10 posts tagged “vacation”
In our lingering to get home, we had to stop at South of the Border!
I neglected to post this picture, taken by Mrs. Karen, on the Friday that I was actually doing business - attending the school supply trade show. Karen took the kids to this Pioneer Enrichment Center. It was a mile or so from our house, and so cool! The kids visited a one-room schoolhouse, saw pioneer Florida farm life, visited the orange grove, and got to pick their own oranges! They really had a great time, and it was a very educational experience for them, since in Maryland, it's all about visiting apple and peach groves, corn fields, and strawberry fields.
We began our trip home on Monday. We took our time, stopping in Daytona, which is not a kid's beach!
No longer is it MGM! It's Hollywood Studios! I took LOTS of pictures of memorabilia, but not many of people...
Finally finishing the blogging for Florida, nearly two weeks later! My, how time flies. On Wednesday, we went to the Magic Kingdom...
A fabulous and magical day, complete with our own Mickey. Blair was thrilled to dress as Mickey, and we heard lots of side comments about how cute he looked. The girls hung out together a good bit, sharing turns on rides. At one point, all the big kids were riding the big water roller coaster, and we saw Woody and Jessie! Katie begged Becky to go see them and get pictures, and we obliged.
We had a huge group of kids again - ten plus Abri. Pirates of the Caribbean was a huge hit, and we took time to get a shot of the Moms, although I was behind the camera. Once again, Amy LOVED the thrill rides!
So out of 17 people, 14 of us have had the 24-hour flu bug thing. Amazingly, we made it to Epcot yesterday, minus one mom and one boy. Not too bad. We had a few sour tummies here and there, but for as big a group as we had, it was miraculous. We rode everything. The crowds were nearly nothing. The kids had a blast, and we did too!
We visited with the stars, of course! Minnie was laughing because Rachel brought her Japanese Album Moleskine for autographs, and it fell open, spilling pages everywhere! Minnie loved it, though.
We also met some villains...
Today, the kids are relaxing and resting for the Magic Kingdom tomorrow. Yay! We visited the Clubhouse pool this morning, and the kids hit the hot tub. Katie's been spending a lot of time reading the Disney tour books, giving us tips and hints along the way. Great gal, she is!
We arrived on Tuesday, and have had a great time since. We have quite a crew... a dozen kids, three moms, one mom who works for the store but whose kids are grown, and one dad (Chris!). Whew.
Here are part of us on our drive down:
Chris and Emilee drove down on their own, and the other woman flew down on Saturday evening. We've visited Downtown Disney (Rainforest Cafe), Universal's CityWalk (Bubba Gump's), and a few other sites around the town.
We also have a bunch of electronics in our rental house: Wii, Playstation 2, GameCube, a bunch of Nintendo DS units, several iPods, and a handful of DVD players. That's a lot of juice!
A highlight on Thursday was taking Rachel, Katie, and their friend Alyssa to the Emeril's restaurant at Universal's CityWalk. We loved it! It was fine dining... napkins placed in the laps, servers escorting them to the restroom hall, and an extra special description of what makes a souffle, and a lovely presentation. We had three different entrees, which we shared all around. They were all delicious!
Today we drove to Clearwater Beach, which was lovely. Smooth water, beautiful skies, fun-loving kids playing in the sand. Chris did some sand sculpting, but eventually we cut our trip short, as we had a couple of folks with sour tummies.
Here's what's happening tonight, unfortunately:
I've had the chance to join in two "yarn crawls," where a bunch of Ravelry folks get together and traipse from store to store, seeking to lighten their pocketbook and fill up the stash. The first week, we hit three yarn stores, and I appreciated touching and drooling over many yarns that I had read about but hadn't seen in person.
