Day 5- Animal Kingdom

Not surprisingly, this was Layla's faaavorite park. They offered her a job.
She has always LOVED all things animal and knows a LOT, about all different species. At one point, in the reptile house (she has always had a thing for reptiles), she named 9 different reptiles... by their skulls. That's when she got the job offer, lol.

One of the best parts of this day, was that all five kids were dressed alike! The reasons were two-fold: they looked cute AND it made them soooo easy to keep up with! Score. Maybe three-fold, because it confused the heck out of people trying to figure out who went with whom in our group, ha. Fun.



First stop, tree of life.
Notice our little creepers in the back.... dweebs.


After that, we attempted yet another show (Bug's Life) in which I had to carry both of my crying, screaming girls out. Oops. Later, we saw Nemo Live though, and they LOOOVED it! Yay!




After lunch, we did the walking Safari. It had some cool animals- personally, I LOVED the bats. I've never seen bats like this before!




The jeep safari was definitely the highlight of the day. We saw some amazing creatures upclose and personal (some a little too close... I was sure the ostrich was about to snack on my face!).



Pretty sure that this is the night that ended with the ahem, older, adults going out to dinner and then to the hot tub ALONE. While us youngins and all the kids stayed in our room and ordered pizza, lol. Can't say we blame them!

Day 4- SeaWorld

I have to finish blogging about this trip! One, because it's causing me anxiety. Two, because there is a growing list of other things I want to blog about and my OCD certainly isn't going to let that happen until this is done.

Lessons from SeaWorld:

*SeaWorld is mostly shows and very few rides (obviously), which means it works on a schedule. Keeping 15 people on a constant schedule for an entire day can be a little tricky. Our group worked best when organized, but flexible.




*There is still some debate over whether or not the meal plans at SeaWorld were worth it. Most people spent their money's worth, and it was nice just to be able to pick up drinks, etc. I, for one, would rather not even have the option of being allowed to get carrot cake AND chocolate cake.

*If you do not have room in your vehicle or hotel room for 1-4 enormous stuffed animals, DO NOT let super-star basketball players play in the arcade. They will win them.

I think I was around 10 the first time I went to SeaWorld and I left wanting to be a Marine Biologist or trainer. It had the same effect on me at 28. Oh... and I'm seriously looking into getting a sea lion for our family pet.

Day 3- Hotel Day

After two days of open to close parks, we decided to give everybody a little mid-week break and spend the day at the hotel. They had a GREAT kid pool with fun slides and waterfalls and the kids were dying to put it to use. We slept in a little bit, breakfast at IHOP, the headed to the pool.

It ended up being a little overcast that day and drizzled on us from time to time, but no one really cared. The kids were super happy, plus this was the first day they were going to get a real nap.





That evening, we had reservations at the giant ship/resturant in the middle of our hotel. So we got all fancied up for our super nice, super yummy meal. While we were waiting for our table to be ready (since we literally took up the entire back half of the ship...) we did some family photos.

My brother and his family.

My mom and step-dad with all their grand-kids.

My dad and step-mom with all their grandkids.

They were kind of over it by the time it was our turn...

Everybody!