Orlando ‘08

Alright! this being my first blog on my new place here…well it’s bound to be weird, but then what can I say?

So, we left this morning at 4:00 (yes I fell back to sleep within 10 minutes of being on the road…yay Scott for driving! luckily so did the boys) We got to Orlando at 1:30, great trip! The boys were great for the most part and the trip very uneventful. Since we got here so early, our room wasn’t ready yet, so we went to the biggest Mc-yDees there is in the world…course that what the sign said, I’m sure there’s others of these monstrosities, but wow! Take a Jillians, add a kids play tuby place, take away the pool tables and add a big old salt tank (with a remora!) and you’ve got where we were. Pretty darn cool I must admit. Here’s a site about it - http://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/OrlandoFL/pointsOfInterest/WorldsLargestMcDonaldsinOrlandoFL.cfm

Anyway, the boys were just starting to get nuts when the hotel called and our room was ready. Naps for the boys, Scott and a bath for me, dinner and it’s now bedtime. WHOOT! Tomorrow we embark on Seaworld…pics and stuff to come:) Night all!

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~ Day 2 ~

Oy! what a day! I’m so tired! But what a day:) And whoot! get to go back tomorrow:)

Alright, we got to the park about 10 and first thing they’ve got is a dolphin nursery, there were a couple of moms in there with their babies. (bottle nosed dolphins) Oh my goodness they are so cute! David was so cute oooing each time they did.

We went up in the sky tower to see everything, they loved that, then I sent them by this stone wall (where of course I knew what was coming) and told them to see what was in the hole in the wall as a huge wave of water came crashing down on them…scared them to death, then they of course had to do it again a few times, that was darn funny:)

We saw the dolphin show (really cool) then the sealion show (kind of corney, but funny at the same time, the chick who was the lead did great and was very good at ad-libbing when the sea lion (or audience) didn’t do what she wanted. Then came the coolest part, the orca show! Oh, I almost got emotional seeing them! Even the boys (even though it was close to 5pm by that point) were pretty awed by them. we had to sit way up close to the back of the theater, so tomorrow we’re going to go again to that show but get there early enough that we can sit close and center:) But I’ve got so many pics of these guys, I can’t load them all here or we’ll never get to read on!

We also didn’t do any of the rides today. Part of the problem of course is Gage is still to short to do the ones he wants to. But they do have a “kid’s” section of rides that we will do first thing also tomorrow so that there won’t be as long of lines cause OY was it hot and muggy today! Over all it was a great day:) Then back to the hotel for the boys to swim a bit and bedtime!!!:)

K on to more pics…

Alrighty then! Check back to see tomorrow:)
btw, there are 7 pictures here, if you don’t see all 7 with this Day 2, let me know:) I’ll fix it

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~ Orlando Day 3 1/2 ~

…or half of day 3 that is.

We got to the park at 10 again this morning and first went to the artic area, that was amazing and freakishly cold…lol

Then we decided to wait the hour wait for good seats at the orca show. It was so worth it as we did get great seats, saw an awesome show and David and Gage got their picture taken with one of the trainers. She was so nice and you can totally tell that they all love their jobs! (course what a job!!! how incredible would that be?!?)

Then we let the boys do the rides that they wanted to in the kid’s section of the park and do the rides. William and David loved it, Gage loved some of them…lol the bigger roller coaster type in the kids park was a bit too much for him.

We stayed inthat section till about 2:00 when it was for sure time to take a break. We came back here and took naps, lunch and dinner (not in that order) and now will go back to the park for the night stuff they do…GOT to go see those whales one more time

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~ Second half of day 3 ~

!!!…WOW!

Okay, that pretty much sums it up!

But first, I wanted you to know that I created and uploaded all the photos taken so far in one place for your viewing pleasure. If you’d like check out -

http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk72/OrlandoSmiths08/

And Enjoy! I’ll keep updating with more photos each night.

