The Rest of the Vacation...

This is Orange Lake Resort (our home for a week). It was a beautiful resort and we loved being there. We probably could have stayed there all week and kept busy just doing things there. Of course, we were there only to sleep, eat, bathe and swim in the pool.

Curt didn't bring any reading material and our DVD player wouldn't hook up to the t.v. so he played the boys' games and tried to drive me crazy (because I had reading material).

Curt took this while I was riding Space Mountain. Just look at those beautiful blue eyes. The girls are going to be flocking to him someday.

One day on our way back to Disney after our afternoon siesta we saw these two bunnies nibbling on the grass with a pair of birds. Jacob just insisted that I take a picture.

And of course, we spent some time at the pools. The resort had three different pool complexes with multiple pools and waterslides in each. This particular pool had a huge lazy river.

We all had so much fun. Our vacation was better than we had ever dreamed it could be. We had two evenings of rain, but only one of those days kept us in and the other day it stopped raining as soon as we reached our evening destination. It was hot, but we were prepared with water and sunscreen. It could only have been better if it lasted longer, but we were so tired when we got home it took a good week for us all to be back to our happy selves. I'm not sure we would have been able to keep up our vacation fun pace for any longer. But it was definitely good while it lasted.

Sea World

I need to begin this post by saying that I really like orca whales. I think they are an absolutely stunning display of God's creation. What I also find fascinating is that people (highly trained and very brave) are able to teach them tricks. So, I took a bunch of pictures. I love the way they turned out and so most of these pictures are of the whales and sea lions and a few of our family thrown in (but I don't seem to be in any of them -- oh, the life of the camera carrier).

When we arrived at Sea World we were just in time to make it to the Shamu show. I couldn't wait. I was super giddy. I think it's because my family used to go to Sea World when it was close by in Ohio and I have very fond memories of it. I was really excited to share this with the boys and yes, I was a little sappy (if you can believe that).

This was right at the beginning of the show when the orca made its first jump.

It was so beautiful and powerful.

There were lots of jumps and dives...

and a little bit of orca smooching.

I thought "how fun to serf on top of a whale," but really, who am I kidding?

Again, it looks fun, but when I really think about it I these people are a little off their rockers.

I know it's a tail, but isn't it beautiful??

Here is one of the few family photos. The boys (and Daddy) are trying to pet the sting rays. Jacob did really good, but Ethan was a little short so he had to lay across the edge and really reach in. He was terrified of falling in so he didn't get to pet them this first day. When we went back at the end of the week he was a little bit more brave and finally got his fingers on one.

We were excited to see a little Sesame Street show (even though it didn't have anything to do with the sea). It was fun, the boys really liked it and the theater was air-conditioned!!

This sea lion show was hysterical. The animals don't always do what they are supposed to do so it was extra funny. The boys liked this one because it was about PIRATES!!

On Friday evening we saw the Manitee exhibit. It was really neat to see these animals. And the bronze statue outside the exhibit made for a great photo!

When we went back on Friday evening I tried not to take any more pictures of the shows, because I really had taken enough. And instead, I took a bit of video.

We just made it in time to catch the Sea Lion show. We missed the first five minutes or so, but it was funny. The whole show was a spoof on the Shamu shows (because he is the big daddy of Sea World). It was really funny and the boys even caught on to the jokes.

The last show we saw was the Shamu Rocks show. It is just a bunch of really loud Rock and Roll music (many of the songs were favorites of ours) and the orcas jumping and swimming and all that good stuff. It was amazing to see how they could communicate with the whales even in the dark.

This is my favorite part of the whole show. Just amazing!

Disney

Here are some pictures and snippets from our trip to Florida. I have decided to post a separate blog about Sea World and another of just fun stuff. I think I took over 300 pictures and about 200 of them were keepers. You won't have to look at them all unless you live close by and I force my scrapbook on you!! Enjoy.


I took a lot of pictures of the castle and this is my favorite one. This was taken as we were walking out of Tomorrowland toward Main Street, USA. There was a beautiful park area with tons of flowers and a little waterfall. It was a gorgeous setting. Definitely fit for a Princess.

Several times a day a cute little play involving several of the characters is acted out right in front of the castle (Can we say photo-op?). We watched the whole thing in two different parts and I was able to get some great pictures of it. You can't really tell but there are at least 500 people standing around watching it too.

One of my favorite moments came when the boys saw Snow White for the first time. In perfect unison and with a breathy awe in their little voices they said "It's Snow White!!". So many times on this trip I had tears leap into my eyes over their wonder and enchantment.

Of course it wouldn't be a Disney show without Mickey and Minnie standing in the spotlight.

And who are Mickey and Minnie without their good friends Goofy and Donald?

The first ride that we rode was through the Haunted Mansion. I don't know if it was one of our favorites because of the cool (as in neat) factor or because of the cool (as in air-conditioned) factor. Again, it was a great place to take pictures. Can you see the invisible horse waiting to pull the carriage? I thought not.

Some of the other favorite things we did were riding on Dumbo...

... and the boys loved the race track. They thought they were hot stuff to be able to drive. Of course, both Curt and I had a little whiplash when we were done, but it was all in the name of fun.

On the morning of the second day at Disney just as we walked into the Magic Kingdom there was a relatively short line to see Pluto (more about him later) so we decided to take a family photo with him. It is one of my favorites of the four of us on this trip.

This was taken while Curt was off riding Space Mountain. The boys were in awe of Buzz Lightyear and were just giddy with the whole thing. They thought it especially cool that Buzz turned their hats crooked. Ooh, to be touched by Buzz was a big deal!

There is a really cool Buzz Lightyear ride that is a little like a video game that you become a part of. Basically two people ride in a cart and you each have a laser gun and you shoot at little "Z" targets (Z is short for Zurg) and get points. The points don't earn you anything, but it was fun beating Curt!! Afterwards you get to see your picture on T.V. screens and if you want to order them (for a hefty sum) you may. I opted for taking pictures of the T.V. screens.

At 9:00 and 11:00 in the evening Disney had a Spectromagic Parade. It was all lights and songs and it was really cool. I have included a few short movies of it. I took some pictures, but they had a tendency to be blurry. The movies came out better.

We got to meet Mickey and the gang. You have to wait in line of course, but it moves relatively quickly. I have to give Disney props for organization. Everything is as smooth as butter.

Of all the characters, Pluto was by far Ethan's favorite. Every time we saw him he would say "I want to hug Pluto." He even would say it on our way back to the park after our afternoon siesta. It was really cute until he almost got his Momma in trouble. We were walking through a store on our way out for lunch and he spied Pluto through the window of the door (now mind you he'd already hugged Pluto at least twice already and it wasn't even lunch). He ran out the door with me on his heels and ran right into Pluto's arms. As I am saying to him "Ethan, we have to go now," a man says, "Ma'am, is he with you?" I said yes, and was then told that if he wants to see Pluto then he needs to stand in line like all the other kids. At that moment I looked to my right and saw a HUGE line. I felt horrible, but when I got Ethan away he just looked up at me with those big blue eyes of his and said "I just wanted to hug him Mommy, I just wanted to love him."

Last, but by far not the least ;-) is a picture from Curt's favorite show from his childhood that he just had to see with us. It is the Country Bear Jamboree and it starred Big Al (sorry I don't have a picture of him, you are really missing out on that one). Through the show Jacob kept leaning over to me and asking "When's this going to be done?" Apparently he was as excited about this as he was the Hall of Presidents.

We had a great time and I have to admit what they say is true. Disney World is the place where "Dreams Really Do Come True"!