Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Vacation to Orlando

It's been a while since we've been to Orlando, Florida, so that's where we spent a week at the end of May. It rained and stormed our first day there, but only for a little while. We were able to get out and explore the resort late in the afternoon. What a lovely place!

view from our balcony on a rainy afternoon
 
It's still sprinkling, but not enough to keep us inside :)
 
beautiful rainbow after the storm
 
Mike and Kate doing a little fishing
 
I love this dock leading out onto Lake Eve.
 
love how the clouds are reflecting in the water

 
night view from our balcony
 
We spent two days out of our week at Universal Orlando. The first day at Islands of Adventure and the next at Universal Studios. Our tickets were for three days, and we had planned to go on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, spending the alternating days at the resort. However, after Monday and Wednesday, we decided that two days at crowded theme parks were quite enough for us.
 

Monday at Islands of Adventure


At Harry Potter's World and it's starting to rain... in Florida these afternoon showers seem to pop up out of nowhere. And then just as quickly, they're gone. 


the Incredible Hulk Coaster - I decided to sit this one out! I'm not as fond of roller coasters as my family is.
 
Wednesday at Universal Studios

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit - another ride that I chose to watch

My youngest man-child is growing right up and is so very proud that he's taller than I am, but even more so that he's taller than his dad!

 
 Here are some sunny photos from around the resort. I seriously love their pool areas. So gorgeous!

pool and ping-pong tables

kids splash area

one of the coolest pools ever

double water slides

This one was simply stunning to me... indoor/outdoor pool

giant chess set... This was so cool!
 
One night we strolled around at Downtown Disney, where I took tons of pictures. But I won't bore you with all of them!
 
 
Such cool Lego statues around the Lego store
 
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go...
 
This isn't flying... this is falling with style!
 
This guy could seriously play the guitar. I wish my pictures could portray just how fast his fingers were moving! It was nothing short of amazing!

 
 
Behind us, near the water's edge, Momma Duck watches over her three little ducklings while they sleep.

 
Yes, that's a duck in the pool. One afternoon I was lounging in a chair, just people watching, and all of a sudden a duck flies in and just as if it's the most natural thing ever, lands in the swimming pool. And if you can tell by this picture, so far no one else seems to have noticed him. But not for long!

Uh-oh, Duckie is busted! Here come the kiddos.

And Duckie decides to beat a hasty retreat.
 
While Mike's getting our food on the grill, I've decided to walk around taking MORE pictures.


 
 And after supper we came back out to feed the ducks.


 They were so cute. They would jump up to get the bread.
 
 
Kate and I made tie-dye t-shirts.

We thought they turned out pretty cool!

And we never go on vacation without stopping here. We love Krispy-Kreme!

One of the highlights of our vacation this year... we were able to attend church and visit with our friends -- our former youth pastor and his family! A few years ago they followed God's call to Orlando, where they now serve on staff at Grace Church... one church with four campuses in the Orlando area. It's been exciting watching how God is blessing their ministry.
 
HK was happy to see them! We don't get to visit with them much, but we do get to keep up with them on facebook and instagram. Of all the pictures I took, I can't believe I didn't get a single shot of our families together. :(
 
Well, there are two things I learned while on this vacation:
 
1.  I can never take less than 500 pictures when we go on vacation. Seriously, just ask my kids. I took close to 600 on this trip. It is almost unbelievable that I was able to keep the picture count in this post at 48.
 
2.  Mike and I found out that our kids can run circles around us when it comes to theme parks. Who am I kidding? We knew that already. We decided that if we ever go back to one, we will rent wheelchairs and make them push us around.

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