This trip was two mini vacations in one. First, we visited my dad and his wife Sandy in New Smyrna Beach, Fl, then we went over to Orlando for a trip to the Disney water parks. I'm going to split the pictures from the trip into two posts, otherwise it would be too overwhelming to try and post all of these pictures. So, first up is the trip to New Smyrna Beach.
Off we go!
The trip down went really well.
Everyone was sharing and no one was fighting. It was actually a pretty easy drive.
I searched for a picture of Dad and Sandy before I left and couldn't find one. So, I made them take this one while I was there. Aren't they cute? They've recently moved to New Smyrna Beach and seem to be enjoying it. They only live a few minutes from the beach so the first day we headed straight over.
Jonathon tried to learn to skim board. I didn't have any pictures of him on the board because he was having a little trouble staying on it very long. But, I think he really enjoyed it. His face got sunburned really bad that day. It is so hard to keep his skin from burning because it is so light.
Emma Mae is not scared of anything. She wanted to go straight out where everybody else was. She got knocked down over and over and never wanted to give up and get out. Sometimes I wish she had a little more fear.
That's Madi and my Uncle Ronnie. He's my dad's brother and one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet. He's a biker, he enjoys long walks on the beach and romantic candlelit dinners...I'm just kidding about those last two, but he is available if anybody's interested.
There's dad teaching Jackson how to boogie board. He was really good at it.
Although, I'm not really sure what he needed that giant mask for. Maybe he was hoping to get a good look at the sand. Who knows, he's kookie.
There he goes. All the way to the end. Good job!!
The next day it was off to Blue Spring State Park. That place was a ton of fun. It was my favorite. We rented tubes and checked out the "boil". That is the spot where the spring bubbles up. You can actually see it bubble under the water, but you have to have a mask. Where was that mask Jackson had when we could actually use it? Anyway, the spring stays 72 degrees all year and that felt very cold to us. You can swim and tube and jump off of the little dock.
Here we are. Ready to jump.
There's the dock that I took the 4 things I love most in the world to jump off of. Can you see how clear the water is?
First, there were some ground rules. I don't really remember what they were, but it went something like this, "Make sure no one is under you when you jump and that you jump toward one of us. And absolutely no pushing."
Unfortunately, my camera was not fast enough to get any shots of the kids actually jumping. But there they are swimming toward dad. Boy, did they love that.
Except for Emma Mae. She still doesn't say whole sentences but I read, "No, thanks, I'll pass" all over her face. I did take her over to the stairs and let her get in a little.
After Blue Springs we rushed home to meet my grandma and her boyfriend Peter for dinner. We went to the pool and grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs. Peter was trying to entertain the kids by doing the whole 'Look, I can take my finger apart' trick and then had to spend 10 minutes explaining to Jackson that he really didn't cut his finger off. A great time was had by all.
The next day it was off to Blizzard Beach. (I didn't take that picture, by the way) Dad took Jonathon down that giant slide up there. They said they went 51 mph. I had no desire to head up there and do that. Jonathon, Jackson, Madi, dad and I did do that sled race to the left over there. That was pretty fun. Dad won. Then it was on to the kiddie pool. Where Sandy and I spent most of the day. And only lost Jackson once. I would say that was pretty good.
Doesn't that look refreshing?
Dad thought so, too.
I tried to snap a cute shot of Sandy with Jackson and Madi.
It ended up being a really cute shot of Sandy and Madi.
The kiddie pool was Emma Mae's favorite part.
I had a really cute video, but I accidentally deleted it.
Madi really liked the slides, too.
I tried to get a shot of them racing, but Jackson cheated.
I made them all go back up and start again. This time Jonathon won. See him in the splash, over there.
Have you ever heard of 'Where's Waldo'? If you have, try and find two of my kids in that line for the iceberg thing. If you haven't move on to the next photo, please.
Jackson did really well getting across. He actually made it all the way.
Jonathon did well, too.
Madi just crawled across without grabbing the ropes on top. That's okay, at least she got across.
They had some free floating icebergs. Emma Mae really liked those.
I always love to see sharing. (Are we sensing that Emma Mae sees what she wants and takes it? I'm realizing that and working on it, thank you very much.)
But if everyone's happy and she's not kicking and screaming, I'm not complaining.
Finally, we check into the hotel room. So nice to sit back and relax. Until this happened...To Be Continued...
