Finishing up Florida

Hello, folks! Boy, life just keeps truckin' along, doesn't it?  One of my many goals is to catch up and stay caught up on my little blog.  I have a lot of work to do! I want to finish up my Florida Vacation posts first since it was almost a year ago!!! 

One of the things we were most excited about visiting Florida was the chance to see one of the last Shuttle launches! So, to get us ready for the launch, we spent a whole day at the Kennedy Space Center a few days before.  We loved it!!  They were, of course, preparing for the launch and the shuttle was already on the launch pad.  We thoroughly enjoyed the museums, the tours, and we even saw a real live astronaut!

The boys were so excited about all things space after going to the Kennedy Space Center! We are glad we were able to get a good background before seeing first hand people going to space!  The day of the launch was kind of crazy.  It was scheduled for 5:00pm, so we left around 10am.  The drive is about an hour and we wanted to hit Cocoa Beach beforehand.....we almost didn't make it in time!!!  The traffic was so terrible, that it took us until 4:30 to get there!!  It was crazy!  At one point, I was so sick of being in the car and not going anywhere, that I literally got out and walked a little way until Ryan caught up with me in the van!  But, once we got to Titusville, we staked our spot and watched history unfold.  It was incredible to be there and see it with our own eyes and feel the earth shake and hear the rockets!!!   So cool!!

Next Stop...Hollywood Studios!

Disney's Hollywood Studios was such a fun park!  We watched an American Idol audition show, rode Tower of Terror, and played on the Toy Story ride.  We also ate at a fun restaurant where we were transported back to the 1950s where we supped at the kitchen table on pot roast and we were not allowed to put our elbows on the table and we had to stand in the corner if we didn't clean our plates!  So funny (and yummy!)

The shows were great too!  We watched a darling version of Beauty and the Beast, and you can't beat Fanstasmic! We had a great time!

We were winding down on our wonderful family vacation, but the most magical place was still to come.  We loved the Magic Kingdom! Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Haunted Mansion....I could go on and on!

The most memorable ride was the Lilo & Stitch ride.  It had been talked up quite a bit, so we didn't want to miss it....We now wish we HAD missed it!  You are placed in this small auditorium, tightly strapped into your seat when supposedly, Stitch gets loose and turns out the lights and spits and jumps on you....not fun!  But we did laugh about it the rest of the trip.  If you are going to Disneyworld, skip this ride: consider yourself warned!

However, that was the only low point!  We had a blast, as you can see...

We finished the day with a wonderful walk down memory lane.  I grew up watching the Electric Lights Parade and this just took me back!!  I vividly remember the snail float and the music and watching it with my boys was so fun!! Disney Rocks!

We also visited the Orlando Temple on our trip (once with all of the kids, and then again to do baptisms with the girls).  What a great part of our trip!  It was neat to take a break from parks and nonstop fun to do something spiritual! And what a beautiful building!

As you can see, it was a FANTASTIC trip!!  I know I've said that over and over, but it really was! Our little family really needed it and I wouldn't trade the memories for anything!

Florida: Part Three

If I had to rate all of the Disney World parks, I think I would pick EPCOT as my favorite.  We spent a day and a half there and it wasn't nearly enough. We had a great time checking out all of the countries. Of course, navigating our large group around the world was MUCH easier thanks to Mr. Mapman himself.  Ethan was constantly checking his whereabouts and showing us the way!

In just a few short hours, we explored Mexico....

The Far East....

And even Scandinavia....

Some of us traveled better than others....

In Europe, Lauren obtained a beautiful purple flower...

And because Ethan is so influential, he wanted one too.  I caught on film how he not-so-sneakingly plucked one from a nearby planter and then lovingly gave it to me.  At least his heart was in the right place!

Our favorite ride was Mission: Space.  You are placed in a simulator and go all the way to Mars and back.  Best. Ride. Ever!!

Just being with my family was so wonderful!!  We simply had a great time and can't wait to go back!

