Ahhh the Sunshine !!

*BORING TRAVELOGUE WARNING* Don't say I didn't warn you! I italicized the interesting parts.

We recently escaped the grasp of the grey skies of winter here in the pacific northwest, by heading way way south to the sunny destination of Florida with some friends and Ryan's parents. I gotta say we really packed in a lot. I'm still processing it all and yes I am still recuperating from it all. We pulled our kids out of school for two weeks. Apparently one of my notes to the school didn't get received as I was answering a call at Harry Potter land at Islands of adventure from the school wondering why one of my children weren't there. I think she had a heart attack when I told her the estimated date of return was a good two weeks out, maybe it was the poor signal.

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures but I'll try to capture the trip as best I can.

Plane trip across country MIA THROWS up on our traveling buddy AND a business
man in a full suit, AND a grandma and a little on Ryan. Emma starts yelling: IT STINKS ITS STINKS. (Zachary had no idea she threw up *** gotta love modern convenience of Nintendo ***)

Islands of adventure. Okay we really went on some wild rides. I have forgotten the intensity of the incredible hulk. I don't think I got my equilibrium back until half way into the day. It was way fun though. Harry Potter land was pretty cool. It was a very hot day! We had movie day in the condo. The kids were settled in Daytona with friends and stay at an amazing time share place RIGHT ON THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. It was totally cool.

We headed up to St. Augustine which is the oldest settled city in America and has a really cool fort. Zachary was in love with this place and really enjoyed looking at the artifacts. We learned lots about military uniforms and the origins of many features of a soldiers clothing. There were actual artifacts from the original fort, including cannons, pistols, and the like. It was really cool. We found out it was snowing back home and the kids were mad they missed out on sledding and they had to make up the day at the end of the year.

We left Daytona for Orlando to spend the remainder of our days in Disney World. We had the dining plan this time around for the first time. We ate at some incredible places. The favorites were Teppan Ido a Japanese restaurant where they prepare the food table side. They rigged the chopsticks for us so we could actually use them. It was the best food I have ever eaten. NO joke. We also ate Mexican food, African food, Italian, we went to California Grill which was so good, had fillet Mignon at Le Celier, a Canadian steak house. I think that the food was one of the highlights of our trip. Having gone before and just eating on the go and just eating chicken nuggets and whatever is close, it was nice to eat so well. I found a new treat at Germany in Epcot. I enjoyed SEVERAL milk chocolate caramels. They were huge and just so dreamy.

The children enjoyed being with their friends and enjoying their company as we waited in lines, or were watching shows. They never got tired of each other and never fought. I was impressed with how well all the children did. We had 11 kids total and they really behaved well.

I really enjoy Disney. There is so much to do and you can really tailor it to your interests. Everything there is so well done. The shows are really really good, the rides are fun, they have playgrounds for the kids to unwind and get out energy, they have something for everyone. My favorites is Epcot world showcase, they highlight several countries from around the world and have performances, authentic food to try, people from those countries to talk to, its really fun. This year we set the goal to eat around the world. We got food from every land. Steak from Canada, fish-n-chips to die for at UK, french pastries, something from Morocco, not sure what it was, funnel cakes from US, bratwurst and pretzels from Germany, I don't know what we got at Norway or Italy, but it was way fun. My stomach did not feel good at the end of the day but it was awesome.

The kids wore t-shirts with the 7 dwarf names, reminiscent of the trip we took to Disneyland a couple years ago. We have had additions so one of the clever dads thought to make up names for the rest. We had a stinky, smiley, pinky. It was nice to be able to pick out the kids in a crowd and they got so many comments. It was a little difficult to keep track of them all when they weren't wearing their shirts.

Toward the end of our trip some of our crew got sick. Ryan had to take Marsh and Mia to the doctor. They both had ear infections. Getting to the doctor is not an easy process while visiting. In hindsight it would have been easier to catch a cab. we just didn't think of it since they have a "convenient" shuttle that takes resort guests to a medical facility. Then Ryan got sick. We still had so much fun and enjoyed the sunshine. It was hard to come back to solid rain. I had to force myself off the plane. Maybe they would just let me stay on the plane and take be back to the warmth.....they wouldn't notice would they?

No really, I so enjoyed this trip because I really escaped from it all. I didn't have to prepare any meals, I didn't have to clean up after my children, we didn't have to get in all the demands of being in school, we could just have fun. We had fresh towels every day, they made my bed for me. (And no I didn't opt to save my towels....so there) I thoroughly enjoyed just being there. I didn't care if we rode everything I just loved being there. I really hope everyone else had fun and enjoyed their experience. Plus seeing my father in law in a TU TU will be forever in my top 10 list of memories!

Pictures to come later. HOpefully.