Florida Vacation

We were blessed by several things and people that allowed us to go to Orlando this year for an entire week.  We are fairly sure this was the first week-long vacation away from home we've had since our honeymoon (11 years ago). We really looked forward to it! Heather recovered (mostly) from her illness, and we were ready to go!

We flew out of Cincinnati the night of Friday, October 15 and arrived in Orlando around 9:00 p.m. We didn't get to our resort until about 10:00 p.m.; a little late, but at least got us to our destination.

On Saturday, we hit the local IHOP for breakfast, where we got a visit from a balloon artist and the girls got a pony (Liv) and a butterfly (Jo).  We then just hung out at the resort's beautiful pool (whose water was pretty chilly as I recall). We decided we wanted some dinner. As we walked to the pizza place, we noticed a skywriter.  Pretty cool, especially when we figured out he wrote "U + God = :-)  Jesus Loves U"

On Sunday, we had another lazy day at the pool and rented the movie "Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue". We rested up for the days to come.

On Monday, we began our first of four trips to the Disney parks.  Epcot was our first stop. As a family of nerds, we enjoyed this park (first visit for all of us).  Our most favorite attraction was probably Mission: Space, which is a Space Shuttle simulation.  Joie was too little for this one. Liv and I also did the Test Track. Heather and Liv did Soarin' together and we all did The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Spaceship Earth and most everything else.  One thing we thought was pretty neat was the Living with the Land exhibit. It was a "14-minute boat ride in Future World...that explores agricultural advances in the rain forest, Africa and beyond."  Pretty cool ways to grow crops!  We also sampled some different cuisines from the international parts of the park.  At each of the parks we visited, Joie wanted to see all the characters, but absolutely did NOT want to meet or talk to any of them (too shy)!  The long day ended with a most spectacular fireworks show. There were boats in the lake that shot off the fireworks and a couple of them were armed with something like flame-throwers.  These things would be engulfed in fire we could feel 100 yards away!

On Tuesday, we celebrated Heather's birthday by heading to Animal Kingdom. She even got a special button to wear and most everyone of the "cast" wished her a Happy Birthday throughout the day!  We enjoyed the safari and checking out all the animals in the park, including the petting zoo.  Heather and Liv even tried their hand at an African Dance:

Later in the afternoon, around 3:00 p.m., we decided to give Kali River Rapids a try.  We ended up soaking wet! We then watched one of the Disney parades.  Once we left the park, we headed straight to Pops' house (Heather's Dad) to have dinner and celebrate Heather's birthday.  We enjoyed a nice meal and cake with Pops, Gram, Amber, Austen, and Aiden. We were exhausted by the time we left after 8:00 p.m. (and, yes, still wet from the rapids)!

On Wednesday, we went to Magic Kingdom. We took the boat in with the thought of taking the tram back at the end of the day.  More on that later.  We entered the park to see it all decorated for Fall and Halloween. We spent the day riding rides, seeing the sights, watching parades (day and night), and just having all kinds of fun.  We ended the day with the Main Street Electrical Parade and fireworks. While this was a great time of year to go to Disney (weather and smaller crowd size), I think everyone else had the idea to watch the fireworks as well.  They were spectacular! We even got to see Tinkerbell fly from the top of the castle down towards the front of the park!  However, trying to leave that place with thousands of others was quite frustrating and exhausting. As most everyone headed for the tram, we made way for boat and headed back to the car.  We were spent, but had a great time!

On Thursday, we decided to head back to Magic Kingdom to catch the stuff we didn't see the day before. The park closed early that day for a Halloween party later that evening.  We intended to just stay a few hours, but ended up staying until they kicked us out at 7:00 p.m.  Joie's favorite ride was Dumbo and that is what we ended with while Heather helped Livvi pick out a souvenir. We made our way to Downtown Disney where we grabbed dinner at Wolfgang Puck Cafe, then headed back to the resort for one last night.

On Friday, we finished the week as we started it...at IHOP.  Pops joined us this time and we headed back to the resort to hang out at pool until we had to leave for airport. Our flight to and from was uneventful (always a good thing). All of a sudden, our vacation was over. To this day (2 months later), I still wish we were on that vacation.  I loved spending that time with my family.  We really had a good time, without a care in the world! God has truly blessed me beyond what I deserve!

MANY MORE PICTURES HERE