Steve and Deana wanted to come visit us in Arlington, but we thought of the idea of meeting them in Florida, instead. Josh had already bought tickets to Animal Kingdom, Disney World for "Indigenous People's Day" weekend since the kids and Josh had that Monday off. We are so glad, they met us there, and all of us felt the 3 day weekend went by way too fast.
We spent Saturday at the main attraction- Disney World's Animal Kingdom. It was pricy- over $700 for our family of 6, with the 2 year old still being free, but we had so much fun, and this was the first time our kids have been to a Disney park. My birthday present this year was shirts for the family for this day. Deana took the picture, but we really should have had her in this one with us.
The highlight for everyone, but the two littles was the World of Pandora- Avatar. The grandparents and older two kids waited in the long line for almost an hour in a half to ride the amazing Avatar ride, and then Josh and I were able to switch being with the littles and not have to wait in line that long (maybe 7 minutes) with the rider switch program. The technology was amazing, and it was so very realistic riding on our avatars. That ride made going to Animal Kingdom worth it. Before the flight, we also took a family boat ride on the Napali River.
Throughout the park, Payson and Avenly collected badges (stickers) by going to stations and learning about different things like animal habitats and such. It took time, but the kids loved it, and this trip was for them.
The whole day was just a lot of fun between seeing the animals, riding on the other rides, playing in the huge kids area, playing arcade games and winning (both Payson and Avenly won, and a nice boy gave Zaylee his prize), and seeing glimpses of the kite show. Trexton loved the baby gorilla, petting zoo, and triceratops ride. Zaylee's favorite was also the triceratops ride, but she also loved the giant sandbox. The safari was cool, and Josh and I regretted going on the water rapids ride instead of the roller coaster- lol.
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The day went by way too fast, but I felt like it was a huge success. We had a late dinner at the hotel, and then Grandpa and Mimi came to our room to do Christmas with the kids since we won't see them at Christmas. I didn't get pictures, but the kids thought it was soo cool to open Christmas presents in October.
Sunday we slept in, got breakfast just before the hotel ended for the day, and walked around Downtown Disney before heading to church.
At the hotel, before we left, we saw a jet in the sky leaving a message for all...
Our original plan was to go to spend all morning at the beach on Monday, but our flight got changed to earlier, so we didn't really have the chance to do that. So, instead of going Monday morning, we just had breakfast with a beach view that day, and went for a sunset walk the night before. It was pretty, and the sand was nice, but we saw a lot of dead fish, and all 8 of us randomly started coughing when we were by the water. The cough went away when we went inside. Josh looked it up, and apparently the beach was in the danger zone for red tide- meaning toxic algae bloom. I guess it was a blessing that we didn't spend Monday morning fully swimming in the ocean. 1 out of 4 kids managed to stay dry (for the most part) during our evening viewing the sunset. I am sure you can guess who! (Payson).
There was a small section of beach that was roped off. We found out there were turtle eggs under the sand. The kids were fascinated, and I thought it was pretty cool, as well.
There were a lot of birds- like more than a normal beach. It could have been the dead fish, or probably more-so from the people feeding the birds. There was one guy in the ocean with tons of birds surrounded him because he was throwing them food. Trex and Zay tried to feed the birds, too, but the birds just flew away from the littles when they ran toward them. (See video below).
It was a great trip. Too fast, and so much fun! Here's a little video of the clips I took during our trip.
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