My family made it in town! I dressed up to impress them and to create the illusion that I'm a very welcoming individual.
Now that we're all here we don't know what to do.
I had a bag of Honeybell Oranges in a bag and I wanted to surprise my mom since it's her favorite kind of orange. I tried to get her reaction on video, but she peeked in the bag before I could get the camera going....so here is her reenactment.
My mama sure likes d'em Honeybells!
Michael is excited about all of the pictures I will be taking during his stay in Orlando.
The week before was my mom's birthday and I didn't have time to send her present and card out to Illinois in time, so I waited until she came down and I think she liked her card the most. It's HARE-Y POTTER!!!!!
After a light celebration of her birthday my mom complained about how hot it is in Florida.
Michael was trying to help out in the kitchen with my mom, but she told him to make like d'em eggs and scram!
So he left to go play a Wii cooking game instead.
My mom sat down for a bit to catch up on the news with her fancy shmancy magic window.
Once she was finished reading up on her news sites she needed a little help out of the papasan chair.
Liz came over!
And look...JAVAN!!!!!
My mom brought our old stockings that we have had since we were born. Michael wasn't too fond of the smell.
My parents thought it was a very nice Christmas Eve and were even impressed with my magnificent tree!
The next morning we went to Universal Orlando for the day!
Javan was excited! As he should be.
We made our way into the park looking for the new Harry Potter land.
All we could find was a land of Grinchmas and my mother was not too pleased with this at all.
Then we ran into a talking fountain where my mother had a little chat with for a moment.
FINALLY!!!!! We found the Potter land...now let's get this over with.
Liz was super excited!
Javan wasn't as much because he's deathly afraid of black magic.
My family and I at the spooky lookin' castle.
What could be inside of this thing?
It was a bit disappointing when we found out it was mostly just house plants.
We discovered a huge secret door that leads into the huge castle!
Javan was greeted by a huge bird!
The paintings...they're alive!
Michael does his best to intimidate the paintings.
Look! It's the enchanted gossiping hat!
After exiting the spellbinding plastical castle and all it's glory we spotted a wild Hippogriff in the nearby enchanted woods.
My mom figured it out that we were waiting in line to go on another ride.
She didn't really want to go but it was too late because we were already on it!
Now it's time for a little Hippogriff joyride.
My mom thought it was quite the doozy.
Such a delightful view of slanting structures.
My mom didn't have the time to look behind her to see it.
That is one tough snowman to withstand the Florida weather.
More tilting chimneys!
This place was packed!
That's why Javan, Liz and I stayed together the entire time so we wouldn't get lost.
One of the window displays piqued the ladies interest.
I just kept taking pictures of the angled rooftops.....
.....and Michael kept drinking Butterbeer. It was really good!
My parents really don't know too much about Harry Potter...so we were ready to leave.
So long spooky lookin' castle!
We headed over to the Jurassic Park ride because that seemed like a good idea for whatever reason.
Michael is never impressed by the mighty brontosaurus.
My mom enjoyed the little boat ride.....
.....until we ran over some unexpected guests.
Uh-oh...not the DANGER ZONE!!!!!
DANGER ZONE!!!!!
Michael took a video of my mom in the front of the boat and as you can see she enjoyed it immensely.
Javan didn't go on the ride and now we know why.
Although my mom didn't think it was all that bad. It was like a hot shower!
Okay...time for the next thing.
It's a good thing too because we could have been lunch meat! Or even worse...DEAD MEAT!!!!!
We somehow walked right back into the Harry Potter land…..
…..and we ended up going through the thick crowd once again.
Would you just look at all of those suckers down there waiting in line!
Liz and I always enjoy a good view of watching suckers from afar.
Michael got a hold of one of the props from the movies and smashed it up real good. He definitely thought it was worth it even though he probably ruptured his spleen.
We were going to take the train out of there, but we couldn't get through the horde of "Muggles."
We managed to leave in one piece and made it over to Michael's favorite part of the park…Seuss Landing!
Liz and I caught up with a Who.
A festive Lorax greeted my mom and then told us to bug off.
Javan and I were ready to challenge Doctor Doom!
Liz and I waited in line and showed no fear.
My family were chatting up a storm in Doctor Doom's secret basement.
Javan stayed quiet as he prepared himself for the worst.
He also prepared himself for playing Texas Hold'em poker.
Somehow my mom was able to go on this crazy tower ride, which if you know what kind of ride this is it's pretty impressive my mom actually took the challenge!
