Air 88 degrees Water 85 degrees

Yes, the waters off the very most southern tip of FL really are that warm. The resort we stayed in had a daily temp report written on a chalk board where you rent your beach chairs. Did I mention I love this?

Here's some pictures of Elle "commanding the waves" She was so content and didn't even seem to mind the salty taste of the waves.

Here's Reesey, my little stud muffin boogie boarder. So much fun, and he was really good at it!

Audge, a stud-muffin-et. The kids could've stayed out there forever if we let them. One downfall to salt water and sand-filled waves? They wash off your sunscreen. We were all a little pink the first day, but we learned our lesson.

We heart Epcot!

Another of Disney's triumphs! The amazing Epcot

As you'll see in the posts below, Epcot gives you a taste of different countries around the world. Here we are in "Italy". Now to save up for the real thing!

Fun fun days and equally fun nights!

Distant Places and Foreign Lands

Epcot Cont...

I rule with an iron fist

Couldn't resist snapping this of Elle, what a beauty!As in many of the parks, Disney goes above and beyond to replicate (and educate about) different parts of the world. We highly recommend it!

Animal Kingdom

Disney World has four main parks, not including the water parks... they are Massive, and no where near each other.. (ok, maybe they're near, it just takes a boat ride, ferry ride, bus ride or tram ride to get between them.) We duly devoted an entire day to the different parks with no illusion that we'd be "park hopping". That option, in my opinion is reserved for the California park. Anyway, Animal kingdom was by far my favorite. They do an amazing job turning different areas of the park into replicas of different areas of the world. And do a mighty fine job at it! See below, Mt. Everest.

So many amazing animals! One of my favorites was the "safari ride" in which you actually do see real animals.

Absolutely awesome

Happiest Place on Earth?

Quite possibly.

The nightly fireworks were SPECTACULAR!

Oh Boy, saved by your cowlick! All to ride this... I regret to say that when faced with riding this, I chickened out. Now that I'm a safe distance away I can say that I'm disappointed in myself for not riding it. DON'T you JUDGE me! You didn't hear the people screaming for their very lives... None the less, it went down in the books as a radical Father/Son thing, and they have me to thank.
More fun @ Universal

I love the look on the kids face in the background of Sam's picture. I'm pretty sure he's thinking something along the lines of.. You crazy!

Argh! And Oh how I love Cinderella's iconic dress!

Argh again! Oops, put it in two collages, oh well, the ride was great fun

On to Hogwarts!

Our first stop once we hit Orlando was Universal Studios. Home to the new Harry Potter Theme Park. This was an especially fun surprise now that Reese has taken to Harry Potter so much so that he claims it's his favorite, even surpassing Star Wars and Indiana Jones. For Reese, that's really saying something! This activity was also kept under wraps until we got there, It's just so much more fun that way.They really did an amazing job making this park incredibly accurate with the details in the books. ( So I'm told, I have yet to read them...) Every last thing seemed to be in place, down to the delicious butterbeer that can be purchased at the Three Broomsticks. It was like an amazingly yummy cream soda with a dollop of whipped cream goodness that causes the drink to bubble uncontrollably. The kids loved it, for all the obvious reasons... :)
Reese very early in the day decided he must have a broom and a wand for his souvenirs. Each of the kids had an allotted amount of spending money for the entire trip. Reese's allotment would be completely used up with the purchase of these two items. I did try to remind him that there would be Star Wars and other exciting things coming up at Disney World but to no avail, he decided to blow the whole amount in our first day. To his credit, I don't think he regretted his purchases; not even when faced with all the star wars memorabilia at Disney World. He was one Happy guy.

Even the selection of the wand from the shop was quite the procedure just like in the books. We had to wait in a LONG line and finally got into the wand shop where the shop keeper inquires about your birthday etc.. and then proceeds to let the wand "choose you". Reese ended up getting Harry's wand. To his delight.

Here you can see some magic happening in the wand shop, the inside of the Three Broomsticks, Zonko's the candy shop, complete with every-flavor beans and the puking pastilles. Then of course there was the biting books which the kids loved no doubt.

Inside the Hogwarts castle was a really fun ride ( Audrey's favorite, only after I forced her to go on it..) All the details were really incredible. Oh, and everyone who worked in the park spoke with an English accent.

