Trip to Orlando (Part 2)

The day after Disney World, I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed without the whole world spinning until about 3:00 in the afternoon. :( I guess you could say I overdid it a little. But Mark took the kids to church and to visit the Orlando Temple, so they still had a fun day. We also went out to dinner at Rainforest Cafe all together that night.

Our last day in Orlando, Mark took the boys to Legoland. Liza wasn't feeling well that day, so she and I went to see Frozen and did some low-key shopping instead of going to Legoland. Mark said Legoland seemed pretty lame after Disney World, but the boys seemed to really enjoy it. Grant was scared of lots of the rides at Disney but could do all of the rides at Legoland. The kids have all been playing legos lots since our trip.

After the Legoland day, we started the drive home but stopped for the night in St. Augustine, Florida. (We learned that St. Augustine is the nation's oldest permanently occupied European settlement; it was founded by the Spanish in 1565. There's a bit of history for you!) Liza needed to get out of the car after not feeling well all day, and Mark really needed to watch the championship football game on TV. :) That night turned out really fun. 

With Grant's pirate gear and two beds to jump on, there was plenty to do! :) 

Watchin' the game

We drove all day on Tuesday and finally got home at bedtime. We actually drove a 400-mile stretch of the trip without stopping. Mark was so proud but I told him this easy-traveling era is going to end pretty soon. :) It was so nice to get away from everything and just go be a little family for 5 whole days. I think Mark needed the break more than any of us. The kids started back to school today. We sure packed a lot into their 3-week break from school. The holidays were awesome. Our trip was awesome. We're ready for 2014!

Surprise trip to Orlando! (Part 1)

Sometime between Christmas and New Years, Mark and I decided that if we were going to make the drive to Disney World while we live out here, it was now or never. With the baby coming this spring, this was our best chance to cross a few more things off our bucket list. :) Mark had to switch around a few clinics at work and we both had to get out of some church obligations, but things fell together nicely and we headed down south on January 2. We didn't even tell the kids where we were going. I like to visit historic cities, so our first stop was beautiful Savannah, Georgia. We spent the night there and then explored the city the next day.

Savannah was the first "planned" city in the colonies (planned by a man named James Oglethorpe). It is organized into squares with park spaces scattered in among the buildings. There's also a gorgeous 10-acre park, called Forsyth Park, at the Southern edge of the city that I just loved:

We ate lunch at Paula Dean's restaurant there called Lady & Sons. It was awesome Southern cookin' complete with fried green tomatoes, cheesy biscuits, and chicken pot pie.

It was cold outside (okay so in the 30s--not as cold as some of you have been this winter!), so we stopped in lots of shops as we walked to warm up. I'll bet we stopped in 5 candy stores just like this one. 

We walked along by the Savannah River, and a lady made these palm swords and flowers for the kids. 

Here we are by the famous statue of "the waving girl." One woman waved ships in and out of the harbor here for 40+ years back in the 1800's. She symbolizes Southern hospitality.

And of course, no old city is complete without some gorgeous churches. 

After our day in Savannah, we drove the rest of the way down to Orlando. We spent the next day in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. We got there around 8:00 in the morning and didn't get back to our hotel until 1:00 the next morning. We had to make the most of our day in Disney!

It was fun to see Disney World all decorated for Christmas!

Liza picked out these Minnie Mouse ears right away for her souvenir (she also talked us into some Mickey suckers later on, of course, since this girl really loves candy)

Grant picked out pirate gear for his souvenir. All the kids liked it, as you can see from the next picture. :) 

Dole whips! 

I'm glad the kids are still years away from getting their drivers license... they were scary drivers!

Grant's favorite ride

Kimball bought this Mickey hat, but unfortunately, Mark didn't buy his.

It was a magical day! Both Liza and Grant fell asleep on my lap during the fireworks at 10:00, but Kimball and Mark still wanted to go on rides. So I sat on a bench with Grant sleeping on one leg and Liza sleeping on the other (with baby in between) for an hour and a half. Liza woke up and we went on "it's a small world" with Kimball one last time, then we headed back to our hotel. Fun memories.