"House of So Much Fun" - Marsh Family adaptation of "Rising Sun Blues" (House of the Rising Sun)

As some of you who follow us on Patreon or Facebook already know, we had an amazing opportunity at the end of the summer - at the invitation of Experience Kissimmee - to take the kids on their first ever long-haul flight and enjoy a week's vacation in Florida, in the Vacation Home Capital of the World®. We had an incredible time, visiting amazing sites, enjoying US-style hospitality and food, and doing the kind of stuff we relish on vacation - outdoors, nature, exciting days and trips, and just spending time together to make memories and learn about new places and people. It's always those bits in between that stick in family folklore: the pool alarm, the car doors, the bad songs on the playlist, the size of the breakfast fruit, Tess dancing on a carpet because for the first time in her life she had a room to herself for seven nights.

This song was written to reflect the experiences we had on holiday - an adaptation of "House of the Rising Sun" or its original folk title, "Rising Sun Blues". We were slightly surprised that our hosts, Experience Kissimmee, were happy for us to riff on a song about someone down-at-their-heels in Louisiana, but we quickly realised that's because they 'get' us and see things very similarly - that making the best of life is about finding fun, and having a laugh, and choosing to collaborate and build experiences around sunshine and fresh air and music. We'd like to give a huge shout out to all those venues that we got to visit around Kissimmee and Orlando - so you might spot footage (or references to) Wild Florida, Jeeves Florida Rentals, Universal Orlando Resort™ (our first ever theme park!), Gatorland, the Paddling Center (at the tranquil Shingle Creek), and the Island H20 Water Park. We feel like we only scratched the surface in our time there, and the kids are now determined to get back to the USA as soon as they can! We'll post some more pictures in the Community pages if people are interested.

Huge thanks to Juliana, Nick and the whole team - with special mention to Keri who came with us on several of our adventures to see alligators, and to Jo who first reached out to us in the dark COVID days of April 2020, when travel of any kind seemed like a tantalising dream, and suggested the idea. And lastly thanks to our lovely friend Sarah and her dad who looked after the cats for us while we were away in August!

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www.experiencekissimmee.com

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LYRICS:

Thomas: There is a house in Kissimmee
All: With a pool, wide skies, and sun
Danielle: And we’ve been there for a holiday
Thomas: We hoped to have some fun

Ben: Now Ella’s scared of ‘gators
Alfie (/Ben): Tess of fast machines
Tess: Our father’s more a rambling’ man
Tess (/Thomas): He don’t like crowded scenes

Ella: Mum abhors her swimwear
Ella: The boys are awkward teens
All: It could have been a dreadful plan
All: To go to Kissimmee…

Ben: Now the home met all our family needs
Ella/Danielle: With a pool where we could dunk
All: We could roam along the waterside
All: We could kayak through the swamps

Danielle: I wish we’d left the children!
Ben: Other things we could have done
Both: When you and I are retirees,
Both: Can we leave the Animals home?

Alfie: Oh, Mother could not zipwire
Ella: Dad wore hideous trunks
Kids: Spent our time doing awe-inspiring things
Boys: While pretending we’re not their sons

Ella: Well, I’m not one bit scared of ‘gators!
Tess: I loved the rides and trains!
Kids/Danielle: Yes, every time we finished one
Kids/Danielle: We had to ‘go again’

Males: There is a house in Kissimmee
Ben: (KissIMMee!)
All: With a pool, wide skies, and sun
All: And we’ve been there for a holiday
All: We got to have so much fun!
All: We got to have so much fun!