Florida-Final days..

So I haven't even touched on the awesomeness of the condo that we have rented. For three years running, Regal Palms. www.regalpalms.com So great, So affordable. Most people when they go to Florida are all about "staying on Disney". While I am not opposed to that (and we have done it), here is what I have figured out for our family dynamic and why we do not even attempt the hotel thing any more: 


WE NEED SPACE, so at the end of a long day or an exhausting vacation, everyone is not in everyone's face. We love each other, but after 12 hours at a park, its nice to send the kids to their bedroom.


These condos are so affordable and have sooo much space. A mere 20-30 minute drive away from the parks, and these condos are huge. Okay, that is three times now that I have mentioned the space, but I think it is an important feature given the per night rate. Think 4 bedroom 3 1/2 bathrooms for about $110 per night. Full kitchen, dishwasher, tv's in every room.  TV in the kids' room is such a treat for them...it doesn't take much. 
There's more. The best part is the pool area:

•  a cool, not overwhelming water slide (that excites your 3 year old and his 62 year old grandfather), 
• a lazy river (to float with your tube and have a conversation with your increasingly disconnected 10 year old daughter)
•  a regular pool (for handstands, cheering stunts, and getting whacked in the head with a wild football toss)
• a walk-out, beach-style pool for toddlers (so you can watch them and not hold them 100% of the time)
• a hot tub (in case the weather bombs during your trip)
• a dj
•  a tiki bar
• hair wrapping for the little lady in your life (way cheaper than downtown Disney)
• ...ok I could go on and on and on....

Bottom line...

This place makes my family slow down. 

Family picture minus Landon. He was boycotting.  Not about to force a stubborn three year old.

Landon was nervous about this slide in the beginning, but was a pro by Saturday.

My older brother Keith and my nephew Bryce

Kyle and Devyn. Yes, they really were that happy to be hanging together

Jump rope contest. Corbin is the one closet to the dj. He did not win. Not his forte I guess.

All about the hair wrap

Food break

Good eats

My parents

Florida...Sunday=Illness

So you can't go on a trip without SOMEONE getting sick. Inevitable. That someone threw up three times the night before SeaWorld. Any guesses??? Little Landon. Yes, three times his little body popped into our room. Poor babes. Needless to say, I did not sleep much that night. The next morning he seemed fine but I opted to stay back at the condo with him instead of trekking to Sea World with the rest of the crew. The last thing this kid needed was a day cruising around a park in the heat. I seriously hated to miss SeaWorld. It is definitely one of my top parks. I seriously love the sea creatures. But, I have a love/hate relationship with the sharks. Fascinating yes, but who can really forget Jaws 3 where Jaws swims busts through that underwater tube/walkway thing and all of the SeaWorld people were freaking out? Remember that?Anyhow, the kids went for the day with my parents, Keith and Sam, and sat in the soak zone for any show that they could. Fun. We did manage to have a pretty chill day. Landon had a three hour nap, recovered perfectly, so Kyle and I took him to the pool for an hour. Rounded up the day with Starbucks caramel frappuccinos. mmmm. 

Magic Kingdom

Never an easy in or out, but definitely worth the effort and exhaustion. We began our day with a plan and a mission. You kind of have to at Disney, or the day gets away from you and you wind up logging some serious time in line. We decided to make sure that we always had a Fast Pass in hand. If you are not familiar, a Fast Pass is a ticket  available on select rides. When you have this ticket it allows you to get in the “fast lane” (you still have to wait, but the only difference is that you don't lose feeling in your feet) . In other words, the Fast Pass lane allows you to get on the ride in a fraction of the time of the regular line. 

As soon as we had come into the park, we got the typical picture in the front of the "Mickey Lawn" for my mother (her thing) and then Kyle and my father shot ahead to go get our first Fast Pass. They did not wait for us. I was totally okay with this. No more waiting for each other. If we did, I swear we would never have left Main St. After Animal Kingdom a couple of days prior, we were all set with waiting-politely-for-people-to-go-to-the-bathroom and just let them shoot ahead. As always, it was packed, but even with strollers we did a pretty good job getting through the park. Really, when is Disney not packed? A lot of walking, proud to say that my choice of flip flops was a good one. You never know with that sort of thing.  

