Florida Part 3: Too Many Theme Parks

Here it goes--I've been avoiding this post for way too long, due to the sheer volume of pictures and fun memories. I'm not sure I can get through it all, but here it goes.

On Thursday of our long-past vacation, we got the kids up bright and early to head to Magic Kingdom. Grandma, Grandpa, and Melissa didn't get to the hotel until 2 in the morning, so they slept in and met us later. After a quick breakfast, we got on the hotel shuttle and made our way to the park. One empty wallet later, we had our four passes to the park--hooray!

Ohh, the anticipation is killing us!


We headed straight to Fantasyland and did some of the "must" rides, like the spinning teacups, Snow White (Sammy refused, too scary), Winnie the Pooh. Then we headed over to Tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin--this was the all-around favorite of the day, and we came back several times. Eventually the grandparents got there, and waited with Zeke while we did Space Mountain, which Sammy and Riley loved! (They are much less scared about roller coasters than I was at that age!) After lunch we went to Adventureland and Frontierland, where the boys loved the Jungle Cruise (although the animals there were a little scary, too). Bruce and I loved the pineapple ice cream (Dole Whips). Sadly, Splash Mountain was closed for maintenance--huge bummer. Zeke's favorite ride of the day was the carousel, even with all those other amazing Disney rides around. Mom and I both took half an hour to ride with him over and over while everyone else went on their favorite rides a few last times. It was while we were waiting for him to finish a ride that Riley got lost, yes, LOST in Fantasyland! What a scary 5 minutes! Luckily, we found him waiting in line for Dumbo the Flying Elephant all by himself, very safe and very much in trouble. If only this had been the only time he wandered...

Zeke's very favorite ride.

Hmm, no one can get lost while they're behind bars...

Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

We were surprised no one fell out of the boat on the Jungle Cruise.

So much fun to be here with Grandma, Grandpa, and Melissa!

Heading up the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse.

Grandma loved going on rides with the kids.

Waiting for "Mickey's Philharmagic" to start.

Zeke's other favorite ride--the escalator.

Last ride of the day.


The next day, we had a lovely time at SeaWorld, except for the two minutes Riley got lost again. He went back to talk to the pearl divers (who hold their breath for 10-15 minutes at a time), and we found him fairly quickly. We loved all the SeaWorld shows, especially the whales and dolphins. Unfortunately, SeaWorld is enormous, and there's a lot of walking with not much in between. We were all very tired. Bruce and Melissa mustered up enough courage to ride the Manta Ray roller coaster, however. The ride hangs the cars upside down, from the bottom of the track. They said it wasn't as scary as it looked. And Sammy liked the Journey to Atlantis (like Splash Mountain), except for the creepy Atlantis people inside the cave part of the ride.

Zeke was a little confused by the splashing whales.

Our new friends.

Not too scary with a 3-inch thick pane of glass between us.

Bruce and Sammy after a successful splashdown.

At least we didn't lose anyone...permanently.


On Saturday morning, we met John at the Kennedy Space Center. It was not quite as thrilling for the boys as the theme parks, but they seemed to enjoy it anyway. Bruce and I liked the bus tour to various buildings. The boys liked seeing a bald eagle and an alligator from the bus windows. We watched a 3-D iMax movie about the moon landing. Even though we'd seen several 3-D cartoons at Disney, Zeke was somewhat freaked out by the 2-story tall 3-D astronaut that appeared suddenly on screen, and he cried out "Movie get Zeke! Movie get Zeke!" in a panic. I didn't panic until after the movie, when we went to get lunch and Riley got mad at me so he ran away (in a huge cafeteria and museum filled with hundreds of people). It took about 10 minutes to find him, hiding in the men's bathroom. This one got him in trouble since it was on purpose, and at a place not nearly as lost-kid-friendly as DisneyWorld (and fraught with alligators, as well). After the Space Center we wandered out to Cocoa Beach for half an hour, but it was cold and stormy so we didn't stay long. Our fried seafood dinner was fabulous, though.

Sammy wants to wear this suit someday, and be the first person to set foot on Mars.

On the moon.

Uncle John was the coolest guy around.

