Our Family Vacation

So its been over a month since our last posting...blame it on holidays, work, whatever! Its about time! We just got back Sunday from a family vacation to Florida. Josh would love to visit out west but finances allow for a close destination, besides we have plenty of friends and family to visit in FL. So since I lack the motivation for creativity this afternoon, here's a day by day account of our wonderful time!

Friday, Jan. 16 -
We left at about 10:00 am for our first stop, Orlando. We bought our van in October and it is equipped with a DVD player, however, my intentions were for the kids not to spend the entire time glued to the TV. I packed coloring books, toys, snacks, and books to help occupy their time. We ended up only watching three movies (sounds bad but that only allotted for 5 hours of the 12 hour drive). The kids did great! Petey ended up getting a little restless the last hour but if I was stuck in a baby seat for 12 hours (minus feedings) I'd be a little cranky too!

Saturday, Jan. 17 -
The main reason we went to Orlando was for Josh to see Stunt Wars! We got a lazy start to the day and made our way to watch the motorcycles do their tricks! Kelsy and JJ are fascinated with motorcycles. They love to hop on the back of Josh's and cruise around with him.
That evening, we joined our friends, Chris and Amber Sorroughs, for dinner. They have two little girls with another on the way. It was nice for Josh to talk about old times. We went to a restaurant that had a playground. They kids had a blast playing and dancing with their new friends! We actually caught JJ dancing!!!









Sunday. Jan. 18-
Before we left Orlando, we had a few more stops to make. The first one was the Downtown Disney Marketplace. Being Sunday, we didn't do any shopping...my main goal was to show the kids the fun lego designs and for Kelsy to catch a glimpse of a princess! (Our children have no idea how close we were to Disney World!!! Hopefully we can keep it that way til next year!)

Kelsy has expressed the desire to move to Florida when she gets bigger...mostly because her cousin Ria lives there. We're trying to instill in her that she should get married in the Temple so...let's show her there's a Temple in Florida! Off we went to the Orlando Florida Temple! It was nice to observe how excited the kids were to see the Temple! And of course, only our kids would find the only fire hydrant on Temple Grounds!

It was time to hop back in the car and travel for another 5 hours to our second destination, Panama City Beach! When we lived in Chesapeake, we developed a wonderful friendship with Jeremiah and Megan Ruddell who lived just down the street. Well, as in most military communities, the Navy decided to transfer them to the other side of the country!!! We had been unable to visit them in three years! Much to our luck, they are back on the east coast now!

Monday, Jan. 19 -
Our visit with Jeremiah and Megan was awesome! Both families now have a new addition! Well, the Ruddells have two! We were able to meet Wyatt, their 16 month old, and Jack...their lab that thinks he's a lap dog! It was different seeing Megan in the role of a mother but awesome at how easily she fit!! Lucky for us, it was MLK day so Jeremiah had the day off! Going to Florida you would think it would be warm and sunny...NOPE! We just happen to plan our visit during a cold spell. Well, relatively cold! It was in the 50s...I guess that's cold to Floridians! We bundled the kids up and headed to the beach. Kelsy's favorite thing to do, like most little girls, is to collect sea shells while she's at the beach. So, we now have our fair share! We headed to lunch at a local restaurant and then home to relax. After naptime, we headed off to a playground close by. Panama City Beach has an awesome recreation area that has a pool, playground, basketball courts, hiking trails and more that's completely free! It was beautiful and the kids had a ball playing! We wore the kids out and headed back to the house to relax! I think I enjoyed that the most. Just hanging out with the Ruddells like we used to!

Okay, so I got through the first few days of our vacation...now Petey needs me! The role of a mom never stops! Besides, if I did the whole vacation in one post you'd probably get bored. I'll just finish it up hopefully later today!