Florida or Bust (part two)

Ahhh, finally another Florida trip post! This time it's all about Universal Studios.  We had to include this on our agenda because of two words:

HARRY and POTTER

We are huge Potter fans at my house and were so excited to see the new Harry Potter park at Universal.  It did not disappoint!!



The main attraction at the Harry Potter park was the ride inside Hogwarts Castle called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  The line weaves all around the castle including the greenhouses, the great hall, a few classrooms, and even Dumbledore's office.  The ride itself was amazing!  We flew with Harry all around Hogwarts, interrupted a Quidditch match, and narrowly escaped a dragon! One of the best rides ever!

Hogsmeade Village was so neat!  My only complaint is that is was way too small. The wand store was seriously no bigger than my home office!  I wish they would have made everything bigger, because it was all so cool!!  The kids bought wands and chocolate frogs.  We also had to try the Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice.  Both were really good!  WE LOVED HARRY POTTER!!

Of course, we explored the rest of the park as well.  We got completely drenched on the Jurassic Park water ride.  When I say drenched, I mean not an inch of dry skin to be found on any of us!  Good times!

The kids were obviously quite scared of all of the dinosaurs lurking around as shown below....fortunately, we all survived.

This was taken while standing in line for the Jimmy Neutron ride....stupid ride, but we seem to find the joy in even the dumbest things and couldn't stop laughing when it was over (probably because we were so glad to be off!).  We just all had a blast being together, and it didn't really matter what we were doing.  Seriously, one of the best family vacations I've ever been on because we all had so much fun together.

We also stopped to say HI to Scooby.  We love him at our house!

One final picture of two of the cutest chillins on the planet.

We loved our time at Universal and renewed our obsession with all things Harry Potter! Next stop...EPCOT!

Florida Or Bust!! (part one)

Our trip to Florida was almost six months in the making.  Our family had talked about heading to Orlando for years, but it finally came together last Fall.  We knew that Ryan had this big trial coming up, so we wanted to go on a great family vacation after he put in all of that hard work.  We knew we would need that family time, and I'm so grateful for the memories we made.  It turns out, however, that we went on our trip BEFORE the big trial, but that's OK, it all worked out in the end!

When we first arrived in Orlando, someone was nice enough to take care of our luggage for us....by taking it home with them!!  We had to wait until the next day to get it back, but were relieved when we finally had our stuff back!  What a way to start off our trip!

We went with my parents, my sisters Denise and Kaylee, and my brother.  We all stayed in a great condo and had a ball!  You would think that being on vacation for eleven days would prove taxing, but it wasn't!  We were all sad when the trip was over. During our almost two week trip, we went to all of the Disney Parks, Universal Studios, and Kennedy Space Center. We had a fantastic time at each place! I will share the highlight of each day with you.


Our first stop was Disney's Animal Kingdom.  It's part zoo, part Disney theme park.  Our first stop was to ride the Safari ride.  You are loaded into big trucks and drive out to the Savannah where there are all kinds of animals right outside the vehicle: warthogs, giraffes, elephants, alligators, and a bunch of others!  It was neat! 

 

After the Safari, we spotted a few other "wild creatures" in the park.  Here are a few examples:

There were SO many great shows at each of the parks, but I think the best were all at Animal Kingdom.  We saw a Finding Nemo show that was just darling and also a Lion King show.  It had acrobats and wonderful singing.  Katie and Lauren even got to join the show at the end!

Grandpa Dennis zipped around on a scooter, but sometimes, he had an extra passenger....

Some silly parts of the day....

This was the Dinosaur ride and I HATED it!!  See me in the picture cowering in my seat?  This gigantic robotic dino was after me!! AAAAHHHH!

We found this chain doorway and tried to make our heads float in the chains, but it didn't really work.

This is, of course, Ethan being silly....as usual!

Some of our favorites in Animal Kingdom were Everest, an awesome roller coaster that shoots you backwards, The Finding Nemo show, the BBQ place we ate at for lunch, and the Safari ride.  We had a great day at Animal Kingdom!!