Ok, so maybe February is a little late for most to be saying Happy New Year, but not for our family. To us our “new year” kind of starts following our vacation. Our January vacation is our chance to get away to warmer weather and sunshine, to renew and refresh our minds and bodies so that we can return ready to take on life again, until the next January. We have found over the course of our marriage that we need this time and it can’t be done in under two weeks. The first week is spent unwinding and the second begins to draw our thoughts back to things of home including church, small group, house projects, work, homeschooling, etc. By the end of week two we are all missing home and eager to get back to “normal”.
Taking our travel trailer is the only affordable way for our ever growing family to spend two weeks, every year, at our favorite vacation spot, Walt Disney World.
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground has come to be our family’s favorite resort. With a large swimming pool, waterslide, baby pool, kid’s splash pad, and hot tub (Joe and I were able to enjoy this on a couple evenings:)) we spent a couple days just enjoying the water and sunshine. Every evening the resort offers a singalong with Chip and Dale around the campfire followed by a Disney movie on the big screen. The kids enjoyed watching some old favorites under the stars. We enjoyed watching the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom from the Fort Wilderness beach, just walking distance from our campsite. Traveling to the various parks was simple on the in-house Disney transportations system using the buses, boats, and monorail.
Ok, so I’m beginning to sound like I’m reading a sales pitch straight from Disney’s marketing department…but that’s how it was for us. Warm weather, cool evenings, peaceful days, and restful nights. That’s what we needed.
So on to what blog readers enjoy most…pictures!!!
The kids with Dale at the Chip-n-Dale singalong.
Little Ireland hanging out at the pool (strategically shaded by a pool chair and her adorable Minnie Mouse hat).
Mickey’s Philharmagic show in the Magic Kingdom
Jackson “helping out” at a street show in Epcot
Feeding the stingrays at Sea World
Shark exhibit in Sea World…this shark is perfectly placed BEHIND the glass!
Tea Cups, thank you honey for taking one for the team and riding this every year with the kids!
Feeding the Sea Lions…
You’ve got to admit they’re cute!
We went into Orlando a couple of nights to try out some local favorites. Hot N Juicy Crawfish was a new one for us…we like to try different things:)
Although very apprehensive at first, the kids really enjoyed the experience.
We made a couple trips over to Downtown Disney stopping of course to take pictures at their Lego Store. These creations were made entirely out of Legos!
And this one too.
The kids always like to try on various hats found in the shops all over the parks.
Definitely too big:)
We finished the trip off spending our last day in Downtown Disney. I throw this picture in because we saw the Dugger Family (America’s most famous large family) surrounding this Lego family for a picture. Sydney happened to be waiting to take a picture of the Lego family on her camera when she had given up due to the large group surrounding the family. I quickly realized who they were but we never did get a picture with them in it.
So we are now home and life is back to, well, what it should be. The weather is cold, like it should be. Joe is back to work, like he should be. We started back to homeschooling, like we should be. That’s the way…..it should be.
