas!!

Well, it’s finally Christmas!No more sleeps until we leave! It’s been a crazy day opening presents from Father Christmas, pack, quick visit to Uncle Tom, Tameryn and Yin and then rushing to do some last minute packing and then the wait – waiting to get dropped off at the airport, waiting to board the plane and then waiting for the plane to get there!

What a journey it has been so far! We left home at 3:30pm on Christmas day and waited 3 hours at the airport. The boys were so excited at the airport and were really hyperactive – I was so worried about the flight and got so worked up before we even got on the plane. We then flew for 20 hours to Atlanta. It is a damn long flight! But the boys were absolute angels – we hardly knew they were there!

Demi-Leigh on the other hand was quite a handful. She got really overtired and then couldn’t sleep and just cried for about an hour and a half which felt like half the night. She eventually fell asleep and then we all slept. The plane was only 50% full so we all had lots of space to stretch out and sleep.

We arrived at Atlanta airport at 8am in the morning (their time which was about 2pm SA time) we then flew to Orlando at 11am but by then the children were exhausted and really irritable. So were we by then. Once we arrived at Orlando, we had to wait 2 hours to get a car from Alamo – what a nightmare!! After all that traveling, we just wanted to get to the hotel and had to wait!

Anyway, we finally got a car and then had a hair-raising trip to the hotel. Try driving in a new country after 30 hours of travelling and hardly any sleep and on the wrong side of the road!!!

We arrived at our hotel and it was fantastic! Driving in just brought back all the memories of when we were here 14 years ago with my family! It was so special! We are staying at Orange Lake which is one of the biggest  resorts in the world now!

It really is a wonderful place especially for families! We quickly unpacked and then went shopping for some groceries – by this time we were exhausted but were trying to stay awake as it was only 4pm. We went to bed at 7pm and woke up at 4am – guess the body clocks are still adjusting….

Well, it was our last day of work today for 2008! It was a wonderful year filled with ups and downs, support and challenge and lots and lots of growth!!

So I am sitting on our patio now with a glass of red wine, ryan is braaing and my beautiful boys are playing with their new remote control aeroplanes that they got for Christmas from their friend Reagan. It feels so good to relax – it’s been so crazy trying to finish up everything at work and get ready for our trip (Disney World here we come!!!)

So it’s that time of the year when I reflect a little and look at the past year and all that it brought for us and my heart is filled with an immense gratitude (but not the pseudo gratitude where I go “thank you! thank you! thank you!” in some kind of frenzy but more of a calm, present gratitude and love.

I had a strange feeling this morning – I woke up really early even though we had a late night, and I felt like everything was done! Like I was ready! Ready to close work for the year, ready to go on holiday and even ready to …. die! It sounds crazy I know! and I have always been too scared to even think about dying never mind write about it, but it was a really peaceful feeling for the first time ever. I know that my spirit never dies, that my family will never miss me as my energy will simply change form, and it feels okay and a little surreal.

So I decided to start setting longer term goals just to be sure that I am not manifesting anything unexpected a little too early – just then Demi gave me a big hug and I decided that I would have to wait to see her get married and to meet all my grandchildren, so that gives me another 70 years or so. But still, it feels good to have that peace in my heart! It has been an amazing year and I am so grateful to have so much love in my life!

Here’s to a good holiday and a wonderful 2009!

Trained Demartini Facilitators

Ryan & I are finally Trained Demartini Facilitators!!! We recently completed our Demartini Facilitation Training in Johannesburg, South Africa and it was hugely inspiring as always.

It never ceases to amaze and inspire me when I see John Demartini work his magic with the
quamtum collapse process – officially known as “The Demartini Method*” (*Copyrighted and Trademarked)

And so it was a huge challenge to do the course and attempt to do the same. We soon realised that
if you simply follow the process, trust your intuition, focus on serving your client and remain certain of the outcome, you can assist them to break through. It was a challenging, invigorating and inspiring week and at the end we were ready to start facilitating.

We have done a few facilitations already and are grateful to be able to make a difference and serve people in this way. It is so rewarding to see people let go of years of emotional baggage and open their hearts with love and gratitude.

The Demartini Method* is the most powerful, effective and efficient methodology in personal transformation. It will assist you in making quantum leaps in consciousness in quantum time. What once took weeks, months or even years can now be accomplished in a matter of hours. It is a foolproof and effective means of transforming any form of stress or conflict into grateful states of love and vitality.

If you would like to dissolve stress, guilt, resentment and let go of emotional baggage that is weighing you down and experience an open heart, a clear and present mind, true gratitude and inspiration, then email us and we will assist you in breaking through with The Demartini Method*.

Louise & Ryan

I found some old photos the other day and they brought back such wonderful memories….

One of my dad & I reminds me how much I love my dad and how grateful I am for everything he has taught me & how grateful I am to have him in my life….

It also reminds me of my own daughter Demi-Leigh – I think she looks like me though everyone says she looks just like her dad!! Maybe she just reminds me of me when I was little? Who knows….

The next photo is one of my ouma and I when I was very little. My ouma is no longer with us now but she is always in my heart!!

The last one that I found was a family photo from 1990! It is really special to me as there are a few family members in that pic that are no longer with us: My wonderful Aunty Kathleen, my granny and grandad and my uncle Hilton – who are all aslo in my heart! That’s the beautiful thing about love, it never dies and is always in your heart… This pic is also very special to me as it is when Ryan and I first met and one the first times that he got to meet my family, so it brings back all this efeelings of puppy love!! Also, my brothers are so tiny in this photo, whereas now they are grown men and JJ even has a child of his own! We’ve also had many babies come into the family since then, including my own 3 angels and it just gives me such a deep appreciation for life!

That’s why I am so passionate about photography and taking photos – they bring back so many memories and I can relive any of those moments just by looking at the photo…..

So this festive season, be sure to take lots and lots of family photographs – one day you will be sure to look back at them (or maybe even your children or grandchildren will) and remember this special christmas with fond memories… and their hearts will be filled with love and gratitude!

May you have a wonderful festive season filled with love and laughter and lots of photos!!!