Bjørnar and Jon visiting Kristin and Alvaro in Florida .... and Rob and Hild tagging along

Here are some photos from our holiday in Coral Springs and other key spots in Florida in June-July 2013. It was a wonderful holiday. As you can see from the photos, we had so much fun and pushed so many activities into the 14 days we had together. We have to point out that Bjørnar and Jon were so incredibly punctual that the tight schedule put down by us aunts was no problem - although the uncles did struggle sometimes. It must be a Norwegian/Rygnestad/Støle/Rysstad thing...

Thank you for visiting and hope to see you here again soon!

Sitting down for a meal in Coral Springs

In and around Coral Springs
First things first.... get in the pool! Discussing snorkling/diving masks then testing them out.

Then of course there is the beach. This time at Deerfield beach for the first dip on this side of the Atlantic ocean.



A very American desert: Smores... made out of grilled marshmallows, thin chocolate pieces squeezed between two graham crackers. Yum! We tried chocolate with mint flavour, rasberry flavor, toffee, and sea salt.

And then Bjørnar, Jon, and Alvaro got going on the guitars.

Off south to the Florida Keys
Our route from Coral Springs to Marathon, and also a little movie clip of us all sitting in the car on our way. Roadtrip!
Snorkeling in the Florida Keys. There were loads of little fish to look at off the beach behind the library in Islamorada. Bjørnar showing off his nice GoPro camera with head strap.

There was also time for Bjørnar and Jon to do the training and sit the test to get their license to drive jetskis.... followed by half an hour of fast and fun jetskiing around the bay of Jerry's Water Sports in Marathon, Florida Keys.

Having picnic dinner on the pier by our motel (Blackfin Resort & Marina) - while watching the beautiful sunset over the Florida Bay and Gulf of Mexico. Dinner and a sunset is sometimes better than dinner and a movie.

Bjørnar and Jon did some scuba diving training in Marathon on the Florida Keys (Tilden's Scuba Center).

Meanwhile, Kristin, Rob and Hild were relaxing on Sombrero Beach on the Atlantic ocean side of the Florida Keys in Marathon. Rob and Hild getting ready for some snorkeling. And later Kristin and Hild did some modelling on the beach (!)... well financial modelling in Excel on the computer. Nothing involving catwalks.

Enjoying some New York style pizza in typical US roadside diner. Boardwalk Pizza in Islamorada, Florida Keys.

Back in Coral Springs after a whirlwind visit to the Florida Keys: When you ask Bjørnar and Jon to set the table for dinner, they go all out!

Our route from Coral Springs to Orlando

Islands of Adventure
The first ride of the day at Islands of Adventure: the Hulk. Bjørnar, Jon and Rob rushed off to get first in line. Bjørnar and Jon rode it twice in a row! Kristin and Hild watched from a safe distance...

Then we rushed to the back of the park to catch the Dragon Challenge before it got too busy.

It was time for Harry Potter! Rob was in his element with his middle name being Harry/Henry! Him and Hild had matching Mr and Mrs Potter shirts on. Still no discounts.... buhu.... But the ride was great a bit scary but Hild managed to go on this one (so can't have been too bad).

Time for the first (of many) wet rides of the day: Jurassic Park. Notice the T-Rex "attacking" from behind the car and the baby T-Rex (lizzard?) on the wheel of the car. We hardly need to point out how wet Bjørnar and Jon got - and how relaxed they looked after the huge drop into the pool of water!

And after having expelled alot of energy we had to replace it with jurassic food. Is that a leq of dinosaur or smoked turkey?

As you can see we're having a great time - here at the stunt show "Eighth Voyage of Sindbad" with lots of water (we stayed dry) and fire and explosions. And Bjørnar enjoying noodles/spagetti!! (at Sawgrass shopping mall).

