Florida!

The week after we went to St. George Brad had to go to Texas for work.  The following week we enjoyed a normal work week.  Which brings us to last week which was spent in Florida!  Brad had to go to Florida for work and since it ended up on top of our anniversary we decided to make it a vacation.

We had to buy three plane tickets since Cade is 2 now.  Brad could get two tickets with his sky miles and then he remembered that he could transfer his Marriott Points for free.  We ended up getting all of our plane tickets for a total of $15!  We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club for a total of $0.  It was awesome!  One bedroom, kitchen, covered and enclosed balcony, swimming pools, activity center... it was great!  Our groceries were about $175 and we ate at Disney World a couple of meals for $70.  Our friend/Brad's co-worker got us in to Disney World two days for a total of $0!  So our amazing week long vacation came to a total of about $260.  Can't beat that!

We flew out on Sunday evening.  Aleah and Cade were so incredibly excited to go on the airplane!  We had a lot of fun watching other planes "blast off!" and then we had to pat our legs and raise our arms as high as we could and yell, "blast off" as our plane took off.  Aleah and Cade did great.  As expected, they did not go to sleep on the plane and so it was a very late night for all of us.

Monday morning we all slept in!  Brad went to work for a little bit while we got ready and then we excitedly went to Disney World.  Aleah and Cade rode around the park in this stylish stroller that we got to rent for free.  It was nice to have, especially when it started raining on us!

Aleah really wanted to meet Bell, Cade really wanted to meet Goofy (because he is so silly), and they both wanted to see the Little Einsteins.  I was not sure if they would get to see the Little Einsteins, but luckily they were in the first show that we went to at Hollywood Studios.  They LOVED it!

We got VIP seating for the Beauty and the Beast show.  Our friend/ Brad's co-worker's wife is Bell.  She did an amazing job!  She has a beautiful voice.  It was fun to watch her.  This show was Aleah's and Cade's favorite part of the whole day.  Cade loved it when Beast came on stage.  He got so excited and started yelling, "Mom, it's the lion, it's the lion Mom, wow!".  They both danced to the music and loved the whole show.  After the show we got to meet Bell.  Cade gave her a big hug.  Aleah was a little shy, but afterward told me how fun it was to meet Bell.

We headed over to Magic Kingdom and Cade fell asleep the second we got in the car.  So we let him have a nap and Aleah had her quiet time playing games on the iPad.

It rained off and on all day.  After dinner it didn't stop raining.  So we did all the rides that were covered.  The lines were not long at all.  We did the Carousel three times in a row.

Then we did the Tea Cups three times in a row.  I think that Aleah and Cade could have done the Carousel and the Tea Cups all night!

We hit the Buzz Lightyear ride and then headed back to the hotel because the rain was not stopping and the parade was canceled.  Plus, we were soaked and tired!

When we got in the car Aleah said, "Mom, I'm going to sleep in the car." and when I looked back a minute later, she was totally asleep!

Tuesday we stayed at the hotel and had a slower more relaxed day.  We slept in and the kids did some water painting out on the balcony.  They also enjoyed, "watching basketball" from the balcony.  The basketball courts were right below us.  I'm not sure if the people playing basketball knew that they would have an audience, but Cade would comment after every shot.  If the basket was made he would yell, "Yay!" and if the basket was missed he would yell, "Oh man!".

Then we went down to the pool.  The kids pool was awesome.  Not to deep and nice and warm!

Wednesday was kind of like Monday.  Brad worked while we got ready for the day and then we spent the rest of the day at Disney World.  As we were walking to the Flying Carpets ride we saw Ariel across the bridge.  We lifted the kids up so that they could see her because we were not about to wait in that super long line to meet her.  Cade yelled, "Hi Ariel!" and she looked over and waved and blew him a kiss.  It was awesome!

We went to go on the Pirates ride and saw Goofy standing at the entrance.  Aleah and Cade were excited to see him, but again there was a long line.  So we went to go on the ride.  The walk to the ride is in a cave looking hall and it is dimly lit.  Cade lasted about a minute and then he got scared and started pulling the the other way.  So Brad and Aleah went on the ride and both like it.  Cade and I went to meet goofy.  The line was short when we got out and Cade loved every minute that he got to spend with Goofy!  He gave Goofy a big hug and then Goofy swooped him off the ground. I thought he might get a little scared, but he was all smiles.  Then they played air guitars together.  It was cute!

It started raining and so we stayed in by the Pirates ride and ate our lunch.  Then it cleared up and we were ready to play some more.

Every time we passed the Carousel we had to ride it!

For snack time the kids really wanted so ice cream.  I don't think that I have ever seen Aleah this messy before!  She is usually a very clean eater.

After going on many rides including one of the kids' favorites, Winnie the Poo, we headed over to go on the Goofy roller coaster.  Brad and I went on this ride together before we had kids and we loved it.  We really wanted Aleah and Cade to go on a fun roller coaster.  As we were about to get in line they stopped us because it was broken and some people were stuck on it.  We raced over to the Dumbo ride so that we could beat all the people who were getting out of the Goofy roller coaster line.

After our super fun ride on Dumbo we were standing by the Goofy ride debating if we should wait around incase the reopened it or if we should go to the parade.  Just then they opened the ride!  We walked right on.  Cade was just tall enough to go in this ride.  Cade and I got to sit in the front.  As we went down the first hill I knew that he would either love it or hate it.  He LOVED it!  When the ride got over he said, "Let's do that again!" and he didn't want to get off.  We went on it again and loved it again!

Our friend Chuck took Aleah and Cade on the Tea Cups four times in a row and then on the people mover or the, "Monster ride" as Aleah calls it, while Brad and I went on Space Mountain twice with no waiting.  It was totally worth missing the parade!

We stayed for the fireworks.  It was Aleah's and Cade's first time seeing big fireworks.  The expressions on their faces and their comments of "Wow!" and "That was a big one!" were priceless.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were spent relaxing at the hotel.  We went swimming, played at the covered park, had a movie night (Winnie the Poo), went for walks on the trail and looked at the turtles and the alligator.

One morning Cade found a lizard on our screen.

I got Aleah some washable dry erase markers and a couple of workbooks.  She loved doing her workbooks and painting for her quiet time each day.

Aleah loved getting herself spinning really fast.  She knew how to get it going and how to make it stop.

Cade need help getting it spinning.  As he would spin he would say, "Dizzy, Dizzy!".

This was an interesting thing that we used as a teeter-totter.

We spent a lot of time at the pools!  Aleah and Cade are getting really comfortable in the water, it is fun to watch them.

We flew home Saturday evening.  For my Mother's Day gift Brad gave me his upgrade.  So I got to ride first class for the first time in my life.  It was wonderful!  I sat in my nice comfy chair with my noise canceling headphones on.  Read a little, watched a movie, had a nice vegetarian manicotti for dinner, and read some more.

It was such a wonderful vacation.  It is so nice that Aleah and Cade are old enough that vacations are actually a little more fun than work now!