More of Florida

Sunday March 20, 2011

GATORLAND - 40 acres of pure Chicken and Turkey dog eating Gators.


I could have posted a ton more pictures of Alligators, but once you've seen one...you've seen them all. Two brothers at Gatorland put on very comical 1/2 hour show teaching us about alligators. After the show Tom, Zach and Madie got to sit on a live gator. We walked around the farm and saw some pretty small gators and some very large gators. We even got the opportunity to feed the gators Turkey dogs. I think we all thought there would be a little more to do there, but it was really just a bunch of alligators in fenched off areas. It was something neat to see though.



We had to bribe her with Ice Cream to sit on it... I'm so proud of her for doing it.


Tuesday March 22nd, 2011

We decided to reserve a day for a little beach time. We chose Clearwater Beach for that adventure. Clearwater is located on the Gulf side of Florida near Tampa. Let's just say.....the ride down there was pure HELL. I don't think I will EVER make that trip again. Just picture this...you have 4 lanes of highway that is bumper to bumper traffic going 70 miles per hour, a GPS that's not bringing you to your "destination", 3 kids in the backseat fighting, a drivers side passenger that is totally being a backseat driver AND to top it off, a big stone chip in her windshield view. I told Tom later that night if there were a brake on my side of the car, it would have been THROUGH THE FLOOR. On a brighter note the beach was beautiful. It's my kind of beach. The water was crystal clear and the sand was super soft and white. Overall, it was pretty fun for the kids to see the ocean for the first time.






Wednesday March 23th , 2011

Our last full day :(

A laid back day for souvenir shopping and some pool time.

Downtown Disney is the place to go for souvenirs. It's all about shops and dining.





Madison picked out a Geo rock that she got to break herself and find out her treasure



Zach (7), Nathan (9), Nick (13), Noah (3), Madison (9) and Megan (3)



Florida 2011 will go down in my memory vault for the rest of my life. I know years from now our kids may not remember all of this trip. All I can hope for is that when they look back at these pictures they will remember at least one of their favorite moments from this trip that they can share with their own children someday. It truly was one of the HARDEST vacations to come home from.

Magic Kingdom 2011

March 18th, 2011

Out of this whole trip, Magic Kingdom was our favorite place we saw. There was SO much going on and so much to do there it was kinda overwhelming at first. The first hour of entering the park all Madison & Zachary did was whine and cry about how they were hungry, bored standing in lines and that they wanted to go back and go swimming. I turned to Tom and said "what the heck did we do". We spent all this money getting into the park and the kids aren't having fun and neither was I listening to them. With that being said...the first hour wasn't so magical. After the first hour things started to turn around. The kids were happy, laughing and having a great time.

I took so many pictures it was hard to choose which ones to post. Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!!


Main Street








Megan waving to Cinderella during the "Where Dreams Come True" parade.

Mickey's PhilharMagic 3D movie.

The Magic Carpet ride.

At night Cinderella's castle would turn different colors

Disney's Electical Parade - it started at 8pm

and.... she's finally out.

Like people say, this place is truly magical. Then again, what place wouldn't be magical with the hours of 9 AM to 1:30 AM. We started at 9AM and ended the day after the 10pm firework show. That sounds like a very long day with three kids, but honestly the kids were AWESOME and it didn't even seem that late when we left. Tom and I really could have stayed longer. I will have memories from this place with me for the rest of my life. We have been home for a week now and I still get teary eyed thinking about how the kids were in "awe" of this place. It was perfect!! The kids were at awesome ages and they were still young enough to "believe" in things there and for it to be magical for them too. Don't take my word for it though. People have their own opinions on which park is the best. We chose this park because of our kids ages and it was highly recommended by friends. The other 3 disney parks may be just as good. Let's just say...I can't wait to go back and see the other 3 :)

Florida 2011

This year is surely starting out to be a "magical" year. We had the opportunity to go to FLORIDA. In early January the planning started to begin. We were trying to think of a way to get ALL 5 of us down there in the least expensive way. With a little hard work (not really) and some researching, we figured out a way. Fly out on a Thursday to a Thursday, rent a house for 12 people AND best of all.... have the LeTourneau family join.

March 17th, 2011 - Waiting for our flight. We flew on Southwest Airlines out of Milwaukee.


Both Tom and I were a little worried about how the kids would do while flying. Two packpacks and two carry on's all filled with books, DS games, coloring books, and a ton of snacks, they did awesome. They really enjoyed flying.


The house we rented was in Davenport Fl, about 10 minutes from Disney. I think we all agreed that if we were to go back, we would rent this house again. The house had 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, private pool with a jacuzzi and a game room.

Our bedroom - king size bed with private bath, a walk-in closet and a TV. Scott and Angie's room had a queen bed,their own private bathroom and a TV too.


Madie and Zach's room - two twin beds, a big walk-in closet and a TV. Nick and Nathan's room was identical.

Pool

Kitchen and Dining Room

Living Room

Our car - the only down fall to the trip. We booked a Tahoe before going and when arriving we got a free "upgrade" (per the sales rep) to the Eddie Bauer Edition of the Ford Explorer. The Tahoe's and Suburban's were all booked. One of the back seat belts was broken, the back hatch didn't lock and on the 2nd to last day... good old eddie took a stone to her windshield. Still haven't found out the results to that yet.

And there is the damage...