Florida!

We had a roller coaster ride of a vacation this year! We decided to take the kids to Florida ... and we kept it a surprise! We woke them up on Saturday morning, got them dressed and put them in the car. We didn't tell them till we got to the airport! At first they just thought that maybe we were going to pick up Nana for a visit until we got the bags out of the car and we finally told them where we were headed.

The plane ride was fantastic, the kids watched movies and were so good the whole time. I think they were still in shock.

The first day we got there in the afternoon and just unpacked and went grocery shopping. We are so lucky to have Mark and Heather who own a timeshare so we can buy week-long getaways for such a great price. We stayed at the Marriott Harbour Lake right across the street from SeaWorld. It was such a nice place - two bedrooms, kitchen and ... it had it's own little water park!

The first full day of our vacation we headed to SeaWorld. Most of you know that Scott is the "King of the Good Deal" - well, he proved it once again. A normal one day ticket to SeaWorld is about eighty bucks - Scott found 14days SeaWorld AND Busch Garden tickets for $50 each! Ya, I know, he's amazing.

SeaWorld was so cool. We used to live in Jacksonville and had Season Passes to SeaWorld so we know our way around the park pretty well. There were some changes though and we loved them! You used to be able to walk up to the dolphin area and just put your hands in and try to touch the dolphins. But the dolphins rarely ever let you get close enough. The park changed though - now you stand in line, buy some food and go in as small groups. This way all the dolphins don't feel overwhelmed and overstimulated. The come right over to you and open their mouths and wait for you to put your hand under their chin and toss a little fishy into their mouth. They are happy to let you touch them! I loved it, I could have stayed all day. We got some great pictures!!

The dolphin show changed too - it used to have a very Jimmy Buffett kind of feel but now it's a huge production with dolphins flipping, a "princess", "Sea King" and flying acrobats, divers and birds. It's a total Cirque de Soleil kind of show and it was fantastic!

The humidity in Florida is a killer and it was pretty difficult for the kids to wait for the shows so we tried to keep them occupied with ice cream!

But once the shows started we didn't hear a peep! They were enthralled. I have to admit - Shamu is still pretty darn cool, but a little less cool than years past. There are a lot of new precautions that they take (understandably, of course) but way less dramatic. None of the trainers get in the pool with the whales anymore. It's sad.

We had to sit in the Soak Zone though! We got drenched!

I think I took a bazillion pictures and I am having a hard time deciding which ones to share ... I guess I will just have to do another post tomorrow!