Kids did great. No huge meltdowns, although I almost had a few tantrums/panic attacks trying to look for an iced coffee or some sort of mocha frothy caffeine-y thing. Not sure why Disney does not market this better? That has always been my one small issue with Disney. Really, how many frozen chocolate covered-banana carts do they need?  Surely I can't be the only one desperately looking? I did eventually find a place near the Tea Cups. Ironically, the ride that I avoid.  I wanted to hop over the counter and hug the poor guy. 

Overall, a great day. 
We got to do a handful of rides including the President’s Hall (for Corbin, my Presidential trivia nut). Regarding this show: I am officially a grown up. I remember being so bored with the Disney President’s Show when I was younger. Now? Thoroughly impressed. Devyn was all about Space Mountain. Corbin, Splash mountain. I forced a reluctant Landon on Splash Mountain but he was pretty psyched once he was on. 

One small disappointment in the Haunted Mansion: Why did they take out the spooky ghost mirrors at the end? Not a big deal, just wondering...

The day was complete with the final parade. We were in a great spot right near the exit. We got “spoken to” at a few times for blocking the trash cans, but hey, the Parade Patrol was just doing their job right? That parade is seriously the best way to end the day. Something about the dark of the night, the lights on the floats. Perfect.

By the end of our tram ride back to our lot we were all filthy, smelled like amusement park and ready.  Kids were asleep before we had even hit the road. We did manage to find a quaint wine bistro on the way home, 7-Eleven, that had the best wine and chips for purchase. Great night cap. One thing...where the heck have all of the Disney characters gone?? No sightings all day, other than the parade....

Kyle and Corbin- Thunder Mountain

Orlando trip: An interview with a 3 year old

So our third day rained which actually worked ok. We had a few little errands to do. Errands? In Orlando? What could we possibly have to do for errands you ask? Last year we stumbled upon this massive M&M store at the Orlando Mall. Totally fun with large M&M dispensers along the wall. Dentist's nightmare. Anyhow, Devyn was asking before we had even left Maine if we could go to the mall again. Of course I said "no, we are not going to a mall again on vacation. Last year was a fluke thing, Devyn." Well, we wound up back at the mall. And then the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney that night.

Here is my Q and A with Landon on this rainy “catch up” day. I wrote his exact response, so yes, it is grammatically incorrect.

Me= Green Landon= Black

About his morning...

What did you do when you first woke up?

I did get dressed. 

What did you have for breakfast?

Cheerios was my breakfast. I had breakfast at the condo. I had my vitamins, and I had milk. thats it!

What did you do after breakfast?

I went to three stores. I went to 1, 2, 3. I went to the store with my dad and the store and the lady made a sandwich. It was for me. 

Then I ate lunch and take a nap. Now we are going to the M&M store.

What color M&M’s will you get?

Red, strawberry, chocolate, and blueberry. And we are going to have.....and thats it. Oh yeah, we are going to have....pineapple.

Pineapple M&M’s?

yup

and Blackberry...

Blackberry?

and thats it...

After the mall...

What did you see at the mall?

I saw M&M’s and I saw numbers.

After Downtown Disney and Rainforest cafe...

What did we do at Rainforest cafe?

We saw thunder. Elephants, butterflies. There was a butterfly. Fruit. And some more fruit. 

Anything else?

Two animals left. Parrot and another parrot

What did you eat?

I eat chips. Crusty things that I ate. And I drank a slushy. 

What do you do after?

I got an umbrella as a souvenir.

Anything else that we did at Downtown Disney?

I saw a bathroom there. 

I got cotton candy. and Corbin got cotton candy. Then Sam, and you and Devyn got ice cream. 

Is that all that happened?

Yup. thats it.

Waiting for food at The Rainforest Cafe 

 Patrons did not need the half hour rainstorm show for their entertainment. Here is Corbin doing his robot dance.

