Keeping Up with the Jones': July 2012

We had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Florida for 8 days this summer. For the first time, we went back to the same condo where we went last year. But it wasn’t available for 7 days, only 6 days… so the guy gave us a break on the rate. So, we decided to go to Orlando and spend a couple of nights and go to the Disney parks. We are so fortunate that we are still using up tickets we bought years ago when the kids were small. So almost every year we use at least one ticket.
Jennifer drove a couple of hours on the way down, and this was good interstate training for her. She did really good.
The kids really wanted to stay ta a Disney hotel this time but we weren’t going to be in a hotel very much of the time since we were doing 2 parks. So, we found a place (Fairfield suites) close by and they had a free breakfast each morning. The room had a kid suite where the kids had bunk beds and we had a very comfy bed. Justin was happy that they had their own TV and game system where you could check out games to play.

The morning we went down, I pulled a muscle or something in my stomach and was really hurting so we had to be very careful as weren't’ sure if it was hernia or pulled muscle.

We saved a lot of money on food on the day we went down. We had a coupon for Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the 75th anniversary so we were going to stop there for breakfast. We did, but when we got there it was so crowded that we couldn’t even get in the parking lot. There was a long line when we went in to get regular doughnuts and another long line waiting for glazed doughnuts, Once we ordered we would have to wait another 30 minutes for glazed so we ended up not doing that but we were still there for more than 30 minutes.

Then for lunch we stopped at Chick-fil-a where it was Cow appreciation day. On the way down, I cut out our spots and tails and ears and we all wore white shirts and black shorts, and stopped at the CFA in Tifton, where I assured the kids that they wouldn’t see anyone they knew. We all got our meals free and saved over $22.
For dinner, we went to a Logan’s roadhouse for the first time to use a gift card that someone had given me about 2 years ago. The closest Logan’s is about an hour from our house so we had never used it but decided to use it since we were near one. Let me just say…if you are going to give someone a gift card, please make sure that it can be used without having to drive 2 hours to use it.

The first day we got up and out the door early and was at Animal Kingdom by 8:30 for a 9:00 opening. We went to straight to Kilamanjari Safaris and then went to Mt Everest where we got stuck on the ride at the very end. We had to sit and wait for a few minutes before they came and let us out and they gave us a free flash pass to come back to ride it again. We rode all the rides and some we went back and rode again. It was hot, but not super hot like it can be at times there. For lunch, we had reservations for Rain Forest café. We had some of the best seats in the house next to a big aquarium. We all pigged out on cheeseburgers and fries and refreshed ourselves with drinks before we went back out. It worked out well doing lunch in the middle of the day for us. Our timing was PERFECT that whole day in that we would hit lines at the perfect times, catch the trains at the perfect times, and even getting on the tram at the end of the day they waited for us. We all had a blast at the animal Kingdom. Our favorite ride of the day was Mt. Everest.

That evening, we just rested in the hotel room and relaxed our tired bodies. Dale and I walked down to a Mexican restaurant and ordered some nachos and chips/salsa for dinner and brought it back to the room where the kids enjoyed the “room service”. We weren’t very hungry from our large lunch so it was just right for everyone.
The next morning we got up bright and early and got to Typhoon Lagoon at 8:30 where we parked right up front and they let us in even though the park didn’t open until 9:00. We found a nice shady sandy spot and went straight to the Crush and Gusher (water slide/coaster) where we rode all 3 slides before the park even opened. Then we went straight to snorkel with the sharks. We were the first ones of the day and the ONLY ones over there. It was really neat to be the only ones. The water was super cold and Justin went off first and made it over to the other side. Then I went and then Dale and Jennifer. I was so surprised to see Jennifer already to the end when I got there but she said she started to have a panic attack either from the cold water or the sharks that she saw swimming around her. Dale does NOT like cold water so he didn’t want to do that one again. We then went and rode all the rest of the rides in the park. We had ridden everything by 10:30. We really didn’t have to wait in hardly any lines- it was so nice! We had packed some snacks and peanut butter and crackers and chips and drinks and enjoyed those and went out for more fun. One of the things that I LOVE at Typhoon Lagoon is the huge waves in the wave pool. I was trying to be really careful with my pulled muscle but really wanted to go out there, so I went out until I hurt myself and then came in. You hear a noise and then a HUGE wave just comes right at you –about 7 feet tall. There were some men that were body surfing and they were surfing the waves about 60-70 feet and one of them ended up on top of me. You don’t have much control at all when a wave that big throws you wherever it wants to. It didn’t hurt or anything but was weird to have a strange man on top of you in the water. He apologized and swam back out to do it again.
We were going to leave early and there was some rain moving in. So, Dale took the kids for a few more rounds in the wave pool while I waited for them in the shallow end. On the last wave, Dale ended up scraping his toes on the bottom and pulling the skin off 3 toes. It was bleeding pretty bad by the time he got out. Honestly, I am surprised that there aren’t more injuries on the rough bottom of that wave pool with those big waves coming in and tossing you around.

We left there and headed to the Ormond –by-the-sea to the condo for the week. We stopped at Walmart going in and got groceries and was there and unpacked by dinner time. We get a lot of relaxing time in when we stay there and enjoy the ocean too. Once we got settled in, we didn’t leave for several days. Jennifer and I didn’t leave for 3 days when we went out to dinner at Bubba Gumps for seafood. The kids just recently watched the movie so we thought it would be neat to take them there.
One day, the boys went to the Daytona Speedway and did the tour there. They really enjoyed that. Justin also enjoys the gaming system in their room. And we played many games of Yahtzee and Skip-bo.
One day we went out to the beach where Jennifer had PLENTY of room to dance around. Since she started dancing again last year, she dances all the time around the house.

We saw some dolphins in the ocean and just love to watch them. We also swam in the pool a lot at night. Dale didn’t get to do too much swimming because of his toes but he did lots of R&R.

We went on several walks on the beach and found some SUPER HUGE crabs. We tried to get some pictures but they camoflauge themselves very well.

The night we went to Bubba Gumps in Daytona Beach, we walked up the beach to the pier where we walked around. The girls rode the ferris wheel and the boys rode the go-carts.