Orlando Day 4

Our plan on Monday was to hit Disney World for the entire day.  The kids woke up looking dazed and completly exhausted.  We were concerned that they wouldn't enjoy the day at the Happiest Place on Earth, let alone make it all day.  We nixed our plans for Disney that day and decided to take a day to rest instead.  We went to Downtown Disney in the morning for just a little while.  It worked out well because we let the kids pick out their souveniers at the Disney store there and then we didn't have to carry them around the park the next day.  Reagan had also really wanted to go swimming at the resort pool, so we went there in the afternoon for just a while.  We ended the night watching "Brave", which the kids hadn't seen yet.  They were able to rest up (and so were the adults!) in preparation for our most anticipated day:)

 The Lego store at Downtown Disney has some really fun creations made out of legos. 

Luke wanted to sit on the Harley's at the Harley Davidson store.  Maybe someday, kiddo!

This is outside of our house that we stayed in.  The kids all ended up picking out a stuffed animal for their souvenier.

 The resort pool had a slide that the big kids (and Grandpa) had fun going down.

 

 

Orlando Day 3

On our 3rd day in Orlando we wanted to take the kids to experience the ocean.  We took off for a 2 hour drive to the Gulf of Mexico.  Ryan had heard about a cool place called Caladesi Island.  You take a ferry over to a completely uninhabitated natural island, so the shells were numerous.  The kids had a great time shelling and playing in the waves.  None of them would venture out too far because they had warned us on the boat that there had been quite a few sightings of sting rays recently.  None of them wanted to take any chances! We were there for a few hours and got plenty of sun and saltwater.  Drew managed to lose his flipflops while we were there.  He must have taken them off too close to the water and they got pulled out to sea! We didn't realize they were missing until we went to grab some lunch and we couldn't find them anywhere.  They sold swim shoes so we bought him a new pair so he wouldn't have to be lugged all over the island.  Another fun fact that the kids thought was cool was the sign that said beware of rattlesnakes. Yikes! We definitely stayed on the path. 

Orlando Day 2

Our first full day in Florida we went to Sea World.  This is one of my favorite places and I was excited for the kids to experience it.  They really liked the shows, especially Shamu, and it was a beautiful day to be outside.  We made it home for a supper of spaghetti and of course more swimming.  We ate outside on the covered lanai so the kids didn't even have to dry off from the pool.

 

 

 

We rode in the ride that takes you above the park and rotates so you can see for quite a ways.

 

 They have rides at Sea World now.  We had explained to the kids that we weren't coming for the rides but to see all the animals.  There was a smaller area that had rides for kids, so they got to do a few of those.  They had two huge roller coasters that Reagan really wanted to go on, but she wasn't tall enough.  Good thing, because I wasn't going to go on it with her!

Its nearly impossible to get this kid to take a nice picture.:)

Waiting for the dolphin show to start.

 We splurged and Ryan, Luke, Reagan and I fed the dolphins.  It was so fun! I will still swim with them someday.

 

Orlando Day 1

Ryan's parents decided to take our family on a vacation this year and of course we said "YES!".  The kids were super excited to make their first big trip.  They had never been on a big airplane before or even on a big vacation before.  They had a Friday off in April, so we made that our vacation time.  We had to fly out of Omaha around 6:00 on Friday morning, so we all stayed in Omaha Thursday night.  I had no desire to wake my kids in the middle of the night, because I knew they would be too excited to go back to sleep.  4:30 was already early enough! They were all super excited on Friday morning and off we went.  We got to Orlando in the early afternoon, grabbed our rental van and headed out to our house.  The kids wasted no time jumping in the pool as soon as we go to the house.  Ryan and I headed out to the most diverse and crazy Wal-Mart I have ever been to to grab some groceries for the week...and then we all crashed for the night!

  Watching for our plane to arrive.

   Waiting patiently in Omaha

Not even a teenager and he still tunes us out.:)

   We had buddies the entire trip.  Reagan was my seat buddy on this leg.

We had a layover in Denver before heading to Orlando.  It wasn't ideal to have to fly west and then have a 3 hour trip down south, but the kids did great with it.  Drew & Lauren needed a little snack before boarding the plane.

An early morning made for a much needed nap.

 

The boys sat together. Renee, Lauren and Luke sat behind them and Reagan and I both sat across the aisle from them. Originally they had all 8 of us scattered around the plane. Drew & Lauren were going to have to sit by themselves for a 3 hour flight. Thank goodness we got that fixed!

We were laughing that Reagan looked like a seasoned traveler.  She sat by a couple and quickly made friends with the mom.  She had to run and give her a hug when we were by the baggage claim.:)

 This was the favorite spot in the house.  The kids commented many times that this house was much better than ours because it has a pool.:)  That's what vacations are for, kids!

 Drew & Lauren were much more comfortable in the hot tub even with the floaties.  They spent most of their time swimming in here.