Sammy, zoned out at the beach.

There were always plenty of birds to chase.


Sunday afternoon was heavenly, because we managed to get Zeke a real nap in a real bed. Then we had a yummy dinner graciously hosted by John at his small apartment which is not meant to handle three rambunctious boys! He served us roast beef and lots of vegetables (the perfect antidote to 10 days of fast food), and the most delicious fresh-squeezed orange juice. We celebrated Riley's birthday with a huge Costco Key lime pie and a noisy Buzz Lightyear laser gun. The miracle is that no food or drink ended up ground into John's beige carpet, and no expensive electronic equipment was broken. Thanks John!

Happy birthday to Riley!


On Monday, Grandma and Grandpa and Melissa went back home. We wished we could as well, because we were all thoroughly tired of vacation. (Did I mention we changed hotels four times?) But we headed to Disney Hollywood Studios, half-terrified that Riley would get lost yet again when our adult to kid ratio had decreased by three adults. After we threatened to cancel his birthday for the next 10 years, he behaved and stayed close all day. Bruce and I enjoyed the Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith roller coaster (fastest roller coaster around, I've heard). The boys loved Woody's Wild Ride, which got up to a 2-hour wait time later in the day. Sammy was deathly afraid to try the Star Tours ride, but once I finally dragged him on it he loved it and we went back twice. Sadly, Zeke couldn't ride many of the rides at Hollywood, and didn't get much out of all the shows. We decided Magic Kingdom is definitely the best option for little kids. We'll just have to go back when the boys are all teenagers.

The awesome Toy Story soldiers were our favorites.

We got to meet our heroes!

If this thing wasn't cemented in, it would have been a childhood dream come true for Bruce.

Why am I soaking wet? Oh yeah, it rained all day!


Oh, did I mention it rained on us ALL DAY at Hollywood? Usually just a drizzle, but sometimes a downpour. We kept thinking Florida storms never lasted very long, but we found the exception. We were all soaked through by the end of the day, but at least it wasn't very cold. We couldn't muster up enough energy for a real restaurant, so even though we had waffles every morning for breakfast at the hotel, we chose Waffle House for a very late dinner that night. I have to say those were the best waffles I've ever eaten in my life! (I found a knock-off of their recipe online, if anyone's interested.)

We were so thrilled to go home on Tuesday!!! 10 days was long enough, but day 11 and 12 made our trip officially too long. We packed up all our still-wet clothes (Have I mentioned how humid it was, even in the winter? Nothing dried out at all!), and had a nice, uneventful plane ride home. Except that Zeke didn't sleep much. The boys were so happy to climb into their own beds and leave vacation behind. Whew!



P.S.-I think it took about two hours for me to write this post and add pictures. I hope you enjoyed every word!

Florida Part 2: The Beach

On Monday and Tuesday, Bruce was busy working (gasp!), so I had to find something to do with Sammy, Riley, and Zeke all day. According to them, they would have been happy watching cartoons on cable TV all day long (they got a few hours in every day, at least). However, I noticed that after several shows, they would get cranky, ornery, and whiny. Horrible. So both mornings we packed a lunch, slathered up with sunscreen, and headed for the beach.


Clearwater Beach is such a lovely place that it was worth the 45-minute drive to get there. The sand is soft and bright white, made of crushed seashells from the Gulf of Mexico. Close to the waves you can see the shells at various stages of getting crushed into sand. Riley loved scooping up shovelfuls of shell bits to show me. Sammy never found a full sand dollar, but was happy collecting all the sand dollar chunks he could find. Zeke was afraid of the waves the first day, but had a blast splashing in them the second day; he needed a hand to hold on because the undertow was too strong for his little legs to keep him standing.


The boys' very favorite thing at the beach was my least favorite: hundreds (thousands?) of seagulls who know just how to get their lunch from tourists. On our first day, I noticed how hundreds of birds swarmed near us as soon as they saw sandwiches come out of the plastic grocery bag. I was carefully guarding the bag, but apparently not holding the sandwich in my hand tight enough. After I'd eaten about half, I was going in for another bite when a bird swooped in from behind and grabbed the whole thing right out of my hands! It was shared by 10 birds, and was gone in about 4 seconds.


