FLORIDA, Baby!

On October 27, we embarked on our first major family vacation to Florida.  I'm so glad we waited until now to do it.  The kids had a so much fun and will remember it FOREVER!!!!!  Rather than write out a big, long run down of the trip, I'll just post some of my favorite pictures and caption them.  I don't know how I'm going to pick which ones to post though......I took 1,020 pictures.  Let's see how this goes.

DAY 1

The morning we left, we woke up to 2 1/2 inches of snow, and still falling.  It was hard to know how to dress the kids because we knew on the other side of our plane ride, we'd be roasting!!

Being the kids' first time on an airplane, I insisted that we be the last off the plane, in  hopes of snapping a picture with the Captain (since when are they not called pilots??).  She was so enthused to know that she had flown them on their maiden flight and was so excited to have Dylan and Landon sit in the cockpit!!!  She even put her Captain's jacket on Landon for this AWESOME photo op!!!!! 

DAY 2

First time at the beach.  They were so funny to watch and listen to as they experienced their first waves and the sensation of motion that came with it.

Don't judge me, but this was one of those moments when I, the BIGGEST cry baby in the universe, got teary as I watched my kids having the time of their lives!!

Chris and Chelsea perfectly perched up in the corner was actually not planned, but I'm glad they're in the picture too.  =)

My babies' toes

 DAY 3

Disney World!  This is one of TWO pictures that I am in the entire trip!  I won't bore you with the rest of the pictures, you just needed to know that we went.  You've probably already seen them on Facebook anyway.  =)

 DAY 4

Due to BLISTERS on my toes from Disney, we decided that we were going to take it easy and hang out at the resort on Saturday.  

Since we had such a tight schedule, and didn't plan on trick-or-treating, I dressed my little spooks up the day before Halloween, JUST so I could take pictures of them in their costumes in Florida!!

Then they washed their make-up off and we hung out at the pool for the rest of the afternoon.  Check out Chris sitting in the background.  WTH, man!!  We're in FLORIDA for cripes sake, it's a GORGEOUS 80 degrees and he's in LONG pants and a LONG sleeved shirt.  (Eyes rolling, HARD!)

Saturday evening, we got to go see Todd and Pam (Chris' brother, as if you couldn't tell.  They're practically twins!) perform at one of their local gigs!  What a treat.  They were so good!

 DAY 5

We went to the LONG AWAITED Kennedy Space Center!!!!  We chose to go on Sunday (To all of you gasping with hand over mouth and jaw on the ground, DON'T judge!!!  I'm SERIOUS, DON'T!) since the shuttle was supposed to launch the next day and we wouldn't have been able to go on Monday.  But, as pretty much expected, the launch kept getting pushed back and we didn't get to see it.  That was a pretty big disappointment for all of us.

Now, anyone who knows me and my boys (all of them, including Chris) will understand this picture!!  Dylan could NOT get his jaw off the ground when he saw this Saturn V (roman numeral for 5) Rocket!!  We are OBSESSED, to say the least, with the Apollo Space Program, that took men to the moon, at our house.  (You've seen the post on the boys' bedroom, right?!??!!)  And yes, ANOTHER teary moment for mommy.  (sheepish grin)

I really wanted to get this shot just to show how MASSIVE this rocket is.  They are standing right under those engine bells.  This little Asian couple was standing about 20 feet in front of the rocket and would NOT move until I took the picture!  Oh well, I have to chuckle now.  It's kinda funny that they're in the foreground, totally posing for me.

DAY 6 

On Monday, we went back out to Kennedy Space Center to visit the Astronaut Hall of Fame.  It was AMAZING!!  Here the kids are playing "mission control".  They sat here for almost an hour!

After the Astronaut Hall of Fame, we went to Epcot.  Honestly, it was pretty boring and not worth the money we laid down to get in.  It's changed so much since Chris and I were there last.  Oh well, live and learn.

It became the family joke that Emily traveled 3,000 miles to visit EVERY restroom in Central Florida!!  She had to pee every 5 minutes, no joke!  So I decided to take a picture. =)

DAY 7

Tuesday, we went out on some boats provided by the resort to go dolphin watching.  Unfortunately, we didn't see any, but we had fun island hoping.  THIS picture is my FAVORITE from the entire trip.  My heart be still. <3

It was another beautiful day!

That evening, we hooked up with the fam for a pizza bonanza on the pier and then headed over to the Sandbar to listen to the live band playing.

 DAY 8

Our last play day in Florida we decided to go to the beach again.  We were just ahead of a storm blowing in, but it was still a gorgeous day.

I think they forgot all about being afraid of what might be lurking in the water!

The waves got HUGE as the storm got closer.  They had so much fun playing in them.

OH MY!!!  Looky here....the second and final picture of me in Florida!!  I had to do this self portrait just to prove that I was indeed part of this trip.  =)

You can't go to Cocoa Beach and not hit up Ron Jon's Surf Shop!!

And there you have it folks.  Our 9 day vacation in Florida, in a tiny nutshell.  I didn't take any pictures the last day, which also happened to be Landon's 7th birthday, because we were busy cleaning up the condo and packing to fly home.  I was too exhausted to take pictures on the airplane.  We had the time of our lives, but were so glad to be back home in the comfort of our own beds!!!!