Sisters doin it for themselves!

I've just spent a great week with my sister, Paula. She's my FIRST visitor to see me in the States (and not the last I hope!) Her impression of Coral Springs? 'Like something out of the Stepford Wives' Yep - she pretty much hit the nail on the head with that description!

Dean is a total romantic and gave me a sat-nav system for Valentines Day so that I wouldn't get lost driving Paula around. It totally came in handy - 'specially when I had to navigate back home from Miami airport by myself. Gotta love my geek man!

We visited a Seminole Indian Reservation and took an airboat ride in the swamp. Saw Alligators (big ones and little ones) wild pigs, an emu, buffalo, beautiful swamp birds, fish and tortoises - and a couple of red-necks.

We also spent a day in Fort Lauderdale where we saw a fascinating exhibition called 'Bodies'. Real humans that have "died from natural causes" (and they all come from China, how weird is that?!) These bodies are then processed in a way that plasticises all the tissue and renders them as real life 'specimens'. They are then dissected to show their innards - organs, blood vessels, muscles, everything!

How the body works is just amazing and I recommend that if you get the chance, go see it!http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/intro.html


Ft Lauderdale has some of the most amazing mansions on the Intracoastal Waterway, so we took a river cruise to check them all out. Just so happens that's where I wanna live...

Of course Peebs and I went shopping - spent about 6 hrs in the mall at Boca Raton, and then spent another day at the Sawgrass Mills outlet mall - Florida's largest outlet centre (340+ shops!!)

We spent Paula's last day hanging out in South Beach, Miami. We managed to get blitzed on the biggest cocktails I've ever seen, go shopping and Peebs even managed to get a swim in the sea before heading home to freezing ole London.
Now that I know all the spots to take visitors to (and I won't get lost either!) make sure you start planning your trip to visit us - it'll be fun, I promise...

Hybrid Hi-Jinks

We are now the proud owners of a brand new 2008 Toyota Prius! It's designed like a computer - a start button instead of a key, a computer monitor in the dash, and a USB type port for the key fob thingy that recognises you and opens the locked car when you're in the vicinity. No more fumbling with keys - loving it!!

It's also incredibly fuel efficient ($20 to fill) We took a roadtrip to Tampa and Deland to meet some of Deans family. On the way home, Dean decided to see how far we could get once we got the low fuel warning beep. Seems that we only get 20 miles as opposed to the 40 miles he thought we had. Being stranded on State Route 28 in the dark, next to a swamp was less than appealing (think alligators, banjos and rednecks). After 11 hours in car we finally made it back to Coral Springs. Needless to say we are now members of the AAA!

Deland is a pretty little historic town. Trees hung with Spanish moss, lots of lakes, woods, bears and alligators. Great southern barbeque (lovin those baby back ribs and biscuits!

Thanks to Deans niece Lorrie, I've also discovered the joys of 'smores' - graham crackers with chocolate and melted marshmellows in the middle - all smooshed together and made over an open fire, and very, very more-ish' (geddit?) YUM!!

Dean and I also attended a Hamfest in Orlando with Bruce and Sandy (Deans brother and sister-in-law). There wasn't a ham to be seen - rather it was a festival for ageing ham radio operator geeks - Yikes!

Don't forget to add your comments to my blog - I love hearing from you!