Sometimes Ya Just Need A Break

Our family is not usually about big and bold gestures. We enjoy staying home and watching movie marathons on our off time. Tomithy had been wanting to take the kids on a big vacation for several years and we finally made that a priority. I will be honest, I was kicking and screaming most of the time we were planning the trip. I didn’t see the need to spend so much money on 1 trip. I couldn’t see how it was going to benefit us in the long run to disrupt our daily lives and live away from home for 2 weeks. But as many of you know, Tomithy was TOTALLY right, as usual. Our family needed a break from the daily grind. We needed some fun and adventure. We needed to seize the day and make some amazing memories. So after several months of planning and saving, we set off on our journey.

We decided to start our vacation off by heading to Orlando, Florida. We stayed in an AMAZING hotel called The Cabana Bay Beach Resort. It was like stepping into a time machine and ended up in the 50/60’s. It was a perfect way to start the vacation, and just look at that view!

 

After looking around the Beach Resort, it was time for us to head over to the first major activity of the trip. We were going to see the Blue Man Group. We were lucky enough to get amazing seats. Right in front! Some of us were really excited about our “Poncho Seats”.

Stoney watched most of the concert through his poncho. He was so uptight and crabby about the possibility of getting paint or goo on him, that he wouldn’t come out and enjoy himself.

 

 

 

Stoney received the first painting that the Blue Men did of the show. He didn’t even want to take it from the guy because he didn’t want to get paint on him. The Blue Man wasn’t going to have it any other way. This kid was going to get this painting. And no matter what Stoney may tell you, I think he really did enjoy the show.

Our Orlando trip was packed with the Universal park visits and swimming.We all really enjoyed our Harry Potter Adventure. The kids learned to use their new wands while roaming the streets of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. Stoney’s favorite part was the Transformers ride and I really enjoyed the ET ride.  Every evening we spent time in the pool. We were lucky enough to meet these amazing kids from Scotland. The kids would play in the pool and Tomithy and I were able to get some adult conversation in with the parents. It was a great way to end every day. Plus we were able to learn some things about another country.

After spending 7 days in Universal Paradise, it was time to move our vacation to our next destination. We were heading to the beach. Gulf Shores Alabama. The kids had never seen the ocean before and we had pretty high expectations for ocean exploration and laying around doing nothing.

The kids enjoyed getting their feet wet and enjoying the sand. We had one issue we were not expecting. Stoney had a reaction to the ocean water. It burned his skin and after a couple tries, he decided it wasn’t worth playing in the water. The only thing we could figure out was that maybe the salt content of the water was too strong for his skin. But, he is a trooper and spent a lot of time playing in the sand. Building things with buckets of sand, only to destroy them moments later. Samari really enjoyed the waves and sifting through the ocean bottom for clams and shells.

We were even able to site a few different forms of ocean life while playing. One day, especially, the ocean was alive with jelly fish. We were the official Jelly Fish Spotters for the coast. When we spotted them, we informed the beach goers down from us to be careful. They were actually really cool to watch float through the water. We were even able to spot them from the pier and could see how they swam.

Our next adventure took us to an Alligator Sanctuary called Alligator Alley. Here we got the opportunity to watch gators be fed, watch them swim in the swamps, see different ages and sizes of gators, and also hold a baby gator. The kids were shocked how squishy the baby alligator actually was. They expected his skin to be harder.

While in Gulf Shores, we had the opportunity to go on a 2 hour Dolphin Cruise. It was a great experience. We spotted some dolphins, enjoyed a nice evening on the water and even did some bird spotting. The captain was a great tour guide full of information, stories and even a good pun here and there.

The best part for Stoney was being able to help the captain drive the boat.

 

 

 

 

My favorite part of the cruise was the peaceful atmosphere and all the wonderful sun set scenes we were able to enjoy. God truly is an artist with a mighty imagination. They were all so beautiful.

 

 

We visited the second longest pier on the Gulf Coast. It just happened to be in Gulf State Park. At 1,540 feet long, 20 feet wide, and boasting 2,448 feet of fishing space. It was nice walking the pier and experiencing a bunch of people fishing, or at least standing around with poles in their hands looking down at the water. It was such a beautiful day. Walking to the end really gave you an idea how big the ocean is and how tiny you are. We were able to get a picture. But as you can see, it was really windy that day.

 

 

On our way home, we stopped in Clarksville, TN to sleep for the night. We booked this hotel so the kids could have a nice big pool to enjoy and burn off some energy after being cooped up in a car for 12 hours.

 

 

 

When we got to our hotel, this is the pool that greeted us. All we could do was laugh. We had so much fun coming up with jokes about the pool. (We were so glad there was a life saving flotation device on the wall…) It was a perfect way to make a bad situation better. The kids and Tomithy had a blast in this pool. Probably more than they should have. But when you are exhausted after a 2 week vacation, sometimes the best thing to do is laugh. And boy did we.

Our last stop for our vacation took us to the small town of Metropolis, Illinois. It is a VERY small town that focuses around Superman. The kids had fun in the gift shop searching for the final souvenirs from the trip. Stoney decided on a Superman t-shirt, a Flash magnet, and a piece of kryptonite.  Samari chose a simple Superman t-shirt. It was the perfect stop to break up the final day of driving.

We made it home, refreshed and full of exciting stories. I am so glad my husband forced me to break away from my routine that I love so much and go make memories with the kids. They really needed a break from the day to day schedule. Tom needed a break from corporate life. And even I needed a break from being Suzie Homemaker. Even though we all needed the break and we all had such an amazing time, we are all happy to be back home with our animals and our beds.