March Break 2014 - part 1

Big changes in our lives since my last post!  More on that in another post.  Thought I'd start on the road back to blogging with a post about our Florida trip.  Since I've got a job now (big change #1), we can no longer travel during off-peak times of the year.  This meant that we could not afford to fly ANYWHERE.  What's a family to do??  Drive to Florida apparently!

Off we go!  We left Thursday March 6 just as the sun was rising.  It was a little bright for Hunter.

We stopped at Grove City, Pennsylvania to do some outlet shopping.  The boys got a slushie at 10 in the morning.  I'm a great mom.  lol

Our first night was spent in West Virginia at a Country inn and suites.  We LOVED this hotel (free cookies at the front desk - what's not to love!)

We scored a suite, which meant a living room for us to watch tv in after the boys went to bed. (it was Thursday afterall, my fav tv night!).

The best part for the boys was the pool.  It was an indoor/outdoor one.  Drew loved swimming from inside to the freezing outside.

Hunter just stayed inside.

 The boys did a bit of colouring on our way.  Don't be fooled though.  Mostly they watched movies and played on the ipads.  Not the best parenting, but it kept them happy for the trip.

We stayed at a Holiday Inn, in South Carolina our 2nd night.  We had a full suite again, but James and I were so tired that after we put the boys to bed, we barely kept our eyes open long enough to watch anything on tv! We did get a swim in, before the boys hit the hay.  We also had a yummy dinner at the Olive garden and dessert at DQ!

James finally convinced us to try Steak and Shake.  The kids loved it, I loved it at the time.  Afterwards, I felt SO sick!

We made it!  We stayed the The Grand Beach Resort in Orlando.

We really liked this resort.  We had booked a 3 bedroom, as we originally thought my parents were coming with us.  They didn't come, so we ended up with some extra space!

The living room

kitchen.  It didn't take us long to fill the place up with our junk!

Bedroom 1 with ensuite

Boys' bathroom

Bedroom 2 with ensuite

Boys' room

On Sunday morning, we woke bright and early and headed to Legoland.  Katie and Julia didn't want to go there, so we thought we'd go before they arrived later that day.  The boys adored their day there.  It's a theme park that is geared towards kids aged 2-12.  The rides were perfect for my boys and with their obsession with Lego, it was a wonderful day.

On top of the rides, there were lots of displays of lego-built items.  The boys were very impressed with this.  I think Drew was mostly impressed with the fact that adults build lego and get paid to do it!!  Future career?!?!?

Meeting the stars of the Lego movie.

Drew took a robotics course while we were there.  

His final product - a crocodile that bites your finger if you stick it in it's mouth.

We stayed at Legoland until the park closed and then headed to Hardee's for dinner.  Hardee's was gross!  Was the first (and last) time for us!!!

When we got back that night, Katie and Julia were there!

Sunrise at our resort

Monday morning we headed to the Polynesian resort at WDW for breakfast with Mickey.

Hunter was SO excited to see Mickey.

At the Polynesian character breakfast, the kids get to do a little parade around the restaurant with the characters.  When we first arrived, Hunter just wanted to watch, by the end he was up with the big kids.

After our breakfast, we rode the monorail and then spent some time at the Contemporary resort.  We've found that even just walking around the various Disney resorts is magical!

I have yearly photos of Drew and Hunter with Buzz (this is outside of one of the toy stores at downtown Disney).  The last time we were there, Buzz was gone.  I was so sad.....but look who's back!!!

On the Tuesday, we went to Typhoon lagoon (Disney water park) and had an amazing time.  James took Drew and swam with sharks, did water slides, and swam in the wave pool.  Hunter and I did a million laps of the lazy river.  He's recently decided that he doesn't need his floaties and just wants to swim underwater all the time (as a result, I've had many heart-attacks). Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos. 

Wednesday was our Magic Kingdom day.  It worked out perfectly.  There was a bit of rain on our way in and that seemed enough to keep the crowds away for the day.  We got there in time to see Mickey and friends arrive at the park by steam train and stayed until almost 10 so we could see the light parade. My body was SO sore the next day!

This photo was taken just after 3.  Hunter was EXHAUSTED, but wouldn't give up.  He did great the entire day....was so excited for everything.

This picture is out of order, but it's from the morning show when the characters arrive at the park.

Hunter wanted nothing to do with having a picture with Donald.

Nothing says Disney like a shooting range!

Trying to pull the sword from the stone.

I'll post more about the rest of our week in the next post!