Florida/Weekend Re-cap

Thursday - We got up early to head to Indy to catch our flight. We went to Washington Dulles to connect to go to Orlando. (I thought it would be neat to see the skyline. I didn't realize we'd have to go to Washington Reagan to do that, so I was a little disappointed. Oh, and I thought Eric was bad about flying. There was this guy behind us during our first leg who was freaking out! It was actually comical. First he couldn't understand why we were even flying b/c there was ice and snow on the runway and the wheels could slip and he just knew we'd never make it up off the ground. Then when we landed in Dulles, which by the way was pretty turbulenty we sorta hit a gust of wind and you could feel it but it wasn't THAT bad and he freaked and said loudy, "What was that? Oh my gosh! etc." Everthing was fine though. By the time we got to Dulles and found our gate we only waited about 15 minutes before we boarded to depart for Orlando. Everything went smoothly and we laned in Orlando around 3 or so. We met Nanny and Pappaw at baggage claim and headed to their house. It was high 70s there. Since we had flown all day we hadn't eaten since breakfast so we stopped by Taco Bell to get a snack and it ended up being our dinner b/c we ate so much we didn't have room for dinner. I think Nanny was a little disappointed b/c she was going to fix us dinner. Anyway, we got to there place and it was nice. Saw tons of orange groves and that was neat. We kinda relaxed for a bit then decided to head to town to get dessert (Dairy Queen) and check out a few areas they wanted to show us. Headed to bed around 9:30 as we had a big day ahead of us at Disney World Friday.

Friday - Got up around 6:00 am and was out of the house by 7:00 am heading towards Disney World. We got there about 8 and it didn't open until 9. We got on the monorail though and checked a few things out and really only waited at the gate about 15 minutes before they let us in. They only let us in right past the gates so we waited there for about 15 minutes before Mickey and friends came in from Toon Town to open the park. That was neat. The kids really got excited. Once the park opened we made our lunch reservations at the Crystal Palace and headed to the Haunted Mansion. We were 2nd in line. We rode several rides in the morning and looked through some shops to see what we wanted to buy for later. Then headed to lunch where we got to meet Tiger, Pooh, Piglet and Eeore. Lunch wasn't all that exciting it was a buffet so we got a lot to eat by all means. Then we set out for more rides. At 3:00 the parade started. We had actually planned on watching part of it while standing in line for Splash Mountain, but Eric got confused on where it started so we ended up stuck on the wrong side of the parade with the ride on the other. I was glad though b/c I really enjoyed seeing the parade. According to Eric we got ALL the important rides in and almost all of the other rides in. We didn't ride in the Tea Cups or the Cars. The cars didn't appeal to me though b/c you had to follow the metal bar and couldn't even drive all over the actual course. I think we had accomplished all the rides by 4:00 so we were excited about that. We did some shopping and walked over to Toon Town (kiddie town). Thought we might get to see Mickey, but you have to stand in line to see him so we decided against it. Definitely makes you want to have kids of your own though. There were so many kids there and they got so excited about everything. We do think however it is for kids at the age of 4-5 or so b/c those were the cutest kids. They really got into it and understood things. We saw some younger kids, but some couldn't even walk, which seems dumb to me b/c even though I'm sure they were excited they probably didn't understand or would even remember it. Just my opinion though. We ended up leaving the part a little after 6. The part closed at 7:00, so we didn't get to see the fireworks, but we were both exhausted. Probably a good thing we left when we did b/c there was major traffic on the road we had to take. We stopped in the little town near where my grandparents house was and got Subway and headed home. We were ever so glad to get our shoes off and kick our feet up. It had been a high of mid 80s that say so I wasn't feeling the freshest either.

Sataurday - We slept in some but still was up around 7-ish. We all got ready and was out of the house by 8:30 and heading North to my great aunt and uncles house. It was a drive. Probably about an hour and a half. We stopped at Bob Evans and had a horrible breakfast. My french toast was just luke warm and cold bacon and well, you get the point. Not impressed at all and she didn't get a very good tip. It was cold, too. High of about 60 that day. Anyway, we went to see Nora and Clint and they took us to Homosassa Park to see Mantees and other animals. That was pretty awesome. We rode a boat back to this area where they were doing a show about manatees. I didn't realize those animals were so good. They won't hurt a thing. Very affectionate, too. Then we walked around the park and saw a hippo that was 44 years old. We missed 2 panthers attack a pelican that flew into their cage. We did get pics of them eating it though. That was cool. There were other animals, too. Bobcat, flamingos, owls, bear, otters, alligators, bald eagle, etc. etc. After we left there we headed to a late lunch and chowed down at Applebee's. After lunch we had to make our journey back south taking naps along the way. When we got home we were still stuffed from our late lunch so again Nanny didn't get to make us dinner. We did however eat some corn on the cob and fresh tomatos. Yummy.

Sunday - Our day to head home. We got up and Nanny fixed us a nice breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, waffles, fresh grapefruit and OJ. After breakfast we got ready, packed up everything in the car and headed to Winterhaven. We went to a place called Spookhill where you put your car in neutral and roll backward but it's supposed to feel like you are going forward. I was a little confused. We drove around and saw a few things. We saw the Bok Tower, which is a garden and sanctuary and plays music. We didn't get too close b/c it was $8.00 a person to get in and we didn't have a whole lot of time. After that we headed to this little place on the water to have lunch. It was good but it was cold in there, so we didn't even take off our jackets. After that we headed to the airport. It was sad leaving, but we're always ready to be home, too. When we got to the airport we were pretty early so we had plenty of time to spare. Our flight didn' t leave until 4:40. There was a flight leaving at 3:10 that we eventually found out was overbook and they were going to try to squeeze some on our plane. Come to find out our flight was already over booked so we voluntarily bumped our seats. It worked out really good for us and we'd do it again in a heartbeat. We got 1 night in the Hyatt at the airport free; Dinner, Breakfast, Lunch vouchers totally $26 for each of us; 1 free roundtrip flight anywhere in the US for each of us; and best of all our new trip back to Indy got bumped to first class, seats 1A, 1B. Looks like we have our airfare for next year already! ha ha... The only catch was that our luggage was going on the 4:40 flight and we'd have to pick it up in Indy in lost and found when we arrived. Neither one of us had ever had this happen so we weren't prepared and had nothing in our carry-on. We got a few things we needed at the hotel and did some shopping for toiletries at the airport. Ended up buying some boxers and t-shirts to sleep in, too. Had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant after we found out that we could combine all of our meal vouchers and use them as one. Unfortunately our flight left the next morning at 6:20 so we went to bed early

Monday (Today) - We got up at 4:30 this morning to catch our flight. We both didn't sleep well even though we went to bed early and probably had been up since 2-ish. The flights were fine. Had about a 2 and a 1/2 hour layover in Chicago, but I finished my book I brought along for the trip, so it worked out well. tee hee. Picked up the dogs on the way home at the kennel and collapsed when we got home. Eric had some stuff to do work-wise, but I took a nice nap on the couch.

Aaaahhhh... Glad to be home. Can't wait to sleep in our bed tonight!