My Super-awesome Florida vacation: Part 2

Item #2 on the agenda for the weekend (after Harry Potter world) was Disney of course! We only had Saturday and Tuesday to do the Disney Parks, so we hit Epcot and Magic Kingdom on Saturday, and Animal Kingdom on Tuesday. (Hollywood Studios will have to wait til next time, we didn't make it there...oh well.)

We started off bright and early at Epcot. We went straight to Soarin over California, which I thought was funny that they had that ride in Epcot in Florida. But I do love that ride, so it was great. And we had a funny middle-aged lady right next to us who you could tell it was her first time on the ride and she was hooting and hollering almost as good as the Chinese grandma we had once on our row in CA.

We went on few rides. The Finding Nemo ride was pretty cute and they had an aquarium just outside the ride with dolphins, huge stingrays, and manatees.

We went to the World Showcase around lunchtime and had a sampling of deliciousness from several of the different countries. We had fish n chips in Britain. (Although a seagull snatched half of Caron's fish right out of her hand!)

We had crepes in France.

I wore this silly hat in Arabia or whatever it was...

And we had nachos in Mexico. And we ate them while listening to a mariachi band. There were also some really cool drummers in Japan. And they were women. I also saw a little girl dressed as Mulan and it was the cutest thing.

Then after lunch we hit Magic Kingdom. Oh how I love that place!

We did all the classic rides. Except Splash Mountain. We didn't want to get wet because then we would be cold. I love that they still have the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse in Disney World!

I also loved that they had Gaston's Tavern. My only regret was that I didn't get a cinnamon roll there and some LeFou's Brew. Next time!

I loved the floating lanterns near Rapunzel's Tower.

And of course the fireworks! We ran from the fireworks to the new ride, Snow White's Mine Train so that we wouldn't have to wait in a 2 hour line. Disney World was pretty crowded, so we did spend a lot of time waiting in lines. But we got to do pretty much everything we wanted so it was ok.

We stayed at Magic Kingdom til about 11:30 and walked about 12 miles that day!

On Tuesday we hit Animal Kingdom, and saw Dug and Russell! I was a dork and made Caron wait in line with me to get a picture with them. I just have a special place in my heart for Russell ever since Zach was born. :)

They also had this really cute Wilderness Explorer program all over the park where you could earn badges and stuff by doing different activities throughout the park.

The main ride, Everest, was pretty darn cool. The roller coaster even went backwards for part of the ride...something I totally was not expecting! But so fun!

We also saw the pretty awesome Lion King show.

And the safari where we saw tons of animals.

Check out that African cow with the huge horns!

And the kimodo dragon!

They had this awesome "Tree of Life" with all these animals carved into it.

It was pretty cool. We also made sure to get a Dole Whip, and the best part is that the African band was playing "Waka waka" while we were eating our Dole Whips. Perfect!

I just loved Disney World! And then Tuesday evening, Caron's work stuff started and I drove up to Jacksonville to meet up with Matt. It really was such a great vacation and a REALLY wonderful break!!!

My super-awesome Florida vacation: Part 1

I have been DYING to go to Harry Potter World for awhile now. Since Matt's been working in Florida one week a month and I needed to go check out Jacksonville, I was not going to let that happen without a trip to Orlando. So it worked out just perfectly that one of my best friends, Caron, was going to be in Orlando for a work conference the same week Matt had to be in Jacksonville. And she wanted to go a few days early to play, so it worked out great that I met up with Caron in Orlando before heading to Jacksonville when her work stuff started.

Caron and I used to travel all the time together and so it was SO FUN to be reunited with my travel buddy. And Harry Potter world was awesome! I loved it so much!

We had dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. It was delicious! I had some sort of sausage on a bun thing and pumpkin juice.

We also had lunch at the Three Broomsticks and my vote was that the Leaky Cauldron was way better than the Three Broomsticks. But they both had great ambiance.

Getting onto Platform 9 3/4 in London by running through the brick wall.

The Hogwarts Express!

We made it to Hogsmeade!

All the shops were so awesome. Here was the candy shop. I really wanted to buy a chocolate frog, but couldn't bring myself to pay $11 for it. So I took a picture instead.

It rained for about 30 minutes that day. Luckily for most of the time it was raining, we were on the Hogwarts Castle ride, which was indoors. It was so cool. I loved all the details!

And of course we had to try some Butterbeer! It was slightly on the chilly side so I got a warm Butterbeer and I loved it.

We went to Ollivanders to get our wands! Really, to play with some wands because they were really expensive. But they had these "interactive wands" that you could go to different points around Diagon Alley and Hogmeade and wave your wand and stuff would happen. Like a fountain would turn on or a plant would grow or whatever. So cool!

Like these knitting needles that knitted by themselves.

Stopped at the owlrey.

This mirror was pretty awesome. If you stood in front of it, it would say stuff about your outfit. Ha!

This was the entrance to Diagon Alley. You had to walk through this brick wall.

And of course we had to check out the Knight Bus.

At the end of Diagon Alley was Gringotts, it was pretty impressive and the ride inside was so cool! I did get sick on the dragon roller coaster after we walked on to it twice in a row. It really was amazing how not crowded it was. We walked onto almost every ride.

