Florida!!!

Many of you have already seen the photos I posted on Facebook, but I'm finally back to report on our trip to Orlando in January! It's a little text-heavy because I wanted to record all the details somewhere. As usual, feel free to skim and just check out the pictures!

We arrived late Sunday night after a long afternoon/evening of travel. Dylan loved the whole experience and did great on the plane! He was so interested in all the new sights and sounds and charmed everyone he met! By the time we got to the house, picked up dinner, ate, and got to bed, it was almost 11 p.m. and Dylan was still all smiles!

The next day, we treated ourselves to breakfast at IHOP and then got some bad news: Lisa, Brian and the kids weren't coming:( Poor baby Brian had gotten pretty sick with pneumonia-type symptoms and wound up in the hospital for the day (he's ok now!). So, for the next two days (until Mimi and Papa arrived) we'd have the 5 bedroom/5 bathroom house to ourselves!? Seemed kind of excessive and sad but there was nothing we could do except make the best of it....And we did!

I headed to the grocery store to stock up on food for the week and then we spent the rest of the day checking out our "new house" (which is what we liked to call this rental:) and the neighborhood - a gated community with a playground, game room, pool with water slide, etc!
It was too cold to go swimming (despite the fact that our house pool was heated - with a hot tub!) so we decided to try out the playground, which was awesome.

On Tuesday, we headed to the Magic Kingdom - a first not only for Dylan but for Tim too! We got an early start since we planned on heading "home" mid-day for Dylan's nap. Because January is off-season, the park was ours with little to no wait on all the rides. But the catch was that it was pretty cold...I was wishing I hadn't left my winter coat in the car. We went through the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, checked out a Pirate show on the street, rode Pirates of the Carribean, and then Dylan and I watched Daddy on Thunder Mountain before heading back to the house for lunch and a nap. Dylan love it all and was so tired by noon that he fell asleep during 15-minute car ride to the house, transferred to the pack n' play without a peep (never before done!), then slept his normal two hours!

Tim and Dylan trying on pirate hats in the gift shop.

Snack break!

That afternoon, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom to finish up the park...

We rode "It's a Small World", which Dylan really enjoyed. After that, we caught a quick glimpse of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Then Dylan and I toured Mickey's house then met Mickey and Minnie (!) and played on a cute little playground while Daddy rode Space Mountain.

We wrapped up the day with a ride on the Winnie the Pooh ride, which Dylan also really enjoyed (becoming a theme here!). At that point, it was getting cold(er) and dark, so we headed home for dinner, happy and tuckered out!

Wednesday morning we checked out one of the cheesy gift shops in Kissimmee (where our house was). Dylan loved playing with all the knick-knacks and do-dads and I picked up some small gifts for a few of my clients. Mimi and Papa arrived later that day and we spent the afternoon strolling along on Main Street in the Disney Village. We had a late lunch and then checked out T-Rex, a dinosaur-themed restaurant/gift shop with tons to look at and touch. We also checked out the Lego store and grabbed a free sample from the Ghiradelli store before heading home for dinner.

PEtting the Lego doggies!

No rest for Papa in the dressing room...

Admiring his Mickey ears in the mirror

Thursday was Epcot day! Once again, we got an early start. We started out at Soarin’ a hang-gliding simulation “ride” that was highly recommended to both Mimi and Papa by their friends and to me by a client. Mimi and Papa went first, while Tim and I stayed with Dylan (who is too young/little for this one). While it was Tim’s and my turn, Mimi and Papa took Dylan on the more mellow “Living with the Land”. For what it’s worth: Mimi and Papa loved Soarin’ but Tim and I were not as impressed. Next, all five of us checked out the Finding Nemo ride, which was a great one for Dylan. Afterwards, we learned a little about sea creatures and hung out in a shark's mouth!

Before heading home for lunch got in (a short!) line to meet all the major Disney characters, including Mickey again! So exciting!

After heading home for lunch/nap, we rode Spaceship Earth (sponsored by Siemens, the company Tim works for), which was completely changed since the last time I was at Epocot, almost 15 years ago! We then headed to Mission Space for Mimi, Papa, and Tim. This was another one Dylan and I couldn’t do, but that turned out for the best! They went on the more intense (orange) version and I think they all regretted it - they all got motion sickness and couldn't even talk about eating dinner for at least another two hours! While they were on Mission Space, Dylan and I had a snack, walked around, and checked out the Advanced Training Lab playspace. While Mimi, Papa, and Tim recovered, we played around in Innoventions, an interactive “lab” with activities that teach ways to make “the world a better place”. Everyone was then ready to take a ride with Figment. Dylan loved this one until the very end when there was a ridiculously loud horn blown, accompanied by a huge gust of wind. Poor baby was so scared and upset:( Why would they do that on a children's ride!? Before heading home for the night we decided to get dinner in China! Well, the China section of the Epcot World Showcase. Once again, Dylan was a trooper, hanging in there through a very late dinner, falling asleep in the car, and transferring like a champ to the pack n play – staying mostly asleep even while we changed him into his jammies!

By Friday the weather had finally warmed up – and just in time for Tim’s birthday! Happy Birthday Tim! We decided to stay close to home since we thought it might finally be warm enough for the pool. In the morning we took a walk to the playground with Mimi and Papa.

Dylan and Mimi giving some kisses to the sand dragon

Playin' checkers

We then had lunch by the pool and turned on the hot tub. The pool was still a little cold but, once we got it going, the hot tub was much warmer (but not too hot to be dangerous for the toddler or the pregnant lady!). So we all took a “swim” in the hot tub and then Tim made the mistake of going in the pool, which felt even colder than it actually was after the balmy temps of the hot tub!

Perfect little seat for Dylan's perfect little butt:)

After fun times by the pool and putting Dylan to bed, Tim and I headed out for a birthday date night in the Disney Village while Mimi and Papa babysat. Tim and I had a really nice night out. We had great dinner at a Cuban restaurant, got too full, and tried to stroll it off until we decided we are too old for partying late-night and went home to go to bed!

Saturday was our last day and kind of warm but cloudy. In the morning we walked down to the big community pool and Dylan enjoyed the beach-type pool entry. Tim, Papa, and I played ping pong while Mimi played with Dylan in the game room.

We spent the afternoon hanging out on the patio and even went swimming in the pool, which was finally warm enough (kind of) to enjoy!

That night we got take out, played cards and Tim even got in a quick night swim before the thunder and lightening started! Tim, Dylan and I left at six the next morning and Mimi and Papa left later that afternoon. Dylan was, once again, a complete trooper on the way home. Once we got back to our “old house”, we all collapsed into bed/crib, took a nice, long nap, and resigned ourselves to at least two more months of winter:( Florida may not have been super warm and balmy but it was better than the freezing cold, gray weather we came home to! Still, home is home and we like it here, too:)