Weds. Florida

 Wednesday was our day of "rest" and I kept it a bit more slow on purpose. I knew the next three days would be crazy busy, so I wanted a day at a more relaxed pace. The girls and I took Brandon over to the Convention Center and then went to the outlet malls. They were thrilled. Okay, I lie. They lasted for a bit with good attitudes, but towards the end they were whiny. We didn't have much success, either, so that was a bummer. But it was nice walking around outside.

After lunch we rested and then took the girls swimming.

Again, we weren't out there long before it started raining.

This time the girls had lots of fun because they enjoyed playing with A. Peg, U. Danny and daddy!

I am pretty sure I just read my book. :)

This was one of the pools. 

 I  have a thing for palm trees. I love them because they represent someplace warm and green. I don't see too many of those in Nebraska. :)

 See the rain hitting the pool water?

 After the rain was a beautiful rainbow. I loved it.

After swimming, we headed back to the condo for showers, and we got ready for the arrival of mom and dad. I made dinner while P/D drove to the airport to pick them up.

Now the real fun could begin. :)

And a side note, that night I got my first taste of "Duck Dynasty" thanks to Danny. 

Below are a few more pictures of the hotel complex and rainbow just because I thought they were pretty. This is the view from our room. 

Tuesday in Florida

 We hit the ground running on Tuesday morning. Brandon worked from the hotel in the morning and had the show in the afternoon. So the rest of us headed to Hollywood. Disney Hollywood that is.

I had been told by friends that we would enjoy it here, but I was still a bit unsure if we had enough there to fill our day. (You see, we haven't had a lot of "Disney" in our home, so I felt like the girls wouldn't connect with much) We followed my book, "The Unofficial Disney Guide" (on my Nook) for recommendations on how to make the most of our day there. It came in handy, and we only laughed a couple of times of what it recommended. 

 Above is the set from where we watched Disney Jr. The girls enjoyed it some, but since we don't have cable, they didn't know the characters all that well.

From there we went to see Beauty and the Beast on stage. I had been told that this was wonderful, and we weren't disappointed. I loved seeing this live with Peg since we had watched the movie together MANY times.

We got there early enough to get great seats.

 Maisie found an area with hula hoops. And boy is she good.

 Walking along the street, one of the directors, Vladimir Pooey, started talking with Maisie like she was a super star. As you can tell by Peg's face, it was really funny. He ended his act by giving each girl her own necklace.

  We hung out for a bit in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play area. Again, they had no idea what the theme meant, and Analise asked me what the slide was; she didn't know film.

 We went to the "Lights, Motors, Action" stunt show. I was concerned the girls may get scared with the loud sounds, but they didn't. In fact, we all loved it! I just wished Brandon could have been there.

 See the stuntman?

 The girls were excited to see Lightning McQueen

 We had a fast pass for the favorite ride of all four Disney Parks. My only regret for the day - not riding this ride more than once. Toy Story Mania was more fun than I can describe. All six of us had SO much fun!

 Peg and Analise with their glasses and "guns" to shoot the targets throughout the ride.

 We quickly introduced the girls to the Muppets, and then we saw a 3D Muppet show.

 We caught a bit of the Pixar Parade. Mike is one of my faves.

 The girls with Mickey

 The girls weren't all that impressed to meet The Incredibles since they hadn't seen the movie to know who they were.

 The question of the day from Danny, "Has anyone seen the big, blue hat?"

 We spent enough time at the park to have a GREAT time and do what we wanted. We picked up Brandon and ate supper at Giordano's. Super yum!

 And before bed, the girls played a game of Sorry with the Sorry queen - Aunt Peg.

I was so thankful for our day. We  had nice weather, we were able to fill our day with fun things, and we never had to wait long wherever we went. A special memory with Aunt Peg and Uncle Danny.

Florida (Finally!)

As we just had two snow days at home in the middle of February, I can't help but think back to warm and sunny Florida. And the girls still talk about it all the time. So here we go - the attempt at getting caught up on our trip back in December. 

Brandon had his John Deere show in Orlando. We knew a long time ago that Orlando was the location, and we just knew this was the time to take the girls. They were old enough to walk and remember. 

Brandon's work got a super deal at a wonderful hotel complex. We invited mom/dad and Peg and Danny to join us. And we ended up with a trip of a lifetime.

Brandon was gone the week before we left. I just planned my week and packed accordingly. Analise fell off the monkey bars at school and landed on her back. That lead to two visits to the chiropractor and dealing with some tummy issues. Add worry to those tummy issues, and we had many talks about why God tells us not to worry. Anyway...

We drove to Omaha on Sunday morning for our early afternoon flight. The first picture is us at the airport with just a few bags. :) We checked a couple and then gate checked rest of the luggage. Free at that point. :)

Analise and Maisie had flown before, but they were so young they didn't remember any of it. They were so excited! Since the seats were four across, these two sat together, Sadie sat with me, and Brandon was in front of Maisie.

We had a layover in Atlanta, and our flight got delayed. We arrived on Orlando 45 minutes later then planned. We took a shuttle over to the rental car. And we learned why we got the van rental so cheap. We waited forever, in the dark, late and with hungry girls. Thankfully they did well for the most part. We then had to find someplace to eat dinner at 9:30. KFC was the only good option. By then I just wanted to be in my own bed at home. But I knew things would just get better.

Monday morning we got up, ate at Dunkin Donuts and headed to Walmart to buy groceries for the week.

We then took Brandon to the convention center for him to work the show.

The girls the first morning, seeing things for the first time.

Eating lunch at the condo - trying to save money

While Brandon worked Monday afternoon, the girls and I rested some, and I had them do some of their homework. From there we went down to swim. We had some time in the water before it started raining. They didn't mind the rain. I however, got out of the water and lounged under an umbrella.

After swimming we headed back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner. Brandon called me to let me know we might be in a tornado warning. Nice. I turned on the tv to watch the weather, but that  is only helpful when you know where you are on the map. I ended up calling the front desk to see if we were in danger. Thankfully it was heading the opposite direction.

We picked Brandon up from the convention center and ate dinner at TGIFridays with his coworker and family.

We put the girls to bed early, and then a bit later Peg and Danny arrived. 

A good first day in Orlando!