Posts filed under 'Holidays'
Well, another age has passed since I last blogged and I thought it prudent to post a little about my trip to Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida a few weeks back. I was there with my best friend, Carole and her husband, Mark and their daughter (our goddaughter) Alice Rose.
They flew out a few days before me and soon enough I was in the heat of Florida! We stayed in a lovely 7 bedroom villa about 15 minutes drive from Disneyworld itself, nice to have lots of space and a pool to cool down in! Unfortunately due to an ice-skating accident back in December, Carole wasn’t very mobile - but thanks to her motorised scooter was able to get around the parks quite well.
The first day was spent at Animal Kingdom. The first ride of the day was the Kali River Rapids, all the guides advise you do it early or late - as you get soaked! Unfortunately, Alice got a tad upset by the soaking, so I was left to go on it a second time all alone - which meant Mark could take pictures of me. We then went off to ride the fearsome new rollercoaster “Expedition Everest” - check out this picture of me and Mark on there having a whale of a time. In fact, thanks to the FastPass system, we went on it twice back to back 
We watched the traditional 3pm parade and then, excitingly, met Minnie Mouse as we were leaving for home.
Friday we had a bit of a low-key day, as we were planning on going out later to watch the evening parade and fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. We executed said plan and the floats were fabulous especially Cinderella and Prince Charming! After the parade we ended up with a muffin and a latte for dinner (I know, not the diet of a runner!) and waited to see the fireworks, which didn’t disappoint.
Saturday saw us visiting one of the waterparks at Disney, called Blizzard Beach. It had all kinds of fun things to do, Alice really enjoyed herself as she is a bit of a water-baby. The park is meant to look like a ski resort, it’s quite bizarre really - but great fun! We then had a lazy afternoon at home, followed by a Chinese take-away (with the most strange pink, orange and green prawn crackers ever!).
On Sunday we headed off to MGM Studios. This turned out to be my favourite of all the parks. We got to ride the Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster (cue embarrassing photo!), we saw the Beauty and the Beast stage show from the front row, thanks to Carole’s disabled scooter, Alice met Belle, Snow White and Mary Poppins and the girls all met Minnie again, this time in her traditional outfit…but the highlight of the day was meeting Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc., I was absolutely thrilled to bits - as you may be able to tell from the cheesy grin!
Monday saw us off to Magic Kingdom, where we went on a few rides including the AstroOrbiter and Mark and Alice took time out to meet Buzz Lightyear…to infinity and beyond We then braved the hot sunshine for the 3pm parade, including seeing Cinders again.
Ticking along to Tuesday and we headed to Epcot, which was Alice’s favourite part of Disney. I have to admit that I found Epcot pretty dated and it looked a bit tatty. However, I did have a chance to go on 2 really cool rides, one was “Soarin’” and the other was “Mission Space” where I decided perhaps I could be an astronaut…
Wednesday was my last day before heading home. The week absolutely flew by in a blur of rides and Tinkerbell and Minnie Mouse 
Breakfast was spent in the company of Winnie the Pooh and friends, here I am grinning meeting Piglet! The only thing I really really wanted to do was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, the ride was a bit of a let-down but the show outside beforehand was great! We were very lucky just to be there at the right time and I think you’ll agree that the chap who played Cap’n Jack was a great lookie-likie! Carole and I had to have our photo taken outside Cinderella’s castle whilst wearing our ears…
And that, my friends, is that. A week in Disney was probably enough for me and I am not sure I would ever return - not least because I think I missed David so much whilst he was at home and I was away. However, I had a wonderful time and have some great memories - and fab photos to treasure. I did say when I came back that I wouldn’t go on holiday without David again but here I am planning a trip to Dubai with three midwife friends in November….
April 25th, 2007
Wow! We have had the most amazing and bizarre couple of days in Jamiroquai-land! If you will bear with me, a brief synopsis will follow…it all started a few weeks back when I got a ‘phone call to say I had won seats on the “Gig in the Sky” ‘plane. We had known this was happening for a long time and luckily David was going to be able to go but not me 
However, one competition entry later and there I was - well there we both were - with a place on the flight!
It started on Tuesday morning with a car collection (bullet proof no less!) which took us to Heathrow, followed by a flight to Munich. Once we landed in Munich we were greeted by a Sony Ericsson rep who took us to the special check-in desk for the flight to Athens. We hung out in the dedicated lounge with non-stop food and drink (fortunately non-alcoholic!) for a few hours until it was time to board the Gig in the Sky ‘plane. Once onboard we were served by cabin crew wearing uniforms with the Jamiroquai buffalo man logo on the back of their jackets and we had a dinner of chicken followed by a specially decorated chocolate mousse. After dinner the gig started. Hurrah!
