Back To Life.....

We're back in South Dakota! It seems amazing that at this time yesterday we were still about 1600 miles away in sunny Florida. Our trip just could not have gone better. It was even more fun, more relaxing and more great than I could have even hoped! We played, relaxed, ate, saw the sights and had non-stop family time. Now the non-stop family time can be a little disconcerting and doesn't always turn out with the greatest results but that was definitely not the case this time around. We had a great day on Saturday up in the cities with Josh, Mom, Kim, Amanda, JerBear, Sheila, Austin, Emma, Lois and Pete. Jeremy and Sheila grilled us up some sweet dogs and burgers for supper and we just hung out. Uncle Joshy was the most hospitable host and chauffeur allowing us to crash at his house and then delivering us safely to the airport on Sunday morning to begin our journey. Getting through the airport/security was easy breezy and we quickly found ourselves seated at Fletcher's Wharf dining on our first delicious meal of the week. Our bellies filled, we let the girls play at the play area in the airport while we waited for the boarding call. I was so stress-free, I almost missed hearing the boarding call and we were among the last passengers to board the plane. Grace and Jason sat together with Lily, Ella and I right behind them. The excitement was palpable as the engines fired up and soon we were high above the clouds. The awe wore off quickly and soon the girls began their quest to occupy the three hours of flying time. Ipods, books, travel games and an attempt to watch a movie filled the hours and before we knew it, we were touching down. We picked up our rental car (baby blue Hyundai Sonata) and set off on our next leg. Although I had printed out many maps from MapQuest to aid us in finding our way around, our GPS truly saved the day. We were pulling up in front of the Caribe Royale before we knew it. Faced with our first dilemma~try to get in a quick swim or pick up necessary provisions~we took a look at the sky and decided we should probably get supper and groceries as it looked like rain was imminent. After some driving (Ella and Lily crashed out immediately), we pulled up to Flipper's Pizza and proceeded to devour some of the best pizza I have had since Jakes. Ran into the grocery store next door after we finished up and were slapped right in the face with a serious case of sticker shock. We figured we could probably locate an area grocer who would provide a pound of deli ham from less than $12/lb. and that mission lead us to Publix where we stocked up and soon we back at the hotel. While eating, the skies had opened up and a pretty serious storm passed through the area. It was a little gloomy start but we knew things could only go up from there. Once back in our room, we got settled in and decided to turn in for the night and be ready to get to relaxing in the morning. Ella claimed the pull out bed in the living room as her sleeping quarters which suited Grace and Lily just fine as they wanted to sleep in the nice, comfy bed together. All tucked in, we got a good night's sleep.

Monday~Woke up to the sun and quickly put our suits on to spend the day at the pool. I don't believe I have ever had a more enjoyable Memorial Day. We literally laid by the pool the entire day. The weather was great.

Around lunchtime I ran up to the room and made us a picnic lunch that we enjoyed in an eating area on the main floor of our "tower". After much sun and fun, we got ready to go in search of another meal.

I thought it would be fun to eat at Hard Rock Cafe and plugged our destination into the GPS. Unfortunately, this time she let us down and we ended up in the parking lot of a liquor store. While Jason ran in to get directions, I got on the phone with my own personal TI in the Sky, Terry Carter, who jumped on the computer and between his directions and the ones Jason got, we discovered Hard Rock was located within the Universal Studios enclave. After riding on several "moving sidewalks" (which the girls thought were totally sweet), we walked onto the Universal Grounds.

The girls didn't know which way to look first and loved all the fun things to see. Had a great supper at Hard Rock and got to walk around checking out all the rock memorabilia which was fun. Began the long walk back to our car via MargaritaVille and the Universal Studios store.

Weather was pretty grey and extremely humid. It rained a bit but never affected us as we were inside when it was raining and had stopped by the time we were done. Went back to the hotel and hit the hay!

Tuesday~This was our big day at Cocoa Beach. Again woke to sun and were very excited for the girls' first look at the ocean. Ran into some issues (issues=our personal dislike of Florida's use of toll roads) but worked through them (again with Dad's directional assistance in the best route to take to avoid tolls). Made it to the beach in just over an hour and the girls were in love.

Ran immediately out into the waves and had the greatest looks on their faces I have ever seen.

Grace and Ella played in the water and searched for shells the entire time we were there. Lily wasn't quite as fond of the rushing salt water as the other two and preferred to spend her time digging in the sand.

After a few hours of sun and fun, we reluctantly rinsed off in the outdoor shower and said goodbye to the ocean.

We stopped at the very fun and delicious Sunset Cafe that was located right on the water for a terrific lunch. I spotted a dolphin in the water just as I was getting in the car to leave which was a nice touch to the day. Quickly stopped at A&W for root beer floats and a bathroom break and then pushed off towards Orlando. The girls fell asleep which was wonderful considering Jason made the decision to take the Terry Carter route back to Orlando in an effort to bypass all tolls. This route ended up adding at least 45 minutes on to our trip but provided many laughs for Jason and I. Took a quick evening dip once we arrived back at the hotel and retired for the evening in anticipation of a big day on Wednesday.

Wednesday~First day we actually set our alarm with a specific wake up time. SeaWorld was on the menu for the day and we got going around 9AM. Arrived at the park, we met with an awesome parking spot and set off in search of the wonders of the sea.

Pet the stingrays (Ella plunged her hand right into the tank, Grace and Lily were a little more hesitant but finally took the plunge as well). Watched the beautiful dolphins swim and frolic and then caught the most fabulous dolphin show.

(Check out the bird in the background headed right for Lily's head. It flew right over us and scared us all half to death.)

