Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Florida Recap - May 2014


We went to Florida in May. (Yes this is late, but better late than never)! Our first "real" family trip...and by real I mean on a plane, with a rental car, in a hotel.  We have done many trips with them locally - Maine, the Cape etc...but nothing quite as complicated as traveling with two suitcases, two carry ons, two strollers, two car seats and ...two toddlers!  This was a new experience for us.  We are used to the husband and wife carefree vacations...Ohhh how things have changed! But, I will say, the kids were A-Mazingly well behaved and loved every minute! I couldn't have asked for anything more.  When we pulled onto our street coming home, Jaxon cried and said he wanted to stay in Florida.  That, to me, means it was a successful trip. (And a sign that we were back to reality).

So...here is a time line of our fun filled May 2014 trip to Florida! :)

Patiently waiting to get on an airplane for the first time!

Fully supplied with ipads, headphones and coffee for the adults!

Some exploring after we arrived - and some jumping on the bed! It is vacation after all ;)

Not much cuter than a toddler in a two piece!

Or a little boy splashing around!

We are in a cove under a waterfall = family selfie.

Our first full day = SeaWorld! (The kids look tired already - and it was only 10 am).

Loved the dolphins!!

And the whale show!

Jaxon missed the whole thing!

And Anya wasn't far behind!

We took a quick nap break and then headed back to SeaWorld for some rides, souvenirs and a few more animals to see. 

Our evening finished with their very first sno-cones. They had two bites each.

The next day was a pool day followed by a spontaneous evening at Downtown Disney.

We did some exploring...

(Love this).

had some Ghirardelli's ice cream... 

and watched the sunset.

The ice cream was so good Jax got every last drop!

Then we walked right into a dance party!  Leave it to us to always find one.  We danced off the ice cream for a good hour and a half! They even announced Nate's name because he was busting out the moves with all the kids! :)


Next day was Animal Kingdom.   This was on our safari.

It's amazing how close you get to the animals.

Tree of Life

We met Donald Duck (Jax was a happy boy...Anya was terrified).

While Jaxon slept, Anya and I met some animals at the petting zoo. 

Lunch at an African bar...and that was a delicious mojito I must say!

And then, the next day we headed home.  This sunset on the way to the airport just screamed that we should be staying longer!


So...that was a walk down memory lane. It was such a fun vacation! Next time we will be going for a full week!  I never thought I would be one to visit Disney frequently, but we quickly decided we think it will be a yearly trip.  (We also quickly decided if we want to travel a lot, two kids is just right for us...but we can save the details on that for another blog post).  ;)  Our kids had a blast and so did we!  To see the excitement in their eyes and their faces light up over and over again made the trip through the airport, both ways, totally worth it!! :)
 
 
~Erin Leigh