The Weasley's joke shop was so fun!

I just loved Harry Potter world so so much.

We went to Downtown Disney one of the days and they had this really awesome Lego store.

Also at Universal, they had tons of other rides and shows and stuff. We didn't get to see everything because we spent most of the day in the Harry Potter section, and I opted out of the Hulk roller coaster after getting sick on the other one. Dr. Seuss land was lovely.

And so was the comic book land.

On Sunday we went to church, had a picnic at the temple, relaxed, and went to Downtown Disney and the Disney boardwalk. The rental car they gave me was absolutely ridiculous. It was a Nissan Cube and it was awkward and weird. I told Caron to just look for the box on wheels when I picked her up the first night. Ha!

Seriously, this vacation was so awesome. It was SO nice not to have to take care of anyone for 4 days. And Caron and I pretty much wanted to do/eat the same things 98% of the time so it was great. And I didn't have to hear any whining or complaining about everything I did. Oh it was wonderful!

Thanks to Caron for inviting me and thanks to everyone who helped out with the kids to make this possible.

Jacksonville

So, Matt's company is moving to Jacksonville, Florida sometime this year. It's been a roller coaster of a year trying to decide if we're going or not. In the meantime, Matt has had to go to Florida about once a month. This time, I made it work so I could go too!

I only spent 2 days in Jacksonville, but that was really enough to look around at the areas we are considering living. Of course it rained the entire 2 days I was in Jacksonville, but oh well!

We did manage to make it to the beach one evening.

And we had the BEST dinner at the Beachside Seafood Restaurant in Jacksonville beach. I had fish tacos with fish that was just brought in that morning. Matt had shrimp & chips. They were both delicious! And I had forgotten how much I love hush puppies. Good thing we had some with every meal for those 2 days. :)

And then, for dessert we had this AMAZING chocolate covered key lime pie. Seriously, it was SO GOOD. I was really tempted to order another one it was so good.

While Matt was at work one day, I asked one of the ladies from the ward out there if she could show me around. She did and it was so great! I'm so thankful that I have that connection. She also arranged for a lunch with some of the other ladies from the ward. It was pretty fun, and SO nice of her to do that.

I still don't know if we're going to move there, but at least now I know what to expect!

Mischief

Zach has been getting into more mischief lately. He has learned how to turn on the sink. So he goes in there and "brushes his teeth" several times a day and gets water everywhere! He has also learned to open doors. Even the ones to outside. One time when I was going to a meeting, he came running out of the garage after me in his bare feet!

He also loves to open the fridge. And leave it open. And take everything out of the cupboards. And put everything from my bathroom drawer into the laundry basket.

Oh and he loves to open and close doors and cupboards. Especially at church. What a stinker!

He and Emmy decided to "help" me do my yoga one morning.

It reminded me why I choose to get up early to exercise before they wake up.

But I do love these little sillies.

My Emmy Girl

Emmy is such a sweet, sensitive girl with an amazing memory and attention to detail. Sometimes it really drives me nuts, but she has been showing the more positive sides of these traits lately and I love it.

When we told Emmy that Uncle Kyle was going to Rexburg to go to school, she broke down in tears and said, "I don't want him to go away again!" She sure loves her Uncle Kyle. Then she insisted on calling him on the phone to make sure he was ok and that he wasn't leaving forever.

She also love, love, LOVES her cousin Rivers. Anytime she gets to play with him is the best day ever!

It was her turn to take the preschool class pet home last week. She loved having Daisy the Dog at our house and took very good care of her all week.

Just eating some brocoli in her swimsuit. With 5 headbands in her hair.

This is when she was reading books to Zach. It was so cute.

Playing dress-ups with some friends.

And here she is taking care of all her "children".  She wanted to give that black bear on the left to Zach because "he doesn't have any stuffed animals and this bear will make him happy." I almost cried. It was so nice and thoughtful and cute. And every time Zach was sad she would bring him that bear.

I love my sweet Emmy girl!

2015 New Year's Resolutions

1. Figure out where we are going to live, move, and get settled there. I am tired of living in limbo. But I also want to make sure we make the right decision, and we just haven't felt like the right option has come up yet.

2. Figure out how to rejuvenate myself. I feel like I am running on empty. I am exhausted in every way. I exercise pretty consistently and eat fairly healthy, but I am still so tired all the time and have no physical or mental energy. I need to figure out how to get some energy back!

3. Rekindle my efforts to be social. I am so lonely. I need people to talk to and do things with. And I am going to have to be the one to initiate that because it's not happening.

4. Spend less time wasting time on my phone/computer. I'm going to find an app that puts a limit on my phone use and stick to it. Also, try to make sure my online time is actually productive and not get sucked in.

5. Have regular date nights. We have been really bad at this since Zach was born, but it needs to start happening again.

6. Help Emily to make friends. This girl needs friends and things to do. She is so bored and she won't ever play by herself or with Zach and I cannot entertain her by myself day in and day out. I'm going to have to branch out of our neighborhood because there are not many kids her age here.

7. Not get so mad and frustrated with the kids. I want to learn how to enjoy them more and not be so frustrated with them all the time.

8. Organize and dejunk our house before we move.