We then checked out the penguins, boring manatees and the alligators and then began to look for some lunch which proved to be our first stumbling block of the trip. We were all very hot and very hungry. Finding a little quick lunch at SeaWorld is next to impossible. After much wandering and me on the verge of a nervous breakdown, we finally settled on a little cafe that served us four hot dogs, three chicken strips, a few orders of soggy fries and a few kids soda to the tune of $33. Hands down the worst meal and most frustrating moment of the trip.

(Our dining companion for our worst lunch ever.)

Finally somewhat nourished, we continued our day at Shamu's Happy Harbor where the girls rode some rides and the rain that had been building throughout the afternoon decided to show it's ugly head.

(Ella doing the macarena in the rain.)

We rushed over to the Pets Ahoy (inside) show and when we came out, the sun was back out. Onto Believe, the Shamu show to finish out our trip to SeaWorld. The girls thought SeaWorld was pretty cool but were anxious to get back to the hotel and take a swim to cool off from the hot, humid day which is just what we did after chowing down a 10 piece chicken meal from KFC that we picked up on our way back.

Thursday~Another day reserved specifically for relaxing by the pool.

(Lily with Paco the Caribe Royale mascot.She loved him very much.)

Did get hit by some rain again but was fine because it was lunchtime anyway. Had lunch in the room and then went back down for more swimming. Around 5PM decided it was time to get some supper so we got ready and went to the Golden Corral Steak Buffet because it wouldn't be a vacation without eating at at least one all you can eat establishment. Polished off an obscene amount of food, made a quick stop at Publix for more pop and water and then to bed so we were ready for Disney!

Friday~Grace's 9th birthday! Got up early again to get to Disney when it opened. Amazed at the organized chaos that is Disney. Grace received her free admission ticket and we boarded the ferry boat with the Magic Kingdom straight ahead. The girls were super stoked and I thought their heads were going to spin right off their little bodies. It's like stepping into an alternate universe. So many people, so many things and so much to do. As we began our navigation of Disney, we almost ran right into Chip and Dale and the girls were delighted.

Got their autographs on their hats and had some photo ops and continued on. Rode all the rides the girls wanted to ride, saw all the things they wanted to see and enjoyed the hot, humid Florida weather. As was the case every day to this point, it rained but again, it didn't really affect us. The two times it rained, we were inside on rides and stayed dry as a bone. Ella and Lily were totally freaked out on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and also the Haunted Mansion ride but still loved it. The Mad Tea Cups were super fun, especially when Jason started spinning us and I could barely sit upright we were going so fast.

The highlight of the day was when the girls got to meet Belle, Cinderella and Princess Aurora. You could just about feel their happiness and excitement. It was so very cool.

(Princess Aurora and Ella have the same hair color.)

(One of my favorite pictures ever.)

We then moved on to meet Mickey and Minnie.

The wait was lengthy but we figured we couldn't come to Disney and not meet the icons. Grace was treated to many birthday greetings by workers and strangers alike due to the button she wore announcing to the world, "Happy Birthday Grace". She beamed every single time she received well wishes and I dare say it was the best birthday for her ever. In fact, thinking on it now, every birthday from this point on for her is probably going to be a bit of a letdown! Anyway, we made a few more stops in Tomorrowland and found our way to the monorail to take us back to our car. This was a feat easier said than done and provided us with our 2nd worst moment of the trip~not being able to find our car in the massive Disney parking lot. We had very smugly joked about this very thing happening earlier in the day sure we would not be so dumb to forget where we had parked~Pluto 16-21. However, while we had the general vicinity nailed down, the exact location proved to elusive. After several minutes of general wandering, Jason decided it would be best to divide and conquer and set me and Lily off down one lane of cars while he, Grace and Ella took another. Problem with this plan being,~I wasn't 100% sure what our car looked like and Lily was talking about her underpants and wasn't very helpful either. In a moment of desperation, Jason hit the alarm button on the keys and we followed the alarm to the car. Safely ensconced in our baby blue cruiser with the air on high, we turned to Grace for a dinner selection as it was her birthday after all. She chose TGIFridays and we had another great meal (less than stellar service, but good food). Of course we informed the waitress there was a birthday girl in our midst which brought a group of singers waiters to our table thoroughly embarrassing but also pleasing Miss Grace.

Back at the hotel, we put magic candles in some store bought brownies and sang to Grace ourselves. She laughed about the relighting candles until Jason alerted us to the very real possibility of setting of the fire alarm due to the accumulating smoke in the air and I had to use water to put them out.

Saturday~Our final day of paradise was again spent by the pool. Sunny and finally a day with absolutely no rain at all. Nothing remarkable about Saturday, just another day of great times. Ordered pizza for supper, got our stuff packed up and sadly went to bed knowing tomorrow was back to the real world.

Our plane ride home was uneventful and the girls are now considered seasoned flyers.

Joshy again put on his chauffer hat and picked us up. After lunch at Ruby Tuesday's we hit the road. The girls were completely wore out and slept almost the entire way home.

We arrived home around 730PM and the unpacking began. We truly could not have had a better vacation. I had completely intended for this entry to be short and sweet and obviously did not accomplish that. Too many good times and too many good memories to just breeze over them. I have included just a handful of the photos I took in this entry. I have created an album with all of the pictures I took and will send you a link so you can check it out if you wish.

I know that Disney touts itself as the Happiest Place on Earth but I would argue that wherever you are, as long as you are with the ones you love, is the Happiest Place on Earth.

I hope you all had as great of a start to the summer as we did!