Florida Vacation 2009

We had to make it to the Cheesecake Factory while on vacation before we started shopping, though we were too full for cheescake. Haha.
Josh's grandparents came to visit from Sarasota. We went out to lunch and came back to the playground where Hayden was loving the giant slide.

Ready for fun in the sun!

Wednesday night we went to Universal's City Walk and had dinner at Emeril's.

Heading out to Magic Kingdom in Ava's big girl car seat. Aunt Marie got us an AMAZING deal since she's a certified car seat technician.

Just as we were headed to main street a parade was going by with Pluto, characters from the Incredibles and Toy Story. It really got us in the Disney mood.

Josh and Hayden went on the speedway ride. Ava and I waited on the side to catch a picture of them.
Then Hayden and I went on the Tea Cups. While we were waiting in line Hayden put his arms up to some foreign Asian guys and one of them held him for awhile and they took pictures. It was super funny and they got a huge kick out of him.

Playing at the Winnie the Pooh playground

Around 3 we headed to the big parade

Hayden and Ava had too much Magic and crashed for a little while. It gave us a chance to get a treat and relax.

Friday at Seaworld at the Shamu show.

The kid area had a little water splash area so we took Hayden's shirt off and let him play around.

Ava waiting for Daddy and Hayden to be done with the ride

Hayden meeting his first character at Animal Kingdom. He was just so excited and loved every one of them.

At the petting zoo Hayden was loving petting all the goats.

On the safari ride we saw many animals really close up like these Rhinos. We also saw Crocodiles, Warthogs, Lions, Elephants, Hippos, and many others. Most of the animals just roam free except that the lions are set up kind of like a zoo where there's a wide drop between their area and the road. The crocodiles have their own little area as well.

Hayden loved Pooh so much he didn't want to let go.

Our final day we drove down to Jupiter to take in a Cardinals Spring Training game. We got there early to watch them practice and we were able to get a couple more autographs for Hayden's Hello Fredbird book. We anticipated not being able to watch the whole game since it would be very difficult for Hayden to sit on Josh's lap through the game. We kind of took turns getting up for a couple innings and then Ava fell asleep. We sat on the end so that helped a lot. We really enjoyed just being there. We left about halfway through and decided to drive by the coast. We thought about getting out and letting Hayden run around and dipping our feet in, but he was passed out in the back and we didn't want to wake him.

For Josh's 30th birthday I asked him what he wanted to do. Jokingly he said go down to Florida to watch the Cardinals. After figuring it was feasible for us to do so we started planning our trip. We stayed at the Horizons Marriott Vacation Club set up through Josh's work. It was really a great place. The resort was set up like a little town with tree lined brick paved roads with several pools, a playground, minigolf, and many activities planned throughout the week. The first few days we were there was a little chilly for pool activities so we never got down to the pools since by the time it got warmer we were spending the days at the parks. Our room was really great, but I forgot to take pictures of it. We had a kitchen, dining area, living room, and two bedroom and baths with a covered/screened in lanai. The resort was very accommodating bringing up two pack n plays and a high chair. On Tuesday we went to Mall at Millenia to go shopping and we met Josh's friend James for dinner. On Wednesday Josh's grandparents visited from Sarasota and they took us out for lunch and we watched hayden play on the playground afterwards. Wednesday night we went over to Universal Studios's City Walk and had a nice dinner at Emeril's. Thursday we spent the day at Disney's Magic Kingdom. The day went by so fast that next time we will definitely spend two days at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. We planned on staying after dark, but many of the restaurants in the park were booked up and the kids were really exhausted so we ordered in pizza in our room. Friday we went to Seaworld. Hayden and I loved the dolphin show, but the Shamu show wasn't really that exciting. Only two whales wanted to come out and perform. Josh won Hayden a big dolphin at the arcade and Ava a little pink octopus. Saturday we met with Josh's friends from high school- James and Cyrus and Cyrus's family at Animal Kingdom. Since Cyrus and their family have season passes they knew their way around the park and we got fast passes to the safari ride and the big roller coaster that we took turns going on so the kids could be watched. I was convinced to go on it and it was really fun. On Sunday we went to the Cardinals game and then drove back and stayed with James's parents since we checked out of our hotel on Sunday. Monday morning we flew back home and crashed-- ok Josh and Hayden crashed. Ava and I played while watching the Wild Card Idol show. Overall we had a great vacation and it was just so nice to have a change of scenery and get out of the normal routine of our lives. We are very excited to plan another trip to Disney.