Visiting with Grandma and Grandpa in Florida

We arrived last Sunday for a visit with Bob and Mary, Rich's dad. It is unusual that we meet up with them in Florida, they are usually in Maine. But during the winter they head to FL where the weather is just beautiful. They made us feel so welcome from the moment we walked in the door. The thing I love most about Bob and Mary is that they are so easy to get along with and what you see is what you get. We all feel so comfortable around each other. Cameron remembered them of course but it took Morgan a day or two to warm up to them. We get to see them about once a year or so, I so wish it was more often.

We just hung out and relaxed for the week. We took the kids over to the beach one day, went shopping, took a drive to alligator alley and the boys went to a place called Imaginiarium, met all of their wonderful friends.

The kids had a great time at the beach. We absolutely love the beach and prefer to vacation where a beach is close by. The kids are like little fishes once they hit the ocean. Cameron loves to collect sea shells and play in the waves, and Morgan loves to eat the sand and spread it all over everyone. Hopefully she will soon outgrow this phase :)

A trip to alligator alley was fun as well. You basically are driving down the highway and alligators are lying on the side of the road on the banks of the canals. On the way we didn't see too many but on the way back there were quite a few. We stopped off to eat at this deli and there was an area by the side of the road that was sort of swampy and there were two alligators right by the fence. It was a little intimidating, three sides were fenced in and then there was a big open area where they could get out and roam around if wanted. That part had me a little bit hesitant, I kept thinking an alligator was just going to come lunging out of the water.

Later in the week the boys headed to a hands on muesum and the girls had a day of shopping. Cameron had a blast at the museum, everything was hands on so he had lots to keep him busy. He learned about electricity, touched some sting rays and sharks, learned about the weather, threw his fastest pitch, and many other things as well.

We had a wonderufl visit and wish we could have stayed longer. It is always nice to visit with family.

Day 3 Hollywood Studios

Two days at Magic Kingdom was plenty and so we headed over to a different park. We decided to do Hollywood Studios. This was pretty cool, it was all about the movies and how they were made, sort of behind the scenes. There was a little bit of everything here. The kids experienced their first 3D film, "the muppets in 3D", and then we soon came across "star tours" and Cameron was soon in heaven.

If you already don't know Cameron is obsessed with Star Wars and becoming a Jedi. He literally breathes Star Wars, there isn't a moment that goes by that he isn't talking about one of the movies, or characters. There was a Jedi training buy a Padawan, and Darth Vader and his Storm Troopers were there as well. Cameron was not chosen to be a Jedi in training, but he still had a blast watching them. And to see his face when Darth Vader walked out was priceless, I wish I got a shot of it. This made his whole trip.

The next highlight was seeing Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. We rode several rides, and Rich and I rode on the Aerosmith Roller Coaster which was way cool, Cameron wasn't tall enough for this rife.

In the evening they had "dancing lights" all the builidings were lit up with christmats lights and they would go on and off with the beat of the music, Morgan got a kick out of this.

These are just some random pics throughout the day. Enjoy

Day 2 at the Magic Kingdom

Well day 2 was a lot like day 1 we got there when the park opened and we left when the park closed, calling for a very long day. But again the kids did great and not alot of fussing. Today we hit Toon Town and Tomorrow Land. Cameron couldn't wait to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse. He kept asking me why they weren't married and if they were ever going to be married so they could live together.





He was also very excited to see Buzz Lightyear. He was hoping to see Woody as well but he was at Hollywood Studios.





Again during the day we buzzed around to see characters and then later in the evening we would ride all the rides. After visiting some of the characters we headed over to Goofy's boat and played in some water and cooled down for a bit.

























Cameron was finally tall enough this time to ride Space Mountain, so him and Rich waited in line for a full hour at least and Cameron got to ride in the first cart all by himself and definitely thought he was something else. We also rode the cool Buzz Lightyear ride and Morgan didn't mind this one too much. We got to see the spectacular light parade at night which was pretty cool, all the characters were in this as well.

























By the end of the night the kids were pretty much done, and couldn't wait to get back to the hotel for a good nights rest and to get ready for the next day of fun, we are going to Hollywood Studios, to meet up with the rest of the characters....

By the end of the night the kids were pretty warn out and ready to go back to the hotel for a good nights rest.

Day 1 at the Magic Kingdom

On Thursday we got up and headed over to the Magic Kingdom, Cameron was very excited and could hardly wait to see all the characters. Once we arrived inside the Magic Kingdom there was Daisy Duck and Chip N Dale. Morgan had her picture taken with Daisy and Cameron did Chip N Dale

Soon after meeting these characters we found Snow White and Pinocchio. Morgan took right to the characters. When Cameron was her age and his first trip to Disneyland he was terrified of them and we would actually have to leave and make sure there was not a character insight. When he turned 3 he started to settle down, now you can't peel him away from them.

I felt like we were racing from area to area to find the characters. During the day we didn't get a chance to ride many of the rides due to the very very long lines, some of the wait times were 2 hours, but we were able to get a few fast passes and hit the fun rides.

After meeting a few of the characters we watched one of the shows which featured Peter Pan and Captain Hook and Cameron couldn't wait to find them and have his picture with them. After scouting things out we finally found them.

We were able to catch the parade the first day which the kids loved because all the characters are in it. After the parade we headed back to the hotel for a little nap and some dinner, and then it was soon back to the Magic Kingdom. When we came back at night we rode rides and watched the fireworks. Cameron was really into the rides this time. His favorite that night was the cars, that he and dad ride together. He thinks it is pretty cool that he gets to steer the car.

Morgan got to ride her first ride which were the Tea Cups and she was not a fan of the ride, or any ride for that matter. She just assume run around while Cameron went on all the rides. Cameron actually got pretty lucky and got to go on each ride twice, he would go with Rich and then with me.
The first night we pretty much shut down the park and got back to the hotel really late. The kids were exhausted and went right to sleep, I am sure they were having wonderful dreams about what was going to happen on day 2 in the Magic Kingdom...