Florida: Take Two

When we went on our trip to Florida with the Edvalsons in March, it was beginning to be apparent that we would need to make another trip down there for Evan's wedding sometime during the summer. Within a few weeks of returning, he and McKenzie were engaged, so after our March trip we went to Florida again in June, this time with the Stocks.

It was on this trip that we discovered the possibility of the overnight layover in Seattle. So on our stopover we got to visit many of the great-grandparents, aunts and uncles, and second cousins that we don't get to see very often. (Although Emeline is the only one who looks happy in this picture, I assure you they all had a good time together)

Once we got to Florida we met up with Hilary and Chris who came down from Maryland, and the girls were able to spend some quality time with their cousin Jack, who they also don't get to see very often.

While the March trip was all Disney, on this trip we went to see some of the non-Disney attractions in Orlando, such as SeaWorld. We all enjoyed seeing all the shows and aquariums.

And look how cool we all are watching the whales in our glasses.

Sabrina was a little timid in this slide too. She has a thing against theme park slides it seems,  but regular playground slides are fine.

Of course there are also several rides in addition to the animals. Our favorite ride there was Manta. It's a rather large rollercoaster with many twists and loops, but the thing that's different about this one is the way you sit. You get in your seat and pull the harness over your chest just like any other feet-dangling rollercoaster, but before you start, they tip you forward so you ride head first as if you're flying Superman-style, or swimming manta ray style. As you start to go down the first descent and you're already practically upside-down it seems like it's going to be really bad, but it's actually one of the smoothest, most comfortable rollercoasters we've ever been on. There's something about riding in the prone position that makes it much less stomach-dropping and neck-jarring that most. It was the only ride we kept going back to. We thought it was funny how Evan and I (Tom) are both making the same faces as each other in both of these pictures, despite making different faces from one picture to the next, and Marel looks exactly the same in both of them.

So we spent a day at SeaWorld, and the next day at Universal's Islands of Adventure. At the park entrance Celia checked to see if Sabrina was tall enough for any of the rides. Turns out she wasn't (except for the ones with no minimum height, of course).

The main purpose in going to IOA was to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was very cool. It felt immersive and authentic. We were actually somewhat glad it was rainy that day because the clouds and gloom really enhanced the mise en scène of the Hogsmeade set. It wouldn't have felt as authentic on a sunny day. While there we also got some frozen butterbeer. Everyone raves about it, and it pretty well lived up to the hype.

While we "big kids" went on some of the big rides in Harry Potter world and elsewhere in the park, Celia and Sabrina spent a most of their time in the Dr. Seuss-themed area of the park with Marel and Sue.

Of course we pretty well wore the kids out. Early in the day when they were bright and lucid they enjoyed sitting in the back of the van together.

But after dark they didn't seem to care anymore. It was also on this trip that we learned that Sabrina always puts her glasses on her forehead when she's ready to fall asleep in the car.

Though they were still awake enough for story time with Uncle Chris.

We stayed in a nice place big enough for all of us. We spent much of the time in the pool, and even had some poolside breakfasts.

Then at the end of the week came the wedding. Celia, Sabrina and Jack all rushed up to congratulate Uncle Evan and their new Aunt McKenzie.

At first the girls were pretty excited about their poofy skirts and their own little bouquets, but before long they began complaining of the heat and brightness.

And it was bright, we were all squinting pretty hard, though we did our best to keep our eyes open for the pictures.  The girls were cute, but in an "awww. put that poor girl in a swimming pool" sort of way.

At the reception later that evening (after a good afternoon of swimming at the house and taking naps) they had cotton candy, which was a big hit with the ladies. Celia even did a little dance with hers.

Then later during the couple's first dance, Sabrina must have thought they were being too mushy to watch anymore.

Everything there was pink and/or orange, including the cakes and cupcakes and most of the rest of the food.

There was also a photo booth, which was their other favorite attraction. Our family used it well more than our fair share, though it took the kids a few times to figure it out.

After a rousing celebration, we were back on an airplane early the next morning. So congrats Evan and McKenzie, albeit a few months late.  (And here's hoping we don't have to take that long airplane ride to Florida for a while now.)

Florida: Take One

Because this blog is our main archive of what happens in our family, we're going to go back in time and catch up on events this summer that didn't get blogged so that we remember years down the line...

First, we'll head back to Florida in March. We posted a few pictures back then, but will finish off for the sake of completeness. We hit all the Disney parks, as is customary for the Edvalsons. Here we are in front of the "Big Ball!" at "Epricot!"

We spent some quality time with Bruce the shark.

One night the big kids had a night out with Nana and Papa. They got their picture taken with Zurg and had giant ice cream sandwiches.

This picture is almost a parody of how the kids acted, Balo hardly standing still for a moment and acting like some type of animal or "Trainsformer" (I'm not sure that he's aware of Transformers apart from the Trainsformers videos on YouTube), Celia striking a glamorous pose, and Clara and Sabrina trying to figure out what's going on.

Sometimes we have to force the kids to do things they don't want to do, such as going down a slide.(normally she loves slides, but maybe a leaf-shaped slide is a little much?)

Sabrina often took the obligatory nap in the stroller.

The cousins enjoyed some bath time with an attempt at modesty, though I think the swimsuits all came off in the end.

Here we are at Animal Kingdom Park.

Matching outfits were worn most days.

Celia got a drivers' license on her fourth birthday. (We already posted on Celia's Princess Party, which was the highlight of her life so far)

The big kids got to ride the "Plane Train" rollercoaster. 

And while they were doing that, we attempted to get some portraits of the smaller kids. Clara is easy, she would stand still and smile, and we would end up with pictures like this:

While Sabrina wouldn't stand still or give a real smile, plus she had mac 'n cheese residue all over her face. Story of her life:

We didn't stand in line to take pictures of characters, but we took their pictures near them, so the kids are just as happy with the results.

Not much to say about this one, it's just quintessential Sabrina.

We stayed in a nice big place for all 3 families. Plenty of room for coloring and playing with trains and anything else we could come up with.

It's always a battle to get pictures in which each kid looks happy. This was the best we could do from this session.

The plane ride home was spent coloring and watching movies on the computer. Celia tends to only want to watch a movie for half an hour or so at the time on airplanes. She's mainly interested in coloring. Sabrina just tries to be as wiggly as she can, wearing us both out in the process, and if we're lucky she'll wear herself out and fall asleep before we begin our descent.