This Sunday, we hit two fiber farms in rural Maryland, Kiparoo Farm Studio, and Dancing Leaf Farm. What fun! At Kiparoo, I was very well-behaved and didn't get any yarn at all! I did, however, purchase a gorgeous hand-dyed slip - in marigold and purple. Very chic, even on me, and just for special occasions. At Dancing Leaf, I invested in a lovely wrap to keep my warm while working on my computer. It's sort of like a blanket with a slit in it, so the back (seen in the photo) hangs down, and two panels can come over your shoulders and hang on your left and right front. Clear as mud? The yarn is a ultra-soft organic Peruvian cotton, and I could take a bath in it and be quite happy. I can't wait to get this knit.
I've also spent time with the girls... reading, catching up on TV and movies that had been DVRd since forever, knitting and spinning, and cooking. I've had a chance to catch coffee with a couple of friends, and have playdates for the girls. We've joined in a YMCA fitness class, three times a week, and that includes swimming, which they love!
This past Saturday, we visited with some of the God Journey folks from the VA, MD, DC, PA area. Nearly 70 people crammed into a huge house down in Virginia - quite a crowd! We heard from Wayne & Sara Jacobsen, Brad Cummings (podcast partner for Wayne on the God Journey), and W. Paul Young, author of The Shack. We also met several families we had not known before, so we're looking forward to future gatherings.
This weekend, I'll head to New York for International Toy Fair. It's a fabulously fun perk of my job!!! We're staying right on Times Square, and will have a grand time eating out at wonderful restaurants, walking around the Square, and seeing all sorts of new and exciting products at Toy Fair! We head home on Tuesday for a week, and then it's off to sunny Orlando for NSSEA. This time, we're taking all the kids, and have a rental house for nearly two weeks! Chris is going to come down for a bit of the time, and it should be a grand vacation combined with work time. I can hardly wait... I'm ready for warm weather!
The weather wasn't the most cooperative at first. Tropical Storm Andrea stood just off of the coast, threatening, but not worsening. It made the surf much too rough for anything more than wading, and that was after two full days of a "don't get in the water at all" advisory! The water was cold, as expected at this time of year, but with outside temps in the high 50's... well, not very beachy, to say the least. So we visited Norfolk, with its lovely harbor and Naval ships. We swam in the hotel pool. We walked and explored and enjoyed being somewhere other than home.
The kids (nine in total!) got along very well for the most part, and it was so exciting to see them playing in the sand and surf for hours, all ages mixing and laughing and helping each other in whatever project they were doing at the time.
By Thursday, the weather was nice enough to play in the sand for the day, although the kids still couldn't go much past their knees without really being knocked around by the waves. Boy, did they play!!! For several hours, they all dug and built and wrote in the sand.
Friday, it was a repeat, but the weather was gorgeous!!! It was a perfect day... cold water (so no wave jumping, really), but safe enough to boogie board and spend a long, long time in the surf. When they tired of the water, they began to build a big hole, which then got deeper and deeper... and another hole began... and they decided to connect the two. It became an exploration of engineering, as they realized that the pitch of the horizontal tunnels weren't matching up. They needed to manipulate the holes up/down to make them connect. They did it! As you can see, the holes were deep enough to hide small children! What a blast they had.
We're home for two days, while C is at his 20-year college reunion. On Monday, we head to Lancaster, PA for five quick visits: Wilbur Chocolate Candy Museum, Art of the Brick (LEGO) at the Lancaster Museum of Art, Intercourse Pretzel Factory,
Intercourse Canning Company, and Herr's Chips. It should be a fun, short trip - just one night, but we're staying at Willow Valley, which has a really cool indoor pool with a slide, fountains, and other fun stuff for the kids to enjoy on Monday evening.
What was the highlight of your summer?
Probably this week! We're in Williamsburg, VA, for a week's vacation. It's our first cash-paid vacation, and we got a fabulous homeschool week deal with admission to the museums and historical buildings... $25 each person, for the week. Terrific deal, and some neat extra programs that are just for homeschoolers, like a way-cool pair of storytellers on the back porch of one of the homes the other morning).
Everyone's loving it, we're learning a lot, taking tons of wonderful pictures, and eating some neat food. We're doing a lot of cheap meals in the condo (great deal there... $200/week) and then having a nice meal out every so often.