Michael chills out in The Hulk line next to the high tech lava lamps.
Michael, Liz, Javan and I ride The Hulk and enjoyed every second of it!
I had no idea that crazy Hulk was so close behind us!
I get so angry around the guys!
But then I calmed down a little when I was next to Liz.
Storm and Rouge made us take a group picture or else they were going to cause a ruckus upon the innocent people of whatever city they live in and then blame it on us.
We couldn't trust those super heros anymore so we high tailed it out of there. Liz preferred to be carried out by rickshaw.
Javan preferred to be carried out by tiger. Then Liz thought that looked like fun so she hopped on a monkey.
It's time to leave Islands of Adventure once and for all! Good riddance!
If there's one view Michael can never get enough of it's the jumbled up disarray of gift shops, restaurants, clubs, outlet stores, etc. at City Walk!
All of a sudden Javan won't allow any pictures. What the heck is wrong with him?
Christmastime at the Universal Studios park!
We waited in line for Revenge of the Mummy where darkness lurked in every corner. That is until I singed everyone's retina with the camera flash.
My mom didn't think this ride was going to be very scary since they had a cute golden kitty out on display.
But I knew something horrible was ahead after seeing scarier things.
So after hearing my mom scream during the entire ride we made it back out on the streets.
We went to see a show called Disaster and Michael was chosen to be a part of the it.
He was born for this!
Michael makes his acting debut as an evil henchmen during one of the film shoots. Afterwards we had one final scene to shoot with a bunch of extras in a subway station. They showed the amazing film trailer at the very end and I must say it's definitely a movie I will not be willing to pay money to see.
We took a walk around the lagoon during a nice quiet evening…..
…..but things weren't too quiet for long before Michael and my mom were busted for painting this white picket fence blue!
Then Javan and I tried to make some finishing touches to the fence, but somehow they caught us in the act as well.
Liz found a Horton, but unfortunately she couldn't hear a Who.
The day would not be complete without a globe shot.
We stopped in at Pat O'Briens…..
…..for their traditional evening feast. Also known as dinner.
My mom was ready to leave the park in style while Michael was left behind in great shame.
What a fun day at the parks! Now it's time for bed.
The next morning my family and I drove about 1 1/2 hours south of Orlando just to pick up some more citrus so my parents could take it back home. It was ridiculous.
We stopped over at one of the local diners for a hearty meal.
Michael enjoys sitting next to me in booth seats.
Can't you see the joyfulness in his eyes!
My mom was a big fan of the Apollo Diner. Now it's time to go back to Orlando.
We arrived at my place later on and Michael took a load off in my temporary air mattress room.
Meanwhile, my parents told all kinds of embarrassing stories about Michael and I when we were younger.
That was Michael's cue to leave and go to the airport.
Before taking him over we had to get one last Christmas tree shot. Beautiful!
My mom says goodbye to him as he heads of for a trip to Germany.
Peace out, bro!
After leaving the airport we were all hungry so we stopped over at Tijuana Flats.
Liz joined us too because she can't pass up on a good ol' fashioned chimichanga!
Hey, look! It's the next morning!
I attempted to make breakfast for my parents and let them relax a little bit, but my mom didn't trust me at all with cooking the food.
From the looks of it…I'd say she's probably right.
My mom pretty much took over and making pancakes.
It looks like Javan might be playing around with the camera.
Yep, it's definitely Javan.
My mama and the her flapjacks.
Javan spoiled himself with his very own Silver Fox as a Christmas gift.
And now he desperately tries to figure out how to work it.
I decided to try out the springing action of Silver Fox on my mom.
Even though it frightened her at first they became buddy-buddy in no time.
Javan isn't quite sure if he can trust me with his new toy around my mother.
We had a nice little meal for dinner at my place.
The kids table!
After dinner my parents treated all of us to see the Cirque du Soleil show at Downtown Disney!
Liz and I were very excited to see a bunch of French clowns for the next two hours.
My mom thought it was a fantastic show.
It's late. Time for bed.
Early next morning my parents tried to sneak out and leave but I caught them in the act! They were lucky I didn't send Chief Wiggum on them.
But I called off the authorities and instead I said one last goodbye to the mama.
They got in the car pretty quick to head back home to Illinois. Probably because I smell weird in the morning and they've had enough.
So that's it! The holiday break was officially over for me once my parents flew the coop. Good times were had by all!
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