Anyway, We went back to the park about 7:30pm and first saw the sea turtles which the boys thought was cool. But then we came to the sting ray bay. Wow! there was a huge one in there that William and I kept getting to touch. He’d come up right by us each time and we were able to stroke along his fins and head. I’ve felt sting rays before and they are a soft kind of slimy rubber feeling, but this one being as old as he was had bumps along his fins as well. That was amazing!

Then I talked with the lady who was watching over the rays. Samantha is a very cool person and I’m seriously glad that I met her. I totally envy her job there (not in a “thou shalt not” sort of way) but yeah, that’s awesome! So Samantha, if you read this, way to go, you’re doing a great thing there so don’t forget it!

Then we went to the dolphin cove. Let me tell you, if I had of stopped by this place the first day, you wouldn’t have gotten me away, not ever! It’s a touch bay for the dolfins and if they choose to, they’ll come up to you and let you touch them. I didn’t get a good one (there was a little kid next to me that wouldn’t stop splashing…arg!!!!) But I did graze the fin of one as it past. It’s just amazing to be that close to these animals!

Then, the best of all! we pretty much ran to the other side of the park and got to the orca show again. At night they have a totally different show called Shamu Rocks. It’s all lights and rock music (started with Queen’s We Will Rock You…lol) It was the most amazing show I’ve ever seen! The whales were awesome, the trainers just as much! funny thing, this time the boys asked and begged to sit right in the front row. We didn’t but stopped in the 4th row. of course being at night, it’s not as full of people, but when they say soak zone, they mean it! We were right in the place where when the whale splashed the one side, we got it face on, when he splashed the next section, we still got it face on!!! Gage was none too pleased as it’s cold water! lol and William didn’t know it would be salt, but David loved it…go figure…lol.

Then after a firework show which was darn cool, we made our way out. It’s now just after midnight and the boys are watching Shrek 3, just a bit too wired to fall asleep yet (hopefully no early morning stuff! OY)

So anyway, on to the next adventure tomorrow! What Gage calls the “crack house” they can’t wait:)
Tune in!

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~ The rest of the trip ~

Alrighty then! no time to finish the trip, so now we’re home, I can complete this.

Ah yes, the crackhouse…lol here’s a pic. It’s actually called WonderWorks and looks like a building that fell upside down from the sky. There are cracks all over it hence Gage calling it the crackhouse:)

It had great fun stuff (’twas a bit over priced though) but the boys loved it. Kind of a Discovery Place, but less of the Science stuff. Gage and William had their first ever round of lazer tag as well…heehee, they loved it! Here’s a few pics (and all the pics will be on the photobucket link in the other blog)

Then we got to Dave and Wendy’s house for a great chicken dinner (so much better than eating out!) The next day we went out on their boat WHOOT! that was awesome! But for the 3rd degree burns I’ve got…lol it was so worth it! (not really 3rd degree no worries, but wow, even with reapplying that sun stuff, I still got it bed, Scott did on his back, but luckily the boys didn’t) I tell you, I’ve never wished for an underwater camera more! We stopped by this one area that had large rocks on the bottom about 10 feet down and there were more fish! it was so freakin’ cool! We saw a baby angelfish that was black with yellow vertical stripes, a blue parrot fish that was about 2 feet long and an adult angel of a different kind. There were jellies all around too, but they weren’t the stinging kind, no tenticals thank goodness. I freaked when I saw the first one, but was reassured by Dave that they were no harm. Still took me a while before I could just stop to see one:) very pretty ones! Like an upside down trumpet flower, but see through.

So we snorkled for a bit and the boys floated around, but hanging on to a line connected to the boat. Then we went to an island that the kids could get out of the boat and swim by the shore. Over all, it was a beautiful, most awesome day! A perfect way to end the trip!

Now it’s back to normal life and lots of tank cleaning!:) Jake, thanks so much for looking out for our animals, everyone’s doing great:) Oh yeah and while we were there I got 2 new betta pairs. once they are settled into their new tanks I’ll add pics:)
Later all!

(the rest of the pics are at http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk72/OrlandoSmiths08/)