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And today... THE BEACH!
Spring Break 2010 from PJ on Vimeo.
We drove over to St. Pete public beach with the hopes of meeting up with Paula and Kayla but no such luck. It was cloudy and cold but the boys still managed to get in the ocean and splash around a bit.
The little buggers also like to take credit for others' hard work:
We had lunch at an outdoor restaurant on the beach and then packed up to head back to the hotel pool in Orlando... much warmer and sunnier there!
Tonight was our last night in Orlando... we are all sad that it went by so fast. Tomorrow starts the very, very long drive home without any fun new toys or movies to occupy little guys in the back seat.
I will so miss the sun and palm trees and all of this uninterrupted time with my boys. But most of all? I will miss not having to look at my iPhone or laptop for 5 straight days.
SeaWorld is the best, absolutely the best, theme park in the world:
We had gorgeous weather and smaller crowds than Disney which made for a great day watching dolphins:
And killer whales:
The boys also had a great time hanging out in Shamu's Happy Harbor riding the Shamu Express:
While walking around with ice cream and popsicles enjoying the gorgeous views, Ben found a friend:
After checking out the Shamu show, we decided to call it a day and go back to the hotel for more pool time. (Seriously? We should have just rented a room for the week at a hotel with an indoor pool in Saint Louis.)
Today was the only day we didn't have something specific planned out so of course the boys wanted to swim in the hotel pool all day. We decided to drive around, check out the outlet malls and get in a game of mini-golf.
Ben is not so good at mini-golf:
But we had fun and it was a beautiful day to be outside unlike the cold, cloudy day yesterday:
After the golfing game, Brad thought it might be fun to take the boys to Hooters for lunch:
Ben was in heaven when our waitress leaned down to his level to take his order.
After lunch we headed to the pool for the rest of the day where it was revealed, while Brad was soaking with them in the hot tub, that almost every kid in there had peed in said hot tub. Glad I didn't join in.
Tomorrow is SeaWorld!
This is the day the MacBook died... and prevented me from updating from the hotel in a timely manner.
This is also the day we chose to visit the Magic Kingdom along with 60% of the North American population. I have never been to a theme park that was this crowded... it was insane.
Drew & Ben loved the monorail and the ferry we had to take to get to the front gates:
Our first stop was the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House:
After several failed attempts to get Drew to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, I gave up and we headed over to watch robotic Presidents discuss history with us. Those of you who know Drew know how much he loves anything to do with history, especially American History. I thought this exhibit would be lame, but it was the best thing we saw in the park:
We managed to somehow convince Drew to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which Ben loved):
By some dumb luck, we stumbled upon Donald Duck & Goofy:
Then to Tomorrowland, where we waited in line 50 minutes for Space Mountain. When we got to the front of the line, Ben decided he had to go to the bathroom RIGHT NOW!, RIGHT NOW! and Drew decided he was too scared to go on it so Brad had to ride alone. (I'm sure it hasn't changed much since I last rode it... when I was 13 years old!)
I did get a chance to ride the Indy 500 after waiting another 50 minutes in line:
We spent the most time in Tomorrowland as the lines were the shortest. We did the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin:
And then decided to call it a day.
(I think the sign lied to us... no one really felt that Our Dreams Came True.)
Ben fell asleep in the car on the way to dinner (at Moe's!) and didn't wake up until 8am the next morning...
WE MADE IT!
Day two on the road was cloudy, sometimes rainy and quite a bit more boring... Georgia and Florida are very long states to drive through. Brad finally relented and let me get behind the wheel today from Lake City, Florida (just over the state line from Georgia) all the way into Orlando. The boys were so well behaved and we only had to take one quarter from each the entire time.
Our hotel is perfect for our week long stay; the boys have their own themed-out *room*:
After unpacking and getting settled in, we hit the outdoor pool and hot tub (despite the rain and chilly 60 degree temp):
Brad & the buggers in the hot tub
Drew & Ben swam together with chattering teeth
After the quick swim we drove over to Downtown Disney for dinner and some fun... along with half the population of Florida as it was insanely busy for a Sunday night.
The buggers & I near the Crab Shack restaurant
The boys loved the Lego store and the giant exhibits built from Legos:
Drew & Lego Indiana Jones
One determined husband + two excited buggers + five states + ten hours in the car = ONE LONG DAY!
Perhaps the most genius idea of this entire adventure was handing out a roll of quarters to each of the buggers for the drive -- if they behaved, they kept all of the quarters to themselves and could spend them however they wanted in Orlando. (You could see them both thinking about all of those lovely candy machines they could hit up.) BUT if they fought with each other, talked back to us or uttered any of these key phrases:
They had to GIVE BACK a quarter. Current quarter count has Drew at $9.75 and Ben at $7.50. Not too bad for the first day.
A quick breakfast stop at McDonald's in Carlisle, IL shows just how quickly the car was trashed by these two:
We stopped in Nashville for lunch at a great BBQ restaurant, Jack's BBQ. Highly recommend it:
We are now resting comfortably at the Courtyard Marriott after swimming and gorging on pizza. Early start on the road again tomorrow -- Disney, Here We Come!
These guys LOVE a Courtyard Marriott and, after a long day's drive, a dip in the hot tub.
Daylight Savings Time is both a blessing and a curse; we have all slept in well past an acceptable time the past few mornings and struggled to get to work/school on time.
But tonight... Tonight we were able to go on a scooter walk after work and IT WAS STILL LIGHT OUT.
If the weather would warm up a bit more life would be very close to perfect.
The annual St. Patrick's Day parade took place downtown this afternoon despite the clouds and occasional drizzle. We packed a picnic lunch (well, um, we stopped at LeGrand's and loaded up on sandwiches, chips and drinks), staked out our spot and had a blast watching the kids vie for candy and beads.
The day steadily got colder but we stuck it out til almost the end... but a two+ hour parade is just too freaking long! You can see the best of the best pictures here on Flickr.
No leprechaun sightings (real leprechauns, that is, as giant floating ones don't count) much to Drew's dismay. Thankfully there are still a few days left til St. Paddy's for the little buggers to pop up.