Florida Trip

My parents have been concerned because I haven't been posting anything for a while. They thought that maybe I was down and out or something, but the truth is, my schedule has been full. Things have calmed down a bit this week, so "HI"! I'm still here and all is well! Now brace yourselves for a super long post.

The kids just after we entered the gates.

The two you don't recognize are Peyton (pink hat) and Brady (baby next to Afton).

The Disney hats were a gift from Meredith, and they were coveted by all (cue evil laugh)

Our fabulous hosts Meredith and Andrew. He grew up in Florida and has been to Disney World 30 something times. He's such a good sport to run around with us almost every year. Meredith always has a game plan for us to get the most out of our visits.

Afton awestruck by "It's a Small World".

We met up with some good friends who recently moved near Orlando. I didn't get any pictures with them and am so bummed about that. We had so much fun with you guys, Maren!! I wish we had more time and less kids. Just kidding about the kid part!

This is how we stroll through Disney with 5 kids in tow.

Peyton would sit in between the boys' feet.

While with Maren and fam, there were 8 kids and 6 adults!

Imagine another stroller to the right, plus two sets of parents and you'll have a visual of our whole morning crew.

Later in the afternoon we park hopped to Epcot. They were having a garden festival. It was amazing to see all of the Disney characters constructed from plants. Daisy was my favorite with her flowered dress and hairbow.

These trees were blooming all over Florida.

I don't know what they're called, but they are breathtaking and I want one in my yard.

The kids loved the model train.

Ayden said he wished he could shrink and go live in this town.

Before we left for our vacation, I told Meredith that we need to go somewhere with sharks.

Luckily, Disney really is all inclusive and Ayden got his shark fix.

There is a huge aquarium in Epcot with sharks and all sorts of sea creatures. They even have some rescue manatees. People pay money to scuba dive in the big tanks with all of the fish (EVEN THE SHARKS!) It's was fun watching all of the humans swim around in amazement.

Here we are camping at the Fort Wilderness Resort.

I took this picture and told Josh to try to look more alive.

This is what I got.

Our tent had a doggie hole or something. We used it as an emergency pee hole for Ian!

We planned on swimming the morning after camping.

The Resort has an amazing pool, sprinkler park and HOT TUB,

but it was really cold, so our plans were spoiled.

The kids had fun hanging around the camp while the adults all packed up to go somewhere warm.

Playing Simon Says

Our "fire" to keep our fingers warm.

We decided to go shop around Downtown Disney.

On our last day in FL, we went to IKEA and a huge outlet mall.

Afton sported a shirt/dress I made out of vintage aprons my friend gave me.

Our last evening went out with a bang.

We witnessed Andrew collecting his bees that swarmed to the neighbor's tree.

Classic moment. It was also Mardi Gras day, and I made some king cake from scratch for everyone. DEElish! We loved our visit, and will return soon, I'm sure. Thank goodness we have good traveling kids, b/c that 10 hour drive could have been disastrous. We were able to break up our trip on the way there by visiting our friend, Jessica, in Tallahassee. We timed it just right to be there for dinner and have a home cooked meal with her friends. Thanks again, Jess!

There, now I'm caught up to post some regular daily happenings. Ciao for now!