Florida

We went to Florida for a week and just got home yesterday morning. The trip was super fun, but exhausting. We went with Heather's siblings and their families. Dave and two of his kids, Benny and Olive, Bruce (actually we stayed at his house in Orlando), Sarah and her husband Vic and their niece Talia, Rachel and her two kids Bryce and Alice (Mark couldn't come because he had finals for his last year of dental school), Harlow and his wife Katy, and of course Brandon and me.

On Monday, May 19th our adventure began. We drove down to Salt Lake late Monday afternoon after dropping Willow off at our wonderful neighbors home. We stayed at the Ramada Inn mostly so that we could park our car there for free for the week. It ended up being the same price as if we'd driven there on Tuesday morning and paid for parking somewhere around the airport.

We woke up early on Tuesday morning to fly to Orlando. It was a long day, mostly because we had a layover and didn't land in Orlando until after 11. There we met up with everyone that had flown in from Washington. The kids were tired but seemed excited. We then got our rental cars situated and drove to Bruce's house. We were all very hyper and so excited to be together that going to bed just wasn't an option. So we gathered everyone together and went grocery shopping so that we'd have food to feed the thirteen people that had invaded Bruce's. Obviously he didn't keep that much food on hand.

Wednesday was a day of rest, sort of. We had been planning on making this our first day of Disney world but after going to bed at 4 AM no one really wanted to make that adventure. Instead we slept in til Bryce decided it was time to get up. We ate breakfast and then went swimming in the pool outside Bruce's house. Everyone had a blast, especially the little ones. After swimming time we went on a very long walk. We thought it'd be short but it didn't turn out that way. The kids were so tired that they were falling asleep in peoples arms and on their shoulders. Even Dioblo, Harlow's dog got so tired that he refused to walk and Katy ended up carrying him. Mind you it was very hot outside and we didn't bring nearly enough water for all the people. While the kids took naps we lounged around and talked for an hour or two, even some of the adults ended up taking naps. After nap time we went out to eat at El Pollo Tropical.



Thursday was the first day that we went to an amusement park. We went to Disney World's Animal Kingdom. I would not recommend this park for anyone. Basically it was an over priced Zoo with two roller coasters. Not what we thought we were paying for. We did have fun, but only because we were together as a family and we could have fun anywhere being together, but not because the park was fun.



Friday we went to Disney World's Magical Kingdom. This park was a lot like Disneyland with only a couple different rides. The kids had a blast getting to see the Princesses and a couple characters. Olive got a little Tinkerbell costume and kept reminding everyone that her name was Tinkerbell not Olive. She looked so cute and kept getting comments from all the other people at the park. Bryce's favorite ride was the race cars that he could drive. They were kind of hard to steer but he seemed to enjoy them anyway. The kids screamed on the haunted mansion ride but settled down as soon as we told them the ghosts couldn't leave the ride. Bryce had to have his eyes covered for the rest of the week whenever anything got dark because he was afraid it would get scary. While we were there it rained so hard that the park flooded to our ankles, it drained quickly but we walked around in the water for a good twenty minutes, meaning our feet were soaked to the bone for the rest of the day.



Saturday was another recovery day. We went swimming again and lounged around the house resting form all the fun of the previous days. We went out to dinner that night at the Cracker Barrel and enjoyed spending time together as a family.

Sunday we went to the Beach. The waves were beautiful and the water was so warm. We enjoyed swimming and buggy boarding on the waves. Harlow built an amazing sand castle with the kids. We played toe monsters with Bryce and just enjoyed being together.

On Monday we went to Sea World. It was by far my favorite park. I loved getting to see all the beautiful sea animals and watching the shows. They were amazing. We tried to pet the dolphins but non of them ever swam close enough to our hands. We did get to pet the sting rays however. I was amazed at how smooth their skin was, although it still felt slightly rough in parts. We also fed the sting rays and it was cool how they would suck the fish out of your hands.



Tuesday was clean-up and move out day. We had to be at the airport by two to catch our flight so we got up early to pack up all our belongings and give the house a good cleaning. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone but nice to come home and rest from our vacation.