It was a great start to our vacation. My only suggestion to anyone else thinking of going would be to not go at the end of August. It was H.O.T.!! But otherwise awesome!

A Pit Stop, and Then ~

After our stay in Coeurd'Alene, we drove home, only to have one day here to do laundry and jet off to Florida. One day in which I discovered our toy room flooded and we were in need of a new hot water heater. But that's another story. This story begins with Audrey being too chicken to get her ears pierced, that is until she made a pact with her soon-to-be eight year old neighbor and friend Reagan. The kids didn't know we'd be leaving the next day, but Reagan's mom Kate did. So we set up an ear-piercing date and away we went. Our family rule thus far has been girls must be 8 years old before getting their ears pierced. Elle came along ready to choose some clip-ons until she decided she was tough enough to get hers done too. She had already asked me several times before this particular outing.

So, I buckled. For a couple of reasons. First, I figured how often do sisters get to do something like this together? I also figured I was going to be cleaning/monitoring one set of earrings, I might as well do two; and there you have it. Elle was very brave. Maybe more brave than her older sister. It was a fun night, especially with all the moral support. The girls have really enjoyed their new earrings, and they're so cute!

All we could do with the water heater was shut it off and let it sit until we came back. The kids had no idea we'd planned a trip to Florida. They'd just gotten home from Grandma's and School was starting in one week. I told them Sam had to fly out the next morning and we were going to all go to drop him at the airport. On the way, Sam told the kids he'd met a pilot who gave him some "special passes" to come see the airplane that he would be flying on. I had stayed up into the wee hours of the morning the night before, packing every needful thing and putting it all in the trunk. We dropped Sam at the curb, he gave all the bags to the skycap while the kids didn't notice or suspect a thing. When we were going through security, Reese kept saying "too bad we can't really go on a plane, that would be fun..."

We were all the way onto the plane, the flight crew was very accommodating; showing the kids the cockpit and even insisting they sit in the pilot's seat. I kept wondering if this was actually legal. Sam had gone to our seats to put the carry-ons away when I ushered the kids back to say "goodbye" to Dad. Reese kept saying , "Mom, we need to get off! " Once the kids had given Sam his hugs he said, "well, why don't you all sit down? Would you like to go for a plane ride today?" Reese said, "no, we can't!" He kept insisting until the flight attendant told him, "ok, we'll all ride up here and put you down underneath with all the luggage." That got him to sit down. It was so much fun to surprise them, none of them had any clue.

For some strange reason, my phone pictures are loading in miniature form tonight... So, these few pictures of my little jet-setters will have to remain in thumbnail format until I can figure out how to fix them. Thanks for stopping by our blog!

That's What Friends are For...

To be there for you, (or at least try...:) stand ever-supportive, laugh at your jokes, want to hang out with you and much more while still including all of the above? Check. No visit home is complete without reuniting with our friends. This year was special because one of my best friends, Heather, is (finally) oops, did that slip? Getting Married!! Woo hoo, way to go Heather! Apparently the new trend/rage in bachelorette celebrations is to do a destination weekend with all of your closest friends.

Well, since Heather's parents' home pretty much counts as a desirable "destination", she decided to have the festivities there. After excusing her parents to the neighbor's for the entire Friday-Sunday celebration, the fun commenced. They were very gracious to let all of us girls take over their beautiful home and guest house. Needless to say, we had a Par-Tay! and it was so great to spend time with these girls again as well as meet some of Heather's friends who joined us from New York, Chicago and LA. They were a classy bunch o'gals.

On another maybe slightly-less-classy note, Sam has become a loyal fan of the MMA (Mixed Martial Arts?... or something?) fighting events. Lucky for him his friend Chris had him covered; and lucky for me, I convinced my friend Nicole to be there to support me in my boredom, I mean, through the excitement! It was great to get all of us together. Chris was in our Wedding, as was Heather, and I was in Nicole's. It's always a good time to see any of them. Fun fun. As you can see, the guys felt it necessary to do a few push-ups together (for old-times sake?) out on the deck. Maybe to see who's toughest? To protect the pride of both parties, I decline to share the results, however, I will say that my significant other did prr-eee-tty good.