Florida - Part 1

The first week in January, we decided to take a winter hiatus and head to warm and sunny Florida.  We stopped overnight in Fayetteville, North Carolina on the way down before finally arriving in Florida the following evening. 
I was really hoping to see at least one alligator, but I didn't see any. 
Yes, Florida was sunny and definitely warm.  The first week in January, the temperatures were in the 80's - back home in Pennsylvania, the temperatures were in the teens with a negative temperature when considering the wind chill factor.  I wasn't quite prepared for the humidity and warmth, especially in January.  We went swimming in the outdoor pool at the resort.  I was worried about the kids getting sunburned that I found myself walking next door to the CVS to buy sunscreen on January 5 - of all days. To make matters even more surprising, the entire first aisle a customer sees when walking into the store is full of sunscreen options.  I've never seen that many sunscreen choices, anywhere.  I guess only in Orlando - they must sell a lot of sunscreen to tourists. 

Some of the highlights of the trip.

1)  Visiting the Orlando, Florida temple

As usual, Zabien was much more cooperative for photos - he absolutely loves getting his picture taken.  He always wants to see it immediately after it is finished. 
It was neat for me to do some work inside this temple - I am trying to visit as many temples as I can in my lifetime. 

2)  Downtown Disney. 
We never made it, nor did we have plans to make it to Disney World.  We didn't think that now is the time.  At 26 weeks pregnant, I wasn't cleared to ride any rides.  Both children are not tall enough to ride without an adult, and since one adult was out of commission, we decided that it wasn't worth the money to go.  We plan to go back someday, and do the whole Disney thing.  Downtown Disney was the answer for us - the kids got to play, walk through some of the shops, and see Mickey and Minnie Mouse (their favorite characters at the time).  Besides that, the price (of free) was right, and we got some good pictures. 

Eliza loved walking through the princess shop even though it was packed with people and made it hard to walk around.  She loved getting pictures taken with statues of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.


Isn't she so cute holding her little purse. :)

She was enthralled with all the murals of Minnie Mouse.

After walking through the princess store, we stopped outside the Lego store.  They had buckets and buckets of Legos which both children thoroughly enjoyed.  It took them awhile to step up and start creating, but they eventually dove in. 

 I thought his statue of the 7 dwarfs was really cool, and it is made entirely out of Legos. 

We stopped at this Dinosaur pit.  They had large dinosaurs that moved and roared which kind of freaked the kids out a bit, but they overcame their fears in order to play in the dirt and uncover fossils.   

 

Before leaving the park, we took some pictures with Mickey and Minnie mouse statues.  Zabien was so cute - he loves Mickey Mouse, and he kept hugging Mickey over and over again.  Another couple was waiting to take pictures as well, and before he decided to finally finish, he gave Mickey a kiss and said, "Bye Bye Mickey" - so cute!

 

 Zaby is also a big fan of Buzz Lightyear, and Eliza likes all of the Toy Story toys so they were also excited to see these statutes. 

They each wanted to take picture in front of the water fountain.



 Don't you love this little purse Eliza carries around with her everywhere she goes.  Inside, she has chap stick, a little toy, and expired coupons. 

We nearly walked around the whole park.  It wasn't Disney World, but honestly the kids didn't know anything different.  I don't think they even had a concept that Disney World exists, and therefore were not disappointed that they were missing out.  It was cute that they still had Christmas decorations up as well. 

 

3)  A Pirate Adventure Show

A very tasty (expensive) dinner, and a full fledged audience participation action packed show on stage - Zabien loved it.  We dined with the red pirate.  They had a series of competition among the different colored pirates and we were supposed to cheer for our color. 

Eliza fell asleep on the short drive there, so she is zonked out on Bruce's shoulder for this picture. 

 Isn't he so cute in his authentic pirate hat. 

 We got there so early because we were told they had a preshow.  The preshow consisted of pirate themed music and Hors d'ouerves of chicken salad.  It's probably a good thing Eliza was asleep for this because we would have been hard pressed to entertain both of them. 

Here we are sitting at our dining table while the show is actually going on. Eliza wasn't that impressed at all, but you can see how much Zaby is enjoying the action.  I'm surprised he ate his dinner, he was so enthralled.   

This is a picture of the crew with our red pirate.  Unfortunately he lost every competition, but it was fun to watch nonetheless.  Once again, Eliza isn't thrilled.  

 

 

As evidence of the top right picture, Zabien volunteered to be inducted as a pirate.  They had us make an oath, with hand movements and Zaby was all about it.  He said and did everything and was very proud of the certificate he got proving that he became a pirate.  

After the pirate show, they had a dance party.  It's hard to take pictures of movement, but I was pretty impressed  that both of the kids really got into it.  I thought they would be too shy and chicken out, but they contributed some serious dance moves.  

It was a successful evening (at least Eliza likes the dance party) - one that was different from anything we have ever done before.  Thank you, Orlando for providing us with new culture.