Florida pictures are finally here:) I had an incredible time~I am so glad I got this time with my Grandma. She is such an incredible lady! We flew to Tampa Bay, where my Aunt Marilyn lives. We then drove into Orlando to our condo. The pool was outside our door, so we had fun relaxing in the hot tubs every night!
Our first major attraction was The Holy Land. It was quite the experience. They had several shows (about the arc of the covenant, etc.) that were interesting. Here we are in the whales mouth. Inside, there was a presentation from an octopus & Jonah inside his stomach!
They did a large show about Christs betrayal, death, and resurrection. It was weird (for lack of a better word) to witness. It certainly made me think of things, and what it would have been like to be in the crowd. It was hard too, because the actor depicting Christ was so overly dramatic, which is kind of the opposite of Christ!
All through the park are people in costume. We were always welcomed by "Shalom". We actually went to communion. We thought it was going to be more of a depiction of the last supper with the apostles etc. However, just over-dramatic actor Christ came. We got to keep our cool little wood cups though:)
Back at the condo, we spent a lot of time visiting and playing games.
Then to the Epcot Center (One of DisneyWorlds parks). They started a garden show the day before we got there. The grounds were beautiful. There were topiaries of all the disney characters through the park. Obviously, I won't post all, but very amazing!
Aunt Marilyn was recovering from a heart attack, so we stuck her in a wheelchair, and Grams was in one to keep her strength. Mom and I definitely got our exercise! This is in front of the China display. All in all, I was really disappointed in the park. I won't pay to go there again:) A few of the rides were ok and we enjoyed them, but the displays on the countries were a joke. Most of them were just overpriced shopping. I was hoping for some good German food (that is the food I miss the most from Europe!!) but was sorely disappointed! So, not worth the money in my opinion, but I know some people love it!
Grams loved watching "Off Kilter" in their fun little kilts. They were actually good and we had fun listening to "Oh Danny Boy"
Back in Tampa, we went on the sunset cruise of the bay. It was beautiful. Dolphins swam along side us, along the bay, some of the most beautiful homes I have ever seen (yes, 7 million dollar homes!!) It was wonderful! Of course, they had the bird island~just saturated with a variety of gorgeous birds~didn't bore you with pics though! My favorite bird was white and it was mating season so it would puff out its feathers~beautiful!
Bush Gardens. By far my favorite "park" we visited. I thought it was a million times better than Epcot! They had an incredible cultural show (below). They had a plain of African animals. We rode the train through and were mere feet from zebras, giraffes, some deer type animal (don't remember-one of the most endangered animals though!) There were water buffalo, rhinos, elephants . . .lions, hyenas, gorillas, apes, hippos. . . It was fascinating! There were also rides that we actually enjoyed. My faves were the raft down the river, and the jeep one. We rode through the animals again, then crossing a bridge-it washes out and you float down the river a ways. We loved it. So worth the money!
Last but not least, we hit the coast! My Gma was so excited to have touched both oceans! It was a gorgeous day and mom and I had fun collecting sea shells!
I love this picture. She looks like a terrorist doesn't she :)
Thanks for letting me share! I have a bazillion more pics, but tried to do just a few:) I had such a wonderful time with my mom, Grandma, and Aunt. Memories I will remember forever!
Yep, a little moose standing next to the road. (It's a cow (female) hence the lack of antlers) But still, a moose in the wild. Always cool to see! Well, the whole purpose of our little trip was to see this silly little blue train.
Kiddos had a great time together (mostly). They had matching Thomas shirts. We found them a couple days before for 2 bucks. I splurged :0)
They had a lot of activities for the kids and we spent a couple hours there. They loved riding this little yellow electric rail car.
My kids also just love water right now, so they were happy just having a place to swim!
We had a great quick little trip. Left Wed. at 3:30ish and were home Thursday night (probably around a 4 hour drive each way). It was well worth the trip, through my babies eyes. Their night time prayers still will have a "thank thee we could ride Thomas" thrown in there.
