Shopping and eating

Saturday was shopping day. My sister J and I hit the closest outlet mall, hard. Well it's hard not to when prices are so good.

I got myself two pairs of Nikes, one for Zumba, one for walking, for $120. Two pairs of gorgeous Nine West heels for $90. Two pairs of Vans skate shoes for Will for about $50.

It was insane. After a few hours we were waddling, multiple bags in both hands, in the most ridiculous and unbecoming manner..,why don't these places have some sort of concierge service, damn it!

I may have gone a little crazy at the Osh Kosh store and the J. Crew stuff for kids is devine.

After five hours we'd probably covered half the mall but couldn't take another minute. Now we're contemplating trying to squeeze in another "quick" visit.

The boys and kids were by the pool and when we got back it was entertaining to watch Big Jay making requests of the poolside DJ. Who knew my Jay liked Brittney Spears' Toxic (and that they couldn't play it because it was inappropriate)?!

Finally dragged ourselves upstairs to clean up for dinner at La Luce, the Italian eatery here at the Hilton. After our stellar night at the Bull & Bear we had high expectations but unfortunately they weren't met. The food was average, the service was bordering on poor, it just wasn't great. Nevermind, onwards and upwards.

Sunday was going to be our day trip to Miami and the Everglades. After some discussion we came to the conclusion it was just too far and too hard on the kids. So unfortunately our visit to Dexter's hometown will have to wait.

We contemplated going to the Kennedy Space Centre instead but decided the kids wouldn't allow us to enjoy it very much (perhaps we're wrong on this front, I'm just being overly cautious now because their whinging does my head in).

Instead we chose to check out Downtown Disney. It's the Disney shopping, eating, entertainment area and there's no fee to actually get in - shock horror! There's a Cirque du Soleil there, cinemas, loads of restaurants, an indoor theme park (which we avoided).

We did spend an enjoyable hour in the huge Lego shop. Lego prices are incredible here so the kids got some Lego and we enjoyed the displays, inside and outside the shop...those Lego designers and builders are so clever!

I decided to take the kids to the movies to give them some quiet time and give the others the chance to enjoy happy hour at The House of Blues. The movie was Mirror, Mirror (the Snow White re-write) and it was a big steaming pile of non-entertaining, poorly written rubbish, so stay away. Movie prices (like everything) are cheap and our session was in a dine-in theatre so we had a table and waiter service - Miss M's Waffle Sundae was huge!

After the movie we found the others at The House of Blues (can you believe Jane's Addiction is playing there in May??) and bought the obligatory t-shirts.

Then it was seafood time. We had always planned on visiting Joe's Crab Shack while we were here (we have history) but there was an impressive looking Fulton's Crab House here and we loved the look of the menu.

Luckily we got a table right away, after being told they were booked out earlier in the day. Then we launched into what can only be described as a serious seafood overload.

A seafood tower (crab, prawns, oysters, lobster) for four to start with, then the lobster and crab platter for two plus two other dishes for main. They had a great kids' menu (not just your average sub-standard nuggets) and Miss M ordered the Snow Crab legs - it was hilarious watching her wrestle with these things.

Oh my god! The Maine Lobsters, freshly steamed, were devine. The different types of crab...the succulent prawns...it was all gorgeous...even the little red skinned potatoes served with butter and herbs. It was gluttony of the best/worst kind....and again, probably half of what it would have cost in Sydney.

In a daze we stumbled out and straight into Pollo Campero...just in case anyone got hungry later. Hilarious!!!

So the day ended in our room, Miss M building one of her new Lego sets, all of us eating fried chicken and watching Bridesmaids on tv.

The days are running out and I'm not really wanting to go home. I'm usually so homesick but not this time. I'm not dreading returning to reality but I'm in no rush to head back there just yet.