[Most photos missing as it was too wet and cameras were in our locker!] After a couple of Butterbeers in Harry Potter World. Then it all got too wet so no photos. Some of us did the "Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls" after a very long wait in line (Hild remembered all too well from last year - so she passed on this opportunity). (Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls) Then there was "Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges" where we all got horribly wet also because it was raining. Kristin stayed nice and dry in a coffee shop, clever person. Then there was "Doctor Doom's Fearfall" after which we were wet and cold and went home to the apartment. Phew - a long and fun day in Islands of Adventure. (Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges)
Wet 'N Wild
Then we got even wetter at "Wet 'N Wild" water park. In addition to the water slides and pools we also got a bit of rain, but nothing to spoil the day. Here are a few of the rides we enjoyed: 4-person "Brain Wash", "Bomb Bay" (the one-person slide behind "Brain Wash"), and 4-person Bubba Tub. Amazingly Hild did two of them (not "Bomb Bay").

After climbing many many stairs up to the top of so many rides, the lads were a bit tired - or not?!

A relax in the "Wave Pool" is also an option.

A day of rest
We started our day off (from Theme Parks) by relaxing and playing the Bananagrams game at the pool while Rob had a telephone conference (billable hours!). Then we had lunch at IHOP (International House of Pancakes). It was yummy and the rain came rushing in while we were staying nice and dry in the restaurant.

We also just relaxed and kicked back in the apartment. Rob reading a book, Hild on her computer, Jon and Bjørnar eating never ending M&Ms, watching TV and playing games on the computer/phones

Universal Studios
Our next stop was "Universal Studios". It is a somewhat different theme park from "Islands of Adventure" as the rides are a bit less scary - although not for Hild and Kristin who still walked around outside some of them - such as "Transformers 3D".

Then the male contingent rode the "Rip Ride Rockit".

We got to see the DeLorean from "Back to the Future" movies, and then we had to rescue Jon from "Jaws"....

We all did the "Disaster" ride which was very similar to the one some of us did in California way back in 1991 with us in an underground train surviving earthquake with exploding petrol tanker and litres and litres of water rushing down our tunnel.... From the left: Kristin, Jon, Christopher Walken (!!), Bjørnar, and Hild. We had a quick rest with a drink to stay hydrated, and in the background you can see the "Men in Black" ride. When we got there we would have to wait in line for 45 minutes... boring... but we were lucky. Hild asked the guard, Elliot, if the ride was scary and he took pity on us and sent us all down the Express lane: no waiting in line! Hooray. We went back to thank Elliot afterwards. What a nice guy.

We got our photo taken in front of the famous Universal Studios globe - and then we had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe.

We also walked around in the very many and large rooms of Hard Rock Cafe - taking in all the various music memorabilia. Here Bjørnar is kneeling at his hero Jimi Hendrix! And was also saw John Lee Hooker's guitar.

Other items included Johnny Cash's guitar and the Who's Roger Daltrey's leather jumpsuit(!).

There were stained glass windows with Elvis and more + a pink cadillac dangling from the ceiling...

We also did some shopping at Hard Rock Cafe - this time the guys got dogtags with their name engraved.

After a rest back at the apartment we returned for the late night light show on the Lagoon with some fireworks. We still think they could have emphasized that it was 4th of July... but it was nice anyway and Rob and Hild attempted their rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner". (Ouch. Don't quit your day-jobs!).

Daytona
Our route from Orlando to Daytona and back

After parking our car in Lot 7, a lady drove us in a golf buggy over to a waiting school bus. On that we rode over to the Daytona race track. It was a bumpy and fun ride. We heard that this is a true red-neck experience (riding the school buses to the race). We realised how much we have grown since we were riding school buses. None of us fit in the seats!

Bjørnar, Jon, and Rob got to go to the Fan-zone in the middle of the track to look at all the racing cars and peek into the areas where they were preparing the cars for the race. Meanwhile, Kristin and Hild watched a different race - people on motorized coolers (kjøleboksar)!!

They also got to sign their names in pen on the start/finish line. Either with a white pen on the black square or with a black pen on the white square. The slope of the track was surprisingly steep even making it hard to put down the pens without them sliding down the track. No wonder the cars can race around the track without braking for the turns.

