Florida - Day 3

From New Years Eve 2008

After a very early start (5am), we headed to Dad’s restaurant and I dropped B off for a morning of golf with Dad and his buddy, Jimmy. I said goodbye to the guys and headed to Dad’s house for a few hours of sleep.

From New Years Eve 2008

It was a lazy morning – Eric, Vinny and I all sleeping in and then just hanging out while I did some work and Eric showed us some pictures from Iraq. By that time, B came back from golf and we all headed to the restaurant for lunch. Dad made a nice veggie soup in anticipation of my arrival (thanks Dad :)) and it was delicious, as always. B had the hamburger steak smothered with onions and gravy with mashed potatoes, corn and cornbread. And now he can’t wait to go back. We may have every meal at the Big Rig while we’re here.

From New Years Eve 2008

We all headed back to the house, because Nick was done working for the day, and we gave Vinny his Christmas presents. He had a lot of fun opening them, and I think Nick is even looking forward to playing with everything :).

We had a long night ahead of us, because Eric got us all tickets to Universal CityWalk’s New Year’s Eve celebration, so B and I went over to the hotel to nap and get ready. Nick and Eric checked into their hotel in Orlando, as well.

B here: We headed off to Universal for the big celebration. As we got closer to the park it became apparent that everyone else in the country decided to go there as well because we sat in traffic for a good 30 minutes just to get through the gate. With the parking situation taken care, of M and I made our way through the sea of people to City Walk. If you’ve never been, please take my advice and make it a point to go once in your life. It’s an assault on the senses and there’s never a dull moment. I am already looking forward to getting back here so we can spend more time at City Walk and Universal Studios.

From New Years Eve 2008

M and I arrived at the final destination; the New Year’s Eve Party. As soon as we walked in, we came across a table that looked to have the first buffet of the evening. Imagine our surprise as the attendant told us the table was closed... but it wasn’t just that… she said it was closed, she jumped at us with her arms spread as if she was playing defense for the Celtics. We continued on down the way and finally started finding food, which was pretty good. The highlight of the evening as far as food is concerned was the shrimp cocktail which was mounded in huge piles around an ice sculpture. Nick became the king of shrimp and proceeded to supply everyone with a fair amount of the sea bug.

From New Years Eve 2008

As you can imagine, it was non-stop dancing, laughing, picture taking and for everyone else, drinking. As the night progressed Eric mentioned to me that he didn’t care who it was but he was going to be making out with a girl at midnight. Apparently wishes do come true because wouldn’t you know it, he was! The lucky lady at this point remains nameless because M and I haven’t talked to him yet today, but M said she seemed nice. Nick also found a lucky lady to smooch. Turns out she was roughly 50 years older than him. Look out Demi and Ashton!

M was really happy to spend the night with her brothers. With everyone living so far apart, it's not often that they're all together at the same time.

From New Years Eve 2008

Eric’s friends Brad and Lori joined us for the evening and they couldn’t have been any cooler. M had a feeling that we would hit it off, and we certainly did. They are a nice couple and have been good friends to Eric, so M was looking forward to meeting them.

From New Years Eve 2008

As midnight approached, we started to make our way down to the stage area to count down to midnight because that’s where the best view of the fireworks would be. The crowd in that area started to get noisy and excited and we all joined in for the countdown. We counted down the final ten seconds, and as the last second approached, M and I shared a romantic kiss to ring in the New Year.

Once the zero hour came and went, the crowd started moving to the different clubs. Our group headed to The Groove to dance the night away, while M and I said our goodnights and headed to The Latin Quarter for a little salsa dancing. Seriously, I dare you not to dance while Latin music is playing.

New Year’s Eve 2009 turned out to be incredible and we’re looking forward to an adventurous and prosperous New Year. We wish all our loved ones the same. Happy New Year!

From New Years Eve 2008

Listening to: "Low Rider" by War