Family Pictures

 We have been planning on getting new family pictures for quite awhile now, but with schedules and trips and work it has been quite a task finding a time when everyone is around.  Today we braved a huge winter storm and with Colton throwing up made it to the photo session.  I think the turned out pretty darn good!

FLORIDA! Our Trip of a Lifetime!

We have, as a family, been saving for a few years to make this trip happen, and this is how it occurred.  When each of our children turn kindergarten age, they get to go on a vacation with mom and dad.  McKaleigh went to Legoland and the Wild Animal Park in San Diego.  Colton went to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. With Alex's kindergarten year approaching Brett posed a grand idea.  What if we made his kindergarten trip a family adventure and took everyone, but made it really spectacular?!  Well, that's what we did, and it turned out great!  We set aside 8 days and packed as much as we could into those days as we could.  We arrived at the Orange Lake Resort in Florida where dad hooked us up with a "beachfront/poolside" condo (with more amenities than we could even take advantage of while we were there - we literally could have spent the whole 8 days onsite)!  Then we planned out our days hitting all 4 Disney Parks, both Universal Parks and then hopping to and fro whenever.  We got up at 6:30 a.m. almost every morning (I know not very relaxing) and were at the park entrances by 8:30 a.m. then we were going all day and headed for home each night about 10:00 p.m.  The kids were troopers and were always excited to hit the next thing or chat about what was happening all around.  This was truly the Trip of a lifetime!

(p.s.  The pictures do not accurately reflect the timetable of days and time spent)!

Disney's Animal Kingdom was definitely one of my favorite parks.  There was so much to see and do and take in, and it was different than the glitzy theme parks we had already hit. 

One of our family favorites was the morning safari ride.  We were closeup to all of the animals and got out really early in the morning, so we saw them eating, roaring, running and playing in the early hours.  It was so great.

 Here I am pointing out animals to Alex on the safari. They really were so close and active, which made it that much more fun!

The kids and I looking are in the safari car and having a great time taking it all in. It was so fun to see them so excited about everything that they saw.

 A large termite mound - which was bigger than the kids are!

 We rode a train into the petting zoo portion of the park. McKaleigh commented that she hoped that we would be able to pet exotic animals - like lions and bears (to her dismay they were goats and pigs).

 Here is a rare photo of mom and dad.

Another with Chip and Dale with the kids.

 Alex and his "llama" encounter.  He kept petting the goats and saying "dad...look, i'm petting a llama."  I guess we should visit farms more often?

 They had a bird show, which I thought Alex might enjoy because he loved the parades so much.  I was right.  He was cracking up at the talking ones - and dad so enjoyed watching him giggle at their antics.

 There were lots of educational stops that taught the kids about animals and conservation.  It was really amazing of all of the big attractions and craziness of the theme park setting, this was one of our favorites. The listened really attentively to what each of the educators had to say.

 Here they are making different types of rhino lips.  They learned quite a bit about animals, sounds, conservation efforts and what they can do to help.

Here we all are waiting for another parade to go by.  Alex just loved watching the parades at each park. Although this picture might say otherwise, I really am having a good time!

More Florida!

Still having so much fun in Florida.  We went and walked all day long, every day!  It was a busy time but day after day the kids were excited to continue the adventure.  We visited so many places and had so many new experiences that it is hard to express how much fun we were having!

One of our favorite rides was Despicable  Me. It was well worth the wait, and we even went back a second day to ride it again! Here are the kids with one of the Minions during the Boogie Fever dance party!

 and here is Dad with one of our very own Minions!

 Alex and Colton going on the kids version of Splash Mountain. (Although Colton would have preferred the real thing - it was closed), they really enjoyed this one, especially since it was at the end of a hot day.  The water park part made it great!

 One of Alex's favorite rides that day was the Woody Woodpecker rollercoaster. It was just enough excitement and just enough tame for our little guy.  We even were lucky enough to get a picture with the Woodpecker himself! (Dad usually took Colton on the big coaster and they had to coax McKaleigh to go with them - she even admitted she almost cried on a few of the big ones!).

Harry Potter at Island's of Adventure was, I think, the favorite day!  We all had so much fun and there was a little something for everyone! The kids and dad went on the big rides and Alex and I rode the Buckbeak roller coaster about 10 times!  Here we all are (a rare family picture) in front of the Hogwort's Express.  I think that we could have all just wandered around the shops looking at the Candy Toads, Ever Flavor Beans, wands, and trinkets for hours (well, I could have)!

 Stopping for lunch at the Three Broomsticks- Yummy!  McKaleigh had been DYING for one of the turkey legs that they sold all over the different parks, so here was her chance (and she licked the bone clean!).  We even had pumpkin juice and all sorts of Potterish type meals.

Not forgetting the Butterbeer.  It was literally HEAVENLY!  Here is Alex sipping on a cup on the sidewalk, but watchout, once mom got her hands on the cup - it was gone! I have to admit that I did buy multiple cups of this amazing concoction!

Switching gears....We could have spent the whole week at the condo on the Orange Lake property.  It was beautiful with pools, shopping, tattoos and hairbraiding for the kids, a lake with rentals, all kinds of food and the list could go on and on.  Before the week was over, I think we were all ready to move in!

The kids loved to get out to the pool early so that they could catch the frogs and lizards that were sunning themselves by the water's edge.  Then they would go play by the waterfalls and in the lazy river, battling each other with their tubes.

 And....This is what I liked to do while they were doing all of the above.  Brett allowed me one day of just lounging, reading by the pools, laying around and watching the kids play, shopping...it was GREAT mom time!

 The kids loved this huge blowup slide.  it was like a really big slip and slide that they zoomed down.  Notice the sand - it was just perfect, like really fin ocean sand - you would have thought you were there, at the ocean, it was perfect!

 When we hit Disneyworld, there was so much to see and do.  So many rides for the bigs and little, so many different directions that everyone took.  It's funny though, of all of those rides, Alex just wanted to watch parades...and more parades.  It got to be kind of a joke that at whatever park we were at, we had to find the parade times! 

 Here are the kids locked up with Zurg, getting ready for the Toy Story ride. Even better was the new Toy Story Mania ride at Hollywood Studios - but no pictures of that one:(.

 Of course you can't go to Disney without riding in the tea cups! They were just Alex's style.  We learned on this trip that Alex does not like surprises, fire, smoke or dark places, rides that go to fast.  It was a learning experience!

 After the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, Alex decided that his Mickey Ears hat would be the Jack Sparrow one.  (we have gotten one for each of the kids on their trip). Here he is modeling it.

 While dad and the kids went on some of the more scary and adventurous rides, Alex and I rode the Star Tours ride over and over.  It was fun because there was a new adventure each time we rode it. And it ended at the gift shop so there was lots to see and do after each adventure! Alex even got to ride a real Star Wars bike!

 Last parade of the night...don't we look tired!  We are waiting for the Electrical lights parade at Disneyworld!

 Love this picture of Colton - he was the only one who still looked really awake by that time of the night!

 We had the BEST time.  This was truly the trip of a lifetime!  I would love to go back sometime and stay at the exact same place!  The kids were great, mom and dad had fun with each of them and really enjoyed watching the excitement as they rushed from place to place. Each kiddo had their favorite places and things to do.  Colton LOVED going on the rollercoasters, McKaleigh LOVED browsing through the stores and Alex could not get enough of the parades.  There was something for everyone and everyone loved it! It truly is a magical place!