Florida Trip

We had an incredible time on our vacation in Florida with Gustavo's family.  Now that we are back, Gustavo is at Youth Conference, Ella is in bed, and I don't want to unpack or clean so I'll blog about our trip!

I've decided just to make one long post so I apologize for the length up front. 

 

Day 1: The Flight

I was really scared about flying with Ella.  We had a short flight to Las Vegas and then a 4 1/2 hour flight to Orlando.  There were 2 times when she freaked out, but they probably only lasted for 15-20 minutes although at the time they felt terribly long.  Gabe on the other hand was a champ!  He slept most of the time and only complained for a few moments.  He even slept on the trays in front of Yolanda and Shevin.  I kept turning around to see him either sleeping or just calmly looking around.  I was so jealous!

Everyone on the flight commented on how cute and good they both were.  Yolanda and I quickly noticed how much friendlier everyone is when you have a baby.  Lots of people would come up and talk to the kids and then chat with us throughout our trip.  

After the long flight we had a few bumps getting the rental car, but they were all sorted out and we were at Gustavo's aunt Cari's condo by about 9:30.  It was such a nice place to stay; about 15 minutes from everywhere and beautiful!  There were 3 bedrooms (one for each couple).  We were lucky and got to stay in the master bedroom where Ella slept in her pack and play in the walk in closet- it was PERFECT.  She slept really well in her little closet.  I felt like a bad parent quite a few times throughout our trip because it was SO HOT in Florida (who would have guessed that?).

Poor Ella is a great sleeper (she takes 3 naps and sleeps through the night) when she is put down in her bed, but she doesn't sleep otherwise.  There were a few times when she finally gave in and napped while we were out and about, but they were definitely rare and usually very short.  

She fell asleep at the airport while her daddy was feeding her... 

(his joke)

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

Emily and Laz flew in from Virginia on Friday morning so we headed off to The Magic Kingdom.  I've only been to Disneyland once and that was way back when I was in sixth grade so it was TONS of fun to go to The Magic Kingdom.  It took us a few minutes to figure out how to work our situation with the babies, but we quickly found out that we could get two baby swap passes for each ride.  Each pass allowed up to 3 adults to go through the fast pass lane so one group of 3 stayed with Gabe and Ella while the other 3 went quickly through the line.  We then switched places.  This was SO NICE!  

We got to ride pretty much everything we wanted to.  Ella and Gabe were even able to go on the Haunted Mansion ride!  The baby swap passes made it so convenient that we even went on Splash Mountain 3 times since it is Laz's favorite.  We stayed at the park until it closed at 11 o'clock so we could watch the firework show.  It was worth watching even though it made it really difficult to get out of the park with all of the traffic.

Day 3: Hollywood Studios

I was excited to visit as many of the kingdoms in Disney World as we could even though I didn't know much about them.  I loved the way Hollywood Studios was decorated and enjoyed lots of the rides.

I don't know why I am smiling in this picture though.  The Tower of Terror is by far the scariest ride I have ever been on.  You go up in an elevator just to drop, be raised up again, drop, raise up again, and drop.  This happens at least four times and is AWFUL!  I don't ever want to ride it again.  It was definitely terrifying!

Hollywood Studios is full of great classic hollywood buildings and stores.  One area has different sets so we had someone take a picture of us in San Francisco.  I really loved the movie sets.  They made me want to live in the 30's and sing and dance like the characters in Singin' in the Rain.  Emily quickly reminded me of the inconveniences of that era- namely plumbing.  I'm not sure she convinced me to change my mind though.

The Pixar area was also great.  Who doesn't love Pixar movies?  Ella got to ride with us on this cute Toy Story ride.

Day 4: Typhoon Lagoon

On our fourth day we just wanted to relax so we headed to a Disney water park, Typhoon Lagoon.  When we walked in we were excited to see that Ella was the BIG Kahuna!  It was very fitting because this was definitely one of her best days.  She loves the water.  We went out in the wave pool and Ella laughed each time the tide rushed in and got her.  This wave pool was awesome because it was set up like the ocean where one huge wave is created and people ride it and play in it as it ripples through the pool.  This day was just what I needed because it was relaxing and cool.  

Day 5: Animal Kingdom
Again, I was really impressed by the set-up and decorations of the Animal Kingdom in Disney World.  Nothing compares to Disney.  We rode some fun rides and enjoyed our last day with Emily and Laz before they flew home that evening. 

 

Day 6: Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure

We spent the day in the Islands of Adventure park in Universal Studios where I rode this:

I'm pretty proud of myself, in case you can't tell!  I was feeling very brave and didn't get too nervous in the line because the people behind us and in front of us were really scared.  In fact the woman in front of us had never been on a roller coaster before (I'm not sure I would advise this as your first one).  She texted someone to say a prayer for her while we waited in line.  After we got off she said she was still shaking and they bought the picture because it was so funny.  

This whole park was great.  There were tons of fun rides and the child swap program Universal Studios has made riding everything even easier than Disney World.  We had a blast.

One of the islands is Seuss Landing.  It was so cute!  I thought of Alysha the whole time. Even the garbage cans were great.  They were bright green with this quote from the Lorax "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not."  I love Dr. Seuss (don't we all?)

Day 7: Blizzard Beach

Although we had lots of fun throughout our trip at incredible amusement parks, I was ready to relax (and I had a pretty bad headache from all of the heat and crazy rides).  We headed off to another Disney water park, Blizzard Beach.  I really enjoyed relaxing and playing with Ella.  I just love to watch her splash and have fun in the water.  She is definitely my little water baby.

Day 8: Coming Home
By Thursday we were definitely ready to come home.  Ella was really great on this long day of traveling.  We had 2 flights again so she had lots of time in her stroller and in the plane.  This time she only cried for a few minutes and slept for almost and hour (ironically there was a crying baby in front of us who woke her up).  We had a great vacation and really loved spending time with our family.  Now I guess it is time for us to get back to our regular life... and unpack.