All I can say is, all this, “Please turn off your mobile ‘phone” malarkey whilst on a ‘plane is a load of old tosh! We were encouraged to use our new ‘phones (which we received earlier in the day) to take photos of the gig…so I therefore deduce that it *must* be safe!
The thirty-minute gig was cool - the band played a new song, “Radio” from the last album which has never been played live before and also a really fab version of an old favourite, “High Times”. Shortly afterwards we landed in Athens and were escorted to an area in the terminal where there was to be a longer gig, complete with more food and (very strong!!) drinks. We had a great time dancing and singing along…I wish I could remember how many times we have seen Jamiroquai now!!
A bus about midnight took us to our hotel, where we gratefully sank into bed - but not until we had looked at our certificates and badges which were left in the hotel for us. The certificate was to say that we had taken part in the record breaking Gig in the Sky. A mug of hot chocolate later and we were in the land of nod!
The next morning saw us in the rooftop swimming pool, before breakfast and quick zoom around Athens for 90 minutes. Surely the most odd thing had to be literally stumbling across the “Changing of the Guard” - what outfits!! A bus to the airport, a flight back (delayed due to wind at Heathrow) and a quick stomp from the tube station saw us back at home, at the end of a bizarre couple of days. A fabulous couple of days nonetheless…surely rating highly in the “Top Ten Jamiroquai Moments” Oh and in case you can’t suss it out, a link to all the photos is here.
March 2nd, 2007
I was today reminded that it has been a long time since I wrote a blog entry, so I thought I would do a quick update for my five readers (yes, I have one more now! LOL!). So, what’s new in the world of the Rowe’s? If you don’t mind I will update on a few things all at once
Running: I have kept going with my running and have also kept going in the BPTT (Bushy Park Time Trial), which I blogged about a while ago. Since the new BPTT running year began on 7th October 2006, there have been six runs (David has run in them all) and I have run in five of them. The best thing is that in four of them, I have achieved new Personal Bests - the most recent of which being yesterday. I managed the 5kms in 32:55, which I was astounded by (and yes, I know some people do 10kms in that time but they aren’t me!) and David was mightily impressed. He came to the finish line with my drink expecting me to still be a fair way up the final straight but I was almost at the finish line. I put it down to the fly I swallowed near the start - the extra protein must have done me good! Overall in the year I am currently in 18th place (out of 302 women and, more excitingly, am being Sonia O’Sullivan who is is an Olympic Silver medallist you know….and yes, I know she has only run three times and is only six places behind me, but still…!) and David is 4th (!!!!) out of 613 men so far this year. He is doing amazingly well and has entered a half marathon in early December (he is doing 15 mile training runs every weekend). Also in the world of running, we have joined a running club and are now both members of the Ranelagh Harriers, who are based very close to Richmond Park.
Work: Well, besides the fact that the world of mummies and babies is an astoundingly busy one, things are good. I am still loving it - the only bit I don’t love is the fact that due to it being so darned busy I don’t get to always provide the care for the women that I would ideally like, due to time constraints. However, I know that I am doing my best and I am still abiding by my mantra which is to try to do one thing every day which will make a difference to someone I am caring for. I am doing pretty well on that so far. On another work note, I was promoted to band 6 the other day. As far as I can tell there is no great difference except I can no longer say, “but I am only band 5″! I was already doing the job of a Team Midwife as it was - but it is nice to have the extra tuppence ha’penny every month (as much as that, I hear you cry?)…
Jamiroquai: We have been lucky in the last few weeks to see Jamiroquai a few times, not least at the Jazz Cafe as part of the BBC Electric Proms. It was a fabulous gig and took me back to the first time we saw Jamiroquai (1993 I think, in Sheffield). We also were lucky enough to go along to Strictly Come Dancing (BBC television show), where they performed wearing tuxedo’s and looked really cool. However, seeing the band that night was somewhat usurped by the fact that David had his photo with Emma Bunton…he had the same cheesy grin that he wore when he first had his photo taken with her in 1999 at a Jamiroquai after-show party.
Holidays: We have a trip to Prague planned very soon, which we are both really looking forward to. This will make up for the lack of Christmas holidays as I will be working throughout (when oh when will babies realise it is far better to be born Monday to Friday, 9-5?!)…
So I think that’s about all for now. I promise to try to keep this a bit more updated but you know…
November 12th, 2006
We have just returned from a lovely few days in Polperro, a very small Cornish fishing village. The weather was very kind to us and we even got a bit of sunburn (or perhaps it was windburn?) on Sunday morning after walking for a few hours.
