Woo Hoo! We're going on vacation! Okay, okay, so we already did, and it was AWESOME! Scott and I celebrated our big 5 year on the 29th, and did it with so much style! It started off with a five hour drive to drop the kids off with Grams and Grampy. A brave move for parents of two, one being only three months old, but I have to say it was SO WORTH IT! For anyone who has not yet had a vaca away from the kids, I highly, highly recommend it. It was such a great refresher for us as a couple, and as parents. As much as we all love our kids, you've got to admit every now and then you just need a break. I am so grateful to have able and willing parents that will allow us to receive a break. So, what did we do with our free time you ask........
Where to start?!? Saturday we made the somewhat long drive down to Orlando Florida. Our first adventure was Gatorland. Sound dumb? It wasn't, it was very much fun. For those of you who know me best, I LOVE ANIMALS, so any place with them as the focal point is a hoot for me. I got to sit on a real live full grown gator-I was so stoked! To my surprise they have some very soft squishy parts, very cool to feel! This was also where we had our first encounter with Florida's un-caged wildlife, a five foot snake of some sort. I wanted sooo badly to pick it up, as those who know me best know I would have, but grumpy ol' Scott wouldn't let me. Throughout the whole trip we saw many wild snakes, frogs, lizards and other various cute things. The only creatures I managed to catch and hold were a few frogs. I'm nowhere near as skilled as I was as a child. My mom loved all the things I would catch and bring in the house! HEHE! :D
Sunday we went to Universal Studios, The Mummy is a must for anyone going that way. Universal wasn't as cool as I remember it being as a kid, but it was still plenty fun. After we had a day there, we went back to the hotel and took a super nice nap, completely uninterrupted by kids or alarms or someones schedule. One of the highlights, I must say!
Monday we went to Universals neighbor park-Islands of Adventure. This park was more my style. Lots of coasters and water rides. It wasn't quite as awesome as Six Flags, but a must see none the less. Hulk and Jurassic River were our favs. After returning to our now resort(we stayed here Mon-Thurs) Scott told me I must hurry and get changed because he had a surprise for me. At this point I wasn't quite feeling like going out, but he insisted. So we got ready.....and drove up to a limo! For some reason, this is something I have always wanted to do-ride in a fancy limo, and my man delivered! I was so surprised and thrilled. It was so much fun. We went to a really fancy Cuban restaurant, got some ice cream at the best place ever (coldstones of course) and then drove around to see the sites in style. Orlando is a very beautiful place all lit up at night. It was a very wonderful and romantic experience.
Tuesday was SOOOO COOL!!!! We got in the car, drove a long four more hours to Miami, and we...........SWAM WITH DOLPHINS! Again, I love animals, so this was incredible for me! Scott had the time of his life as well. It is a costly thing, but without any hesitation we both agree it is VERY worth it, and plan to do it again someday. I wouldn't even know how to describe how awesome it was, so I'm not even going to try!
Wednesday we hung around the very cool pool at the resort. This place had a pool, a lazy river, and a slide. About 20-30 minutes into our swim, Scott realized he hadn't taken my phone out of his swim trunks........So now my very fancy, cool, expensive phone is locked away in a drawer never to return and I am charging up a piece of junk phone that will be mine for the next 18 months until verizon allows me to upgrade. Oh well, something to laugh about later. :D
Thursday we slept in, went to lunch, then went back and took a nap! :P Then, went out and I had the chance to go indoor skydiving! Again, SOOO COOL! For anyone who wants to go skydiving but doesn't have the money or the guts, you need to do this! Scott chose not to, because he couldn't justify the money. I warned him he would regret not going, but of course, being male, he didn't listen. :P But, because he didn't go, we did manage to get some killer footage of my "jump". It was amazing, and only made me all the more sure that I will do the real thing some day. I am looking forward to it!
Friday we slept in again, then got in the car and drove to see our kids, who at this point I was missing like crazy! While we were apart Jorja hadn't changed much, but Jocelin must have snuck some steroids into her bottles because she appeared to be months older than when we had dropped her with the folks! We also had the great opportunity to see some family that we had never met before and some that we hadn't seen in years. This was a great time for my Mom and Dad. They had all three of their kids together for the first time in three years. It only lasted about two hours, but it was great! My family didn't start out very close, but I'm very fortunate to say that we are now. The amount of support that we all have for eachother amazes me. I'm so thankful to have such a fantastic family for my kids to grow up with. They will feel so loved everywhere they turn, and they will have many faces to look to for support and guidance when they need it.
So, now we're home and getting back to life. Today we went and got Jocelin's ears pierced. She looks so darling with them! Hmm, I think that's all I have to report for now. Hope you guys enjoy the pics of our week in The Sunshine State! Much love til next time........
Happy Halloween everyone! This is our familys FAVORITE holiday so I had to post. This year was great, it was the first year Jorja really understood what was going on, and she had a blast! She dressed up as a devil, and Jocelin dressed up as an angel. It was a hit! They both looked so dang cute! It's become a tradition of ours to have the missionaries from our church over on halloween to carve pumkins and we kept it up this year. We had great fun carving and handing out candy and playing cards (Monoply Deal is a must have for every family, totally the best card game ever!!). Below is a super great clip of Jorja chasing one of the Missionaries at Trunk or Treat. If you can't make it out, at some point the Elder shouts "save me Satan is after me!" I thought this was too funny not to post. I hope everyone else had as much fun as we did and that life is well. (The date is off on our camera, good ol' Scott :D .)
