Family Vacation to Florida - Part 4

You probably already guessed what we did in Orlando.... Disney World!!!!!! We all had such a blast, the rides were awesome and the crowds minimal. There was so much to do and see! We only spent one day there at the Magic Kingdom. Hopefully we'll go back for a week once the kids are older. But until then we can remember the wonderful memories we made together.

We really did so much that I'll just let the pics speak for themselves...

All I can say is dreams really do come true at Disney World - the kids are still talking about it!! And so it was worth every penny!

The next day we got up early and drove back home to Texas - getting in at around 6am Saturday morning. Needless to say, we were TIRED!!! And very happy to be back home. :)

We had so much fun together as a family on our vacation and I can't wait to start planning the next one!

Family Vacation to Florida - Part 3

OK, I have not forgotten about blogging our vacation - I've just been too busy/lazy (pick one!) to get around to finishing this. So here goes...

Here's some pics of the cruise ship that I forgot to post with the last part (Part 2: the cruise).

Look at the cool swan they made out of towels!

Once we got off the ship we drove up to Tampa to drop my mom off at her mom's house to stay with my Grandma Eddy and Uncle Chris for the rest of her vacation. It was so great being able to see my grandma and for her to see the kids and meet Tyler for the first time!

We went out to dinner at a great little seafood restaurant then came back and had birthday cake since it was my Grandma's birthday as well as my mom's. They weren't expecting it so it was really fun surprising them.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay very long (you'll see we changed the kids into their pj's) because we had to drive to Orlando and check-in to our hotel. But I'm so glad we got to spend time with my grandma. I love you Grandma! Thanks for letting us come over :)

So we drove to Orlando and checked into our next resort hotel to get ready for the following day...

Family Vacation to Florida - Part 2

Now on to Part Two of our Vacation:

Fort Lauderdale, FL

We stayed at a "resort" (really it was a hotel with a few extra amenities) in Fort Lauderdale for 2 nights, enjoying the beautiful beach and all-you-can-eat buffet for every meal. Did I mention that I gained a few pounds on our trip? Yeah, we ate a lot. :)

For part of our trip we had to go to a time-share presentation (hence the good deal on the trip). What was only supposed to last 2 hours ended up taking FIVE HOURS! With 3 kids!!! Of course the guy taking us through it was a total moron, and honestly the places they showed us weren't nice enough for us to even consider it. Total waste of time. We will never do that again.

So now on to what I considered the most fun:

The Cruise!!!

We went on a 2 -day cruise to the Bahamas. We've never done any cruises before so we wanted to keep it short and see how it went, especially since we took the kids with us. It was fabulous!!! Also, my mom flew into Fort Laud. and joined us on the cruise - the kids loved being able to play with grandma and stay with her in her cabin, it was great!! The food was wonderful - we ate dinner at a Brazilian restaurant on the ship, I couldn't get enough of their bacon-wrapped turkey!

Natalie & Nathan got to play in the kids' lounge while we enjoyed the entertainment after dinner. Of course Tyler wasn't old enough so we still had him with us. But he loved it! And everyone thought it was hilarious how the movement of the ship didn't seem to bother him at all - he was still getting used to walking and already looked a little tipsy.

When we woke up the next morning we were in...

Nassau, Bahamas!!!

At the Visitor's Center

We took a cab over to Paradise Island and spent the day on Cabbage Beach. The water was a perfect aqua blue, and the sand was brilliant white. You could see schools of fish swimming in the ocean around you (which of course scared me away from the deeper parts). It was absolutely beautiful!!

Natalie got her hair braided on the beach - what a little diva! And we had only one casualty - Mom fell in the ocean while trying to get a bucket of water for Nathan (yes, he was still afraid of the waves and wouldn't go near the water). Fortunately Mom didn't mind too much, she even went back again to get more water!

Lovin' the Beach

Back on board the ship, we hung out on the deck - eating and letting the kids play in the water park. Dan had to work for a little while (as you can see in the pic above), so we played and relaxed in the perfect weather. And look at the view!!!

Our ship embarked at 5pm and headed back to Florida that night. After dinner it started to get a bit rough out in the ocean and I got sea-sick (the only one out of all 6 of us!), so I went to bed early. And the next morning we were back. I think we need to go on a longer cruise next time. :)

Yes, the cruise was definitely my favorite part of our vacation. But it wasn't over yet....

Family Vacation to Florida - Part 1

I decided to break our trip into parts due to

a) the many activities we participated in on our trip,

b) the hundreds of pictures I have to sort through to decide which are best, and

c) the fact that if I don't start somewhere I may never get it done!

Here is part One: The Drive to Florida

In April, we took our first ever big family vacation to Florida. We decided to drive since we were staying in several different cities. While Dan was dreading the 20 hour drive (I guess he took a few too many roadtrips growing up), it actually went really well. In fact, it was waaaaaay better than trying to fly with 3 kids. I am now all about roadtrips!!

We took 3 days to get to our first destination. Our first day, Thursday, we drove 11 hours and got in late to Pensacola, FL to spend the night. The next morning we headed out and drove 6 hours to Cape Canaveral, getting there in the late afternoon. The hotel we stayed at had a gated kids' pool, as well as a large heated pool and hot tub. We all went swimming as soon as we got there - just what we needed after two days in the car. It was heavenly!

Afterwards we went to a restaurant right on the water for dinner. Natalie and Nathan were so excited to see the ocean, all they wanted to do was go to the beach. Tyler tried his first lemon there, just look at that face!

We spent Saturday morning at the beach in Cape Canaveral. In the distance we could see the rocket launch site. Unfortunately we didn't have time to tour the Kennedy Space Center (next time!).

We discovered several things once we got to the beach -

Natalie is a fish and made for the ocean, she never wanted to come out!

Nathan has developed a fear of the ocean and would NOT go near it, but fortunately was very happy to play in the sand.

Tyler loved watching the waves come in and swirl around his feet, even though he kept falling over whenever the water got to him - I think the movement threw him off.

We loved watching our kids have the time of their lives at the beach, it was awesome!

Once we cleaned up at the hotel and checked out we finished the last 3 hours of the drive down to Fort Lauderdale to start the first part of our vacation package - which will be Part 2 in this series and will be posted at a later time.

Hope this holds you over for now (yes, I'm talking to you Mom)!