We soon discovered the delights of Stowford Press cider at The Three Pilchards pub, I even converted David away from lager on the last night! Also an interesting little pub was The Blue Peter, although the cider choice was limited which let it down in my opinion. We stayed at a pub called The Old Millhouse in a very grand sounding four poster bedroom and thoroughly enjoyed a full English breakfast every morning! The pub suffered from being a little “out of the way” in terms of attracting pasing clientele but suited us just fine. We also enjoyed a cream tea at the Plantation Tea Rooms. The nicest dinner we had was at Couch’s Restaurant - the thing that was funny about it was that it was exactly the kind of place that would be on “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares” if you watch that show on channel four. The executive chef trained under various celebrity chefs (including Ramsay himself!) and it seemed as though they were trying just a bit too hard and not getting it exactly right. However, the saving grace was the delicious meat - David enjoyed a beautiful fillet of beef, whilst I scoffed down gorgeous lamb which I am sure we drove past only that morning.
You might have gathered from this that there was nothing except eating, drinking and a bit of gentle walking going on this holiday - and you’d be right! That was the plan, along with catching up on some sleep too. Of course, there was also some photography going on too…
March 21st, 2006
Here is a model (larger version) of part of the city of Reykjavik, Iceland which I’m working on in my spare time.
Now, if you believe that, you’ll believe anything! Here is the original photo and what you’ve just seen is an example of fake model photography, where the aim is to fake the effect of a tilt-shift camera lens.
There’s an excellent tutorial here, and some great photos over at Flickr.
March 7th, 2006
I am back. I am absolutely shattered. I drunk too much, ate too much junk food and had a great time. I had 100 minutes sleep in forty hours - I am definitely too old for that kind of behaviour!
Funnily enough, on my flight up to Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon, Gordon Brown (Chancellor of the Exchequor in case you don’t know) was sitting directly across my row, with a man whom I can only assume is his bodyguard. I was *most* disappointed to note that neither Mr Brown, nor his bodyguard, paid any attention whatsoever to the safety video and also unstrapped themselves from their seats to stand up long before the seatbelt sign was switched off. Things like that irk me. It puts them and fellow passengers at risk.
I didn’t have much time to do the tourist thing in Edinburgh - the primary reason for visiting was to catch up with friends - but I did manage yesterday afternoon to visit Edinburgh Castle. There were some beautiful views, I wish it had been sunny rather than the overcast weather that the afternoon brought. I also visited the Scottish crown jewels exhibition in the castle - no big diamonds like the crown jewels in the Tower of London though. I would like to return to Edinburgh and make a proper visit of it - it was all too fleeting for my liking!
January 16th, 2006
I am very much looking forward to this weekend, I am off to Edinburgh to meet up with a group of student midwives and midwives. I “virtually” met many of them before I started my training and as the three years went by some of us have met in person at conferences and the like. Most of us met on the Student Midwives Sanctuary which is a, errm, sanctuary, for student midwives. Of course, many of us are now qualified (and earning money) and so I suspect the drinks may be on us!
This means though that David will be home alone, so Daddy Rowe is coming to go to the Boat Show with David and I am sure they will have great fun. Not as much as me though. I am partly looking forward to it because I am not at work now until Tuesday - which is lovely as working on Labour Ward is so tiring. Before then I need to construct a name badge…I have the glitter glue, pom poms and stars but no creative juices are flowing. Anyone with a child who wants to make it for me?!
January 12th, 2006
Hello everyone!
We just thought that we would say “hello” and wish you all a Happy New Year!
2005 has been pretty good to us in the Rowe household, the midwifery
training is finally behind Sharon and we have had some fun holidays. This
year we have been lucky enough to have visited Paris, Greece, Boston, New
York and Sharon had a week in Iceland observing midwifery there. David has
been working hard (as always!) and next week Percussion (who he works for)
will have a new office overlooking London’s Oxford Circus. Of course the
year has been capped by the arrival on 29th December of a niece for us,
after David’s brother and his wife Isobel welcomed their daughter Yasmin
into the world.
We are looking forward to 2006, when we hope to visit more places (so far
trips to Washington and Turkey are in the pipeline) and also get out “on the
water” more frequently this year than last. We also hope to have a chance
to catch up with people this year - for some reason 2005 was more manic than
we hoped!
With love to you and yours, wishing you all a happy, healthy and fun-filled
2006.
David and Sharon xxx
January 2nd, 2006
