Orlando

Well, the summer class went by quickly, and the day after it ended, I went to Orlando for a conference. I had thought about making this the first time I went out of town without Carter, but chickened out a month or so before. Then it turned out Doug had to be in Europe during that weekend, so it was just as well I'd planned to take Carter (and Michelle) along.

The hotel we stayed at was the Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Studios. It's really a gorgeous place, and is a replica of an actual town on the Italian Riviera:



I mean seriously, how amazing is that? Carter had a lot of fun running around the piazza.



There was a smudge on my camera lens for most of the trip, and I didn't realize it until it was almost too late. Carter really wanted to get in one of these boats:



But most interesting to him were all of the vespas "parked" around the piazza. They were an endless source of fascination.







Here he is giving me a ride:



Michelle took this one of me and Carter deep in conversation over morning coffee:



Carter and Michelle spent a lot of time at the pool. I played hooky both mornings and hung out by the pool too. It was just too gorgeous! This was a picture I took as I was leaving the first day. That's Carter in the middle, running up the "beach".



It was a fantastic pool. It had a sandy beach, a huge wading area, and an awesome waterslide.



Carter went down the waterslide, and loved it. It was a real waterslide too, not a baby one! Because it's built into that castle-like structure you see above, you can't really see what it looks like until you ride it. Michelle went down first, and then Carter, and then me. Halfway down, I realized it was a serious slide, and wondered how Carter was going to react. I got to the bottom to see him grinning from ear to ear, and ready to ride again!

I met them for dinner before they headed to the parks for the evening and I headed back to the conference. Here Carter was holding a parrot at the Margaritaville restaurant in CityWalk. The official picture of this was so adorable that I bought it. I need to scan it and post it here.



My conference was over by Sunday and we went to Universal Studios. Here Carter got to meet Curious George:



And them he played in the Curious George water area, having a great time and getting completely soaked.







This is good of him and Michelle riding the water taxi together.



He loved riding the boats!



It was a great trip, and I'm so glad Carter got to come along. It made me miss Doug, and wish he could have been there too. Of course, while we were there, he was in Rome -- the real one! I really like that resort, and I'd love to go again sometime.

I have a video to post, but I need to get it processed and uploaded to YouTube, so I'll have to do it later. I should note that it was actually slightly COOLER in Orlando than it is in Austin. Amazing, eh?