Florida - Day 5, 6 & 7

Update from Day 5 - When Cora woke from her nap, she started vomiting shortly thereafter.  So, my Dad and Lyn ended up going out for dinner and we stayed in and ordered pizza.  She was quite sick for a few hours and seemed to be bouncing back just before bed time.

Day 6 - Cora slept all night and seemed to be feeling better in the morning.  Although we had planned on going to Universal Studios, we decided it would be best to stick around the house to make sure this flu bug was out of her system (and that none of the rest of us picked it up).  Fortunately, Cora felt great all day.  We enjoyed a very relaxing day in the pool.  My Dad and Lyn went out for a few hours to Downtown Disney/Disney Springs.  Overall, I was really not that upset about missing another park.  The parks really are exhausting (for all of us!).  We really enjoyed our pool time and the 80 degree weather!

For dinner we went to Carabba's (my favorite).  When we got back to the house, we packed everything up an went to bed early, knowing that 4:15am was going to come quick!

Day 7 - Well, 4:15 am came quick.  Fortunately, we all were up and moving (none of us slept well) and out of the house just before 5 to get to the airport to catch our 7:25am flight.  We had an hour layover in Baltimore and landed in Flint just after noon.  We grabbed a bite to eat and were actually home around 2:30pm.

What a great trip it was!  However, it's so nice to get back home and get everyone back in to their routines, including Tom and I!  I'm very much looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight!

We are already trying to decide where our next vacation will take us.  We all agree that we think it will be a long weekend at Niagara Falls either in the spring or next summer.  My kids really have no idea just how lucky they are to be able to travel and see so many sights at their young ages.  We are also very fortunate to be able to provide these memories for them, and to have such great kids to make memories with.

Florida - Days 3, 4 & 5

Thursday - Day 3
We decided to take it easy after a long, fun day at Sea World yesterday.  Plus the kids were anxious to get into the pool!  We swam all morning, had lunch here at the house and then in the afternoon Dad and Tom put up a ceiling fan for cousin Lynn and the kids both napped for about 3 hours!!  For dinner we went to Giordoni's pizza and had Chicago style deep dish pizza.  The kids were entertained by a guy who made balloon animals for them while we waited for our food.  Since it was raining we stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Friday - Day 4
We went to Disney's Magic Kingdom.  Our understanding is that we came at a "slow" time of year.  I honestly cannot imagine coming at a "busy" time of year.  Crowds are just not my thing!  There were a lot of people, however the wait time for the rides really was not that bad, averaging 10-25 minutes.  There was really only one ride that we wanted to go on but didn't get to because of it being an hour long wait.  I think everyone's favorite was the Space Mountain roller coaster, followed by Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Other rides that we went on were Pirates of the Caribbean, Swiss Family Treehouse, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Walt Disney World Railroad (took us from one end of the park to the other), Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, Mickey's Philhar Magic, Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, The Barnstormer (a little roller coaster), and Tomorrowland Speedway.  We splurged and had lunch at the Crystal Palace and got to meet Tigger, Pooh, Piglet and Eyore.

All day long, Cora was super quiet and almost in a trance.  She went along with everything that we wanted to do, didn't whine at all, but was just not herself - just like she was at Sea World.  On the way home, we grabbed McDonald's for dinner and soon after she perked right up and was herself again.  Again, we think it's just sensory overload for this little country girl.

Saturday - Day 5
Hard to believe we are on the tale end of our trip.  Today we started out the day swimming for a couple hours, had lunch at the house and then hit a couple of flea markets (for Dad, of course!)  I'm glad that we had another rest day scheduled cause we are all tired, especially the kids.  Cora is currently napping and is easily going on two hours now!

Florida trip days 1 & 2

 We 

Day 1 - We flew out of Flint on Tuesday, December 1st.  Thankfully we had an uneventful flight and made it to Orlando in just under 3 hours.  It was the kids' first time flying and they were nervously excited, but both did well and stayed awake the entire time.  We came to our "rental house" (cousin Lynn's house), unpacked, the kids swam for a bit, and then we headed out for dinner.  We ate at The Ale House in Davenport.  Leave it to my dad to find us a good deal....kids eat free on Tuesdays!!  We even got to sit outside and eat, the temperature was about 80 degrees.  By the time we got back to the house, we watched a little tv and we were all ready for bed!!

Day 2 - We got to Sea World just before the park opened.  For the first couple hours, we felt like the Griswolds at Wally World....we were riding rides all by ourselves with no waiting in line! It was great!!  It did get busier later in the afternoon but it still wasn't too crowded.  We watched many shows - Shamu whale show, the dolphin and bird show, the sea lion and otter show, and the animal show (trained cats, dogs, a mouse and a skunk, too!).  The shows were incredible!  The kids agreed that their favorite part of the day was the Shamu roller coaster.  Cora was deathly afraid of all the big birds who were crowding around at lunch time, otherwise the kids did really well and thoroughly enjoyed the day, as did the adults. We went to Manny's Chophouse for dinner afterwards (by recommendation from cousin Lynn) and enjoyed two for one fajitas!!  Luckily the kids napped on the way there and were in much better moods after their naps.  When we got back to the house, we went swimming in the pool.  When I tucked Cora in that night, she told me that she had fun today but really wanted to do nothing tomorrow and not have to go anywhere.  I think she was a bit overstimulated for the day.  I think she is a lot like her mom - a bit of a homebody who doesn't like crowds of people!  I have to admit, I was also looking forward to a day of complete relaxation!

I will have to add more photos later.... My phone filled right up from the day at Sea World so I don't have many photos on my iPad to upload right now!