Jamie and Alex go half-way around the world.: July 2013

Our week on Gulf Boulevard, St Pete's Beach, Florida

We had just settled into our home in London, Ontario at the end of May, when we flew to Florida for a week. We went to Florida because my Dad had a conference there.

Flying to Florida
Flying to Florida took a long time. We flew from London to Chicago and on to Tampa, Florida. Chicago (O'Hare) airport is very big, in fact it is one of the busiest airports in the world! We had to catch a train between terminals. Our terminal had a huge skeleton of a dinosaur! Hugo would have loved it!

James at O'Hare (Chicago) Airport

James, Alex and Daddy waiting to get on the plane.

O'Hare Airport is so big, that we had to catch a train between terminals!!!

Flying from Chicago to Tampa, Florida

The Sirata Beach Resort, Gulf Boulevard, St Pete's Beach, Florida

When we arrived at Tampa, we had to drive 30 minutes to reach our resort on Gulf Boulevard, St Pete's beach. This is where my Dad's conference was. Our resort was epically fantastic because we were right on the beach and had two swimming pools, a spa, the beach and a playground. It was fun to swim and even have lunch by the pool!

Sirata Beach Resort

Here is a view of the resort from our suite!!

James, Alex and Daddy on the balcony of our suite.

Fun in the pool of our resort.

Alex pretending to be George of the Jungle

More poolside fun!

Lego Land!!!

On the Tuesday of our Florida trip, we went to Lego Land. Lego Land is a theme park that is based on Lego! It was a very fun theme park and very big - 50 acres!!

At the entrance to LEGOLAND

The first ride we went on was called "Island In the Sky". This was a huge platform that went high into the sky and we could see the whole of Lego Land.

Playing in Duplo-land!!

Riding on Merlin's Challenge at Lego Kingdoms

Lego Pharaoh Quest - A Pharaoh made entirely of Lego!!!

A Lego Merry-go-round!

My favourite part of Lego Land was the miniature cities. They were exact copies of famous places made out of Lego bricks.

The Kennedy Space Centre

Las Vegas

New York

There was also an area all about Star Wars with different scenes from the movies. We loved R2D2 and Darth Maul the best!

Alex with R2D2

With Darth Maul from Star Wars

While we were at Lego Land, Alex and I went to driving school and learnt how to drive Lego cars. It was easy and fun to do. At the end we earned our drivers licences to drive around Lego Land.

James and Alex learning to drive at LEGOLAND

A car made entirely of Lego!!

The Busch Gardens
Two days later Mummy, Alex and I went to a place called Busch Gardens, near Tampa. Busch Gardens was a wild life reserve and an African theme park. Each section of the park was a different African country.

The Sky Ride at Busch Gardens

A view from the Sky Ride - what animals can you see?

My favourite part of the Busch Gardens was the Egypt section where you got to visit a replica of King Tutankhamen's tomb discovered by Lord Howard Carter in the 1920s. I loved it because there was a replica mummy!

James' favourite part of Busch Gardens - the "Egypt" section!

James pretending to be Lord Howard Carter......

........the guy who discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb (Alex is just climbing!!!)

Inside the replica tomb with all of King Tut's treasures.

King Tut's sarcophagus (the golden coffin) and replica mummy inside.

My brother Alex loved "Operation Vacation". It was play with music, dancing and singing with Alex the Lion, the penguins of Madagascar, Gloria the hippo and King Julian! It was a lot of fun!

"Operation Vacation" featuring the crew from "Madagascar".

The Penguins and Gloria

Alex the lion

King Julian

Fun rides at Busch Gardens

While we were at Busch Gardens we went on a train safari through a Serengeti Plain, just like in Africa! We saw rhinos, giraffes and zebras!

Train safari

Look at the amazing views from our train carriage!!

James and Alex on safari in the wild!!!

Mummy wouldn't touch this snake, but we didn't mind!

Saying hello to the meerkats!!!

Jacob H, we know how much you love meerkats, so this photo is for you!!!

The Kennedy Space Centre
On our last day in Florida we went to the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral. Cape Canaveral is the place where NASA launched its space shuttles, now they just launch satellites. NASA stands for "National Aeronautics and Space Administration". It was interesting to learn all about the history of space exploration and the future of space exploration. I also loved the Angry Birds Experience!!! You got to shoot angry birds at bad pigs! It was a big day because it took a long time to drive back to our resort!

At the entrance to the Kennedy Space Centre in front of the NASA sign