The boys thought this was hilarious, but took it as a sign that Mom needed protection. Sammy and Riley began chasing seagulls away, one by one. I thought their efforts were futile, but after about 10 minutes of running around yelling, our section of beach was completely clear! They were so proud of themselves, and all our beach-neighbors got a good chuckle from watching. So on Tuesday, they planned all morning on how they could take shifts, so someone could "protect" us while others were eating. Unfortunately, just before our lunch, a lady close by was purposely feeding the seagulls! Aiding and abetting the enemy! Needless to say, the birds were less easily discouraged, but Sammy and Riley still did a great job, and no more food was stolen.


So we collected tons of broken sand dollar bits, a few cool seashells, and a lot of sand in our clothes. Sammy and Riley smashed an oyster in hopes of finding a pearl, but ended up just covering themselves and Zeke with oyster guts. We ended each day with time on a really great playground at the beach, and even got some ice cream. What a fabulous place to let the boys explore, play, and have fun while using their own creativity and intelligence. I love the way their minds work and the great games they come up with. I really love the beach and miss living close to one. I think we'll have to visit beaches more often...

Florida Part 1: Getting Away

Here I am, so far away from the biting winds and icy streets of Utah that I have mostly forgotten how completely they inhabited my life just a few short days ago. Today's high was about 72, and yesterday we were sweating, sweating, while wearing shorts. Ahhh, Florida winters.

Anyway, we had a great, and uneventful, trip here. Despite getting up at 5 a.m. to leave for the airport, the boys were all filled with tons of energy. No one slept, sagged, whined, or cried (much). Well, Zeke did take a short nap on the second leg of our flight. Zeke and I also had a chance to meet with some wildlife in the Denver airport while the rest of the family navigated the moving sidewalk system.



We got to Tampa, settled in to our tiny hotel room, and headed out for dinner at the local Sweet Tomatoes restaurant. We found a coupon online for a free adult meal, and decided we'd look for a coupon for every dinner out while we're here. So far, we're good: pick-up discount from a local pizza joint, online coupon for Boston Market, and a free meal tomorrow at Ikea. We never eat out this much, but we're even finding places that serve vegetables, which makes us feel a little less bloated than living on McDonald's and free hotel breakfasts. (Mmm, waffles and pastries! Not that we're skipping those, mind you.)

On the second day here, we decided our hotel room was too small so we moved to a place up the road that offers two-bedroom suites (a MUST for traveling with three small children). We left $15 worth of groceries behind in the fridge at the first hotel, sadly. Then we went to a local street fair, the Children's Day of the Gasparilla Pirate Fest. We all had a good time, but it was not enough pirate and too much vendors selling food and souvenirs, in my opinion. Sammy thought it was boring, but everything else was bugging him that day too. Not enough sleep, perhaps? The best part of the party was watching the Navy Special Ops parachuters land right in front of us. Very cool. Oh, and the older boys each scored a free bike helmet, so we figure it was a day well-spent.



After that we went swimming in the hotel pool. We quickly discovered the downside of visiting Florida in the winter: unheated swimming pools. The day was nice and warm, but nights are cool enough that the water is icy and way too cold for me (unless I have a wetsuit on and plan on swimming at least half a mile). Bruce got in with the boys, who all shivered like mad but wouldn't stop swimming for anything. I have to distract them for a few days so they'll forget to make me take them back.

On Sunday we had a great day at church--I love going to other wards, especially when we don't know anyone. The kids were miraculously well-behaved. (See--having Sacrament Meeting FIRST instead of last is the true key to a quiet congregation.) The ward was very nice and we enjoyed visiting. Then we had lunch, had some quiet time, and headed to a great little park. Okay, it was not little, it was huge! Rain started pouring down just as we were getting in the car--the wind and clouds will be gone by tomorrow morning and it will be sunny again. Then sandwiches in the hotel, stories, and kids in bed. Sigh. I think everyone has worked out the exhaustion they felt from travel and not getting enough sleep. Now on to the rest of the trip, hopefully with very happy kids!