Fun in Orlando

Well, Sarah and I have been hitched for 9 years now and we thought it time to celebrate.  Ya, we know, most wait till their 10 year anniversary to celebrate, but we came across a great deal on tickets, a hotel and a car rental so we just could not turn it down.  We left on the 26th, Friday, and returned just last Monday.  It was four fabulous days and three great nights.

Day One:
We arrived in Orlando without much of an issue.  Our plane was a little slow, but we still enjoyed the ride.  Of course much of the time we talked about our kids and how things were going to go with grandma and grandpa at home (actually, things went great - Thanks Boyd and Stephanie!!!).

Once we arrived, we got our car and were ready to check out the town.  After getting something to eat, we started down Universal Blvd.  This was a fun place, but led us to the infamous I-Drive (International Drive).  By happenstance, we passed an "Official Visitor's Center" sign and followed it.  We wanted to get out and stretch our legs and the nice man there pointed us toward Downtown Disney, not more than a few miles away.  Here are some pics:

There were a lot of neat stores there, but we spent the most time at the LegoLand.  Here is a nice display.

Here Sarah is dreaming about her mansions on high.

This was probably the greatest thing we saw (at least for our kids).  Its make your own lightsaber.  We have not told Ethan or Eli about this yet and am not sure if we really want to.  How many "When are we going to Orlando?"'s can a parent take before you really have to take them.  Definitely, if our kids saw this, they'd freak.  Yet, tomorrow if photo show day and I'm sure we'll show them.

After stretching our legs, we visited one of the most beautiful places Orlando has to offer.

It was fun being in a large temple again.  Its been a long time since I've sat in a chapel before a session.  We even ran into a member of the temple president who gave us a tour of the building.  It was neat to see.

After the temple, we came home and called it a day.  One of the things about this trip that made us the happiest is that we slept in every day (we'll at least till a little after 7) and we did not get disturbed during any of our nights with a "Daddy" or a "Mommy" from Ande.  That in itself almost made the entire trip.  

Day Two:

The next day was time for Sea World.  We were going the first day that they opened the Shamu show after the tragic death.  It was a bit cold, a little rainy and - the best part - no one was there.  The people at the front told us that we should to go the costers first as they are most likely to close when bad weather hit.  We rode on two of the rollercoasters and both were absolutely great.  A few years ago I made up a story about work to get out of going to a theme park with my brothers in law.  I don't know what I was thinking, as I realized after this trip that I enjoy the rush from flying 70 mph and dropping 150 ft.  We were able to get into all of the shows without being there more than 5 minutes early, we rode on every ride and saw everything there is to see at the park and all by 4:00 pm.  There were not lines and not many people, so if you can deal with the rain belting you in the face at 65mph, it was a great day.  Sarah's favorite show was the dolphin show (I have to admit, it was pretty incredible) but I go for the humor found at the Clive (walrus) show.  

This was my favorite - he's holding a holy mackerel :)

That night we ate at the best BBQ join ever.  We ordered a full rack of ribs and I forced Sarah to eat with her hands.  They were to die for...

Day Three: The best day!

Today we went to Busch Gardens.  It was a little over an hour drive, but well worth it.  We did debate not going since it was a drive, but after going I think that would have been a very bad mistake.  We started the whole day with a extra-fee safari.  Sarah has always wanted to go to Kenya and go on a safari, and this was just about that trip.  The only thing was that we were much closer to home.  About 5 minutes into a the drive (us riding on the open back of a truck), we stopped and were able to feed the giraffes.

Well, when the day starts off this good it is pretty hard to go on.  We did enjoy the rest of the day.  We rode all the rides but one, visited all the different areas, saw some really cool animals, enjoyed a great African culture show and topped the night off with pizza and a little Italian joint.  Overall, one of the best days of Sarah's life.  I think the itch for Kenya is out of her system for a little while.

Day Four:
Its time to wind down.  We slept in as long as we could on this day (7:30), then casually got up and ate breakfast.  It was the warmest day and the sun was brightly shining.  We read by the pool and basked in the warm and sun that we will not see here in MN till late May.  After that we felt like we probably should get out and do something, so we did.  We drove I-Drive and explored some of the shops, had a great lunch and then started towards the airport.  The rest is history.

So, a great trip.  I really enjoyed it because it gave me a chance  to stop thinking about my kids and to think even more about the most wonderful person that I am married to.  It was amazing to rekindle the flames and to see the sparkles in our eyes.  Even better, now a week later, those sparkles are still there.