Out like a lion...Animal Kingdom day through Devyn's eyes

Devyn’s blog of day two

At 8:15 we went to Animal Kingdom.  The first thing we did was see a show.  The show was called It’s Tough to be a Bug.  It was in 4-D.  4-D is in 3-D with special effects.  The show was really cool.  All of the babies were crying so they went outside.  Next we went on a safari ride.  My favorite animal we saw was an okapi. An okapi is part zebra and part giraffe.  After that we saw two gorillas.  One of the gorillas came up close to the glass.  It was so close that my memere got a picture of it’s butt.  Everyone was really hungry so we got something to eat.  I had a cheeseburger.  When everyone was full we went on a roller coaster.  It was scary at first, but once it was over I wanted to go again, but I didn’t. It was 199.5 feet tall.  The only bad thing about it was that we had to wait an hour in line. It was in a mountain.  After we went on a water ride.  It was called the Kali Water Rapids.  I got so wet.  It started to rain so we took cover in a dino gift shop.  I got a necklace with a mickey mouse charm on it.  When the storm ended we went home. We had pasta for dinner . Then I watched t.v. and went to bed. 

Devyn and her Matante Sam on our safari ride through faux Africa

A few other pictures from our day....

Corbin's caterpillar pal that tagged along with us for a little while. This little guy was the key to slowing Corbin down.  Corbin was always 200 yards ahead, while we were trapped amongst a sea of strollers. 

                                                                 My Mother and Landon. 

Hard to see, but there is a gorilla back there.

Corbin's post- day 1

Corbin needs quite a bit of stimulation. He polished off the two books that I packed him while we were waiting...in PORTLAND (figures), so he needed something to do. I put him to work on the family blog. Here is his take. By the way, in regards to the caps lock on Corbin's blog: I refuse to edit the kids' posts because I want things to remain as authentic as possible. He insists on all caps. Must be his bigger is better philosophy shining through. 

Air Travel-Day 1

Corbin’s View

 THIS MORNING I WOKE UP FROM MY BED AND I WAS SO EXITED TO GO TO FLORIDA TODAY .AND I DIDN’T WANT TO WAKE UP BUT I HAD TO BESIDES IT WAS WORTH IT.I BRUSHED MY TEETH AND WENT UP STAIRS TO GET READY TO GO TO THE AIRPORT.WE WERE DRIVING TO THE AIRPORT IT TOOK ABOUT 40 MINUTES OR SO I GOT A LITTLE CAR SICK BUT I WAS FINE.WE GOT TO THE AIRPORT AND I WAS SO EXITED TO GO IN BECAUSE I LOVE THE AIRPORT.WE FINALLY GOT ON THE PLAIN AND WE HAD TO WAIT ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES FOR THE PLAIN TO TAKE OFF.BUT GUESS WHAT!THEY HAD DIFFICULTIES AND WE HAD TO GET OFF THE PLAIN THAT WAS VERY SAD.THEY SAID TO GO TO GATE NINE BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY GATE EIGHT BUT I WAS OK WITH IT.I READ 2 MAGIC TREE HOUSE BOOKS BEFORE THE PLAIN TOOK OFF. 

WE WENT TO THE CHECK IN WE HAD TO WAIT A LONG TIME THEN FINALLY WE GOT TO GO IN THE CONDO WHEN WE GOT IN THE CONDO I PUT MY BATHING SUIT AND I WENT TO THE POOL TO HAVE SOME FUN.I WENT DOWN THE SLIDE 2    OR 3 TIMES THEN I WENT TO HANG OUT WITH MY FAMILY.THEN I WENT HOME TO HAVE SUPPER I HAD SUPPER THEN WENT TO BED AND WATCHED ZACK AND CODY.WHEN I WAS DONE WATCHING T.V I READ MAGIC TREE HOUSE 28 AND WHEN I WAS DONE READING I WENT TO BED AND THAT WAS IT FOR MY DAY.    

Corbin doing his plane blogging. Don't mess with the fast-typing-right-pointer finger. Faster finger in the east.

Plane departure?

So we had a pretty interesting flight out. We boarded the plane, only to "de-plane" (is that the proper term?) a half hour later. They did end up getting all of us on a new flight, but a bit of chaos. Not a big deal, but people were exhausted before we even left Portland. Especially when you want to be somewhere. And especially when two of your three kids are wrestling in inappropriate places before we have even left the gate. Guess which two?