Ormond By the Sea

This year we rented a condo through VRBO and ended up going to Ormond by the sea, FL. We had an awesome condo which was nicknamed ocean Tondo by the owners little son. It was an awesome condo as big as our first house almost. The kids had their own bedroom with bunk beds and bathroom. And our bedroom was bigger than ours at home.  There was a big balcony with chairs too to enjoy the ocean sounds.

We left July 23 and returned home on July 30th. We had a wonderful ocean view and enjoyed lots of relaxing and fun times. The owners left a great collection of DVDs (adult and kids) and games and books for our use. They even let us use all their sand toys and beach chairs,umbrella, and boogie boards. It was very fun to be able to boogie board together instead of taking turns, as we usually do.

The boys played golf one day and got rained out after 5 holes so they went back the next day and played the whole round again. They went to Halifax Plantation and got stuck on the course during a big thunderstorm where lightning and thunder were popping all around them. Thank you Lord for protecting them!!



Justin loves to look at the maps for the fun places we go!



On Wednesday, we got up early and went to Orlando and used some extra Disney tickets that we still had. We really debated back and forth about which park to go to this year, but we ended up going to Hollywood Studios. We got there before the park opened and rushed to Toy Story Mania where we had to stand in a 15 minute line just to get a fast pass!! Unbelievable!  Then we went to Rock-n-roller coaster and had a blast on that. That is always the only picture that they offer that tempts me to buy it, but I just can’t make myself pay $20 for one picture. But it’s always the same….me smiling, Dale with mouth wide open yelling, Jennifer with eyes closed, and Justin with a look of horror on his face. It cracks us up every time!!! And just for the record, I beat everyone by FAR on Toy Story Mania-which is a first that I thoroughly enjoyed.

We were able to do everything we wanted to even though it rained a couple of times and we had to get off one ride and then go back to it a little later. The lights-motor-action show was a favorite for the boys especially and it amazed me how they could be so precise sliding around in those cars with the pavement so wet.

We left early to go to Downtown Disney for dinner but we ended up not going because everyone was hungry and wanted some food. But we had a great day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Most of the days, we just hung out in the condo or at the beach or pool. I read 2 books, which is always a good sign. Jennifer discovered that she loves the game “Yahtzee” and wanted to play it all the time. Justin thoroughly enjoyed their Play Station with about 40 different games. Although, he played board games with us too. And we did a jigsaw puzzle that was a mystery to solve.

And, thankfully, everyone was willing to go to the beach for our annual "photo session". I remembered the tripod this year so that helped us get some group shots.

This one cracks me up!!

The last day we were there, Dale took the kids to the lighthouse at Ponce Inlet and the Marine Science Center. They enjoyed that and got to pet stingrays.

Yes...that is a snake she is touching!

I actually had to work some on this trip even though I tried to work as little as possible. But, I had my biggest closing EVER on Friday while I was down there (Praise God!) and was negotiating another deal on one of my listings for most of the week. We are still waiting to see if we can make that one work, but it was nice knowing that I have a paycheck waiting when I get home.

The last evening we went to Flagler Beach for the first time where we ate Oceanside in a little place that served seafood. It was really neat to be so close to the ocean and the dinner was pretty good too. We had to valet park since there was no room for cars and they parked them in tightly.  The ocean was super close and we enjoyed watching the tide come in while we ate.