Florida, Part II

On Monday we drove to Orlando and went to downtown Disney. The boys had been saving their money for a while and were waiting to spend it at the Lego store. I knew if we didn't head to the Lego store one of our first days, then the boys would be too excited to enjoy the rest of our vacation. Trust me, I have learned that the hard way!

We planned on eating out one time. Downtown Disney has a restaurant that is like the Rainforest Cafe, but it is with Dinosaurs. I really thought the kids, especially the boys, would love this so we did that.

Here is the T Rex restaurant. The atmosphere was very cool, but wowzers was it expensive!

Josiah LOVED it!

Next we went to the Lego Store. This dragon is made out of Lego's, so cool. The boys were in heaven. This was the best Lego store that we have been too.

The girls got Minnie Mouse Tinkerbells. I really wanted to get something having to do with the new African American princess, but they didn't have a lot to choose from. Bummer!

On Tuesday, we got up bright and early and headed to WALT DISNEY WORLD! I wanted to be at the entrance gates 1/2 hour before the park opened. They do a "song and dance" right before they open the park and we got to hear it, but couldn't really see it. I had no clue when I scheduled our vacation that it was during the busy season. I didn't think spring breaks started so early. We won't do that again, but it was still magical.

I didn't get a lot of pictures while we were there. Keeping five kids together and dealing with the crowds was a huge job! But here are some of what I did get.

The kids and the castle! It doesn't look crowded in this pictures, I wish it stayed that way!

I may of taken our kids to Disney (thanks to the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day), but I still won't get mother of the year. When I checked the weather I only looked at the high for that day. Not sure what I was thinking not looking at the low. The low was in the 40s and I put the kids in Tshirts and shorts with NO coat. We were all freezing. Here are the girls sharing a hot chocolate while the boys were on a scary ride.

Here the girls are having a snack while the guys are on another scary ride. The girls did amazingly well. The reason we only did one day was because we were concerned of overstimulating them, but they showed no signs and loved it all!

Isaac and the girls on Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride.

Chloe is on a Twizzler high!

Oh yes, the Mikey Mouse ice cream. A Magic Kingdom must!

Getting ready to head back to our timeshare. It was a long but great 15 hour day. We all had a blast and will be talking about it for a long, long time!

Our timeshare was at Ormond Beach. It is just north of Daytona Beach. It was our first time there and we really liked it. Daytona Beach had a lot of the college spring breakers and our area had a lot of families and older people. Perfect!

One afternoon we decided to go to Daytona Beach and take in a free tour at a chocolate store. It was neat to see all the equipment they use to make different chocolates. The boys had some money left over and wanted to get some chocolate. It was yummy!

John got a turtle. He couldn't wait long enough for me to get a picture before he took a bite. That's my boy!

Josiah and Chloe ready to go swimming!

Hannah is ready too...

One morning we decided to walk the beach and look for sea shells. We didn't get very far. Actually we didn't get one shell. The rough water was calling the boys and they ended up soaked and freezing. It was so fun watching them "take on the waves"!

Well, that was our vacation! We had such a memorable time. It was great to get away and focus just on the kids and not worry about life and all the stresses it can sometimes bring.

LAURIE COLDWELL UPDATE: I wanted to let you know that Laurie is now in a regular room at the hospital, but is still not out of the woods yet. She is having horrible headaches as a result from the aneurysm and could easily have another blood vessel burst at anytime. Please keep her in your prayers.