A Lot of Updates

I have finally found time to sit down and blog about our trip to Florida. We had a great time on our crazy whirlwind adventure. We packed as much fun as we could into every day that we were there, and loved playing with our cousins and friends. I have created a post for each place that we went, so scroll down and enjoy the pictures.

Disney World

I had never realized how large Disney World is until we got there. It's divided into 4 parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, HOllywood Studios, Epcot) and each park is a good 20 to 30 minute bus ride from any of the other parks. This is the ferry ride to the Magic Kingdom.

Here's our family at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom.

Here we are on the Jungle Cruise. It was one of Michael's favorite rides. This was the first place we went with rides, and Michael was pretty hesitant at first to go on them. We had to do some pretty hard talking to get him to go on Splash Mountain, but he finally did it. He loved it and it was his favorite ride for most of the trip. He was also willing to try other rides after that even though he still got scared sometimes.
Liam found this play area by Splash Mountain that he loved; although he refused to go down the slide. He only wanted to climb up it.

Levi and Jacob spending time in the stocks for bad behavior.

The Electric Light Parade.

The Animal Kingdom was another of our favorites. They have an African Safari that is really neat. It is totally open to the animal, with the exception of keeping the predators separated from the prey animals, so all the animals just roam around and mingle together. We got to see a lot of cool animals. The things that look like rocks in the water behind me in the picture below are actually sleeping hippos.

A baby giraffe and it's mom.

A baby elephant, off to the left, and it's mom.

A couple of lions.

The gorillas were really cool. There were a bunch of them wandering around playing with blankets. The park workers say the gorillas use the blankets just like we do. The morning was a little chilly and the gorillas were all wandering around with the blankets draped over their backs.

We got to talk to Crush the turtle from the movie Finding Nemo at Epcot. It was an interactive show that was pretty cool for the kids. They had a statue of Bruce in front that the kids were all climbing in.

Liam was such a trooper