Jon found a very green Ford Mustang he very much would like to own... and Kristin and Hild grabbed some seats right at the top of the Weaverley stand where there was some shade.

Then it was time to clear the track of all the people wandering around - and line up the cars. Vroom!

After having watched the cars qualify for both today's race and the next day's Daytona 400 race, we finally settled in to watch the Firecracker 250 race. We were very excited and quickly realised that ear plugs are essential... There were quite a few accidents that meant that the pace car would come in and slow everybody down. Only one crash towards the end was very bad with crushed and burning cars. Luckily none of the drivers were badly injured. We were amazed to see how team mates were allowed to help each other: one draughts right behind the other car and then he pushes the car in front!! Scary/exciting to watch and it really helped. We were cheering for nr. 12 and 22 who were pushing each other for most of the 100 laps. Sadly they didn't win in the end as a few crashes messed them up. Each lap was 2.5 miles long and they did one lap in about 50 seconds! Fast.

Kennedy Space Center .......
Our route from Orlando to Kennedy Space Center on our way back home to Coral Springs.

We got to visit the brand new (1 week old) Atlantis shuttle exhibit. Now that the shuttle program has been stopped, they put the retired Atlantis shuttle in a huge building - after 26 years and 33 missions. They had made a very nice video about the shuttle and the shuttle program. Here is a photo with the cargo bay doors open and the famous "Canadarm", which is a robotic arm (made in Canada) used to grab and move things in space.

The fuel tanks for the shuttle are pretty big when you stand at their base. We spotted a nice saying on a T-shirt in the shop written in both formula and text: "b greater than average".

The Saturn 5 rocket in the Apollo Saturn Center is HUGE... Hild's camera could not include it all!

A photo of the Vehicle Assembly Building. It is hard to tell from the photo, but the US flag is the same height as a 21 floor building. One star on its own is 5 feet (1.5 metres) across! And Norway must be contributing to the space program because we found our flag!!!

Bjørnar and Jon posing with a space capsule. It is amazing to see the cramped conditions the astronauts have. Note Jon's new leather jacket.

Bjørnar and Jon crawling through a replica of the space station corridors and rooms. More cramped conditions.

Airboat ride
After our drive back to Coral Springs we were very tired and had a well-deserved nights sleep. But we weren't done. Sunday morning we opened up the 3rd row of seats in the Ford Explorer and went on an airboat ride in the Everglades near Coral Springs: Everglades Tours in Sawgrass Recreation Park. More earplugs required. We couldn't hear ourselves speak let alone someone else.

Our captain and guide, Debra, was very good. We got to ask questions and she very skillfully found wildlife for us to take photos of. At the end she parallel parked the airboat very smoothly between two other boats - and these boats do not have a reverse gear. She called this controlled crashing! Very good.

Here are a couple of movie clips to give you a feeling for how we drove across water and grass at fast speeds. Note that only one of the movies has sound.

We were lucky to find a huge 11 foot long male alligator protecting his domain somewhere in the swamp. He wasn't scared of us at all. He came over to the boat to check us out and probably to tell us to get lost - but we don't speak alligator..

Holiday nearly over.... (buhu)
So now the holiday is nearly over. We are packing our suitcases and figuring out if we need just one more trip to the shops for those last-minute deals (highly likely). For our Sunday lunch/brunch we went to Coconut Creek Casino for their amazing buffet. Between the six of us we probably tasted a bit of all of the available dishes - including yummy strawberries through the chocolate fountain. Thanks to Mamma og Daddy (Gome og Gofa Systog) for paying for this yummy meal. Skål!

Bjørnar and Jon signing the guest book and saying goodbye to Austin.

Dinner poolside was just so quiet without the boys. They were halfway across the Atlantic and we were comfort eating the delicious Freia chocolate they brought us. Yum! Followed by the usual snuggles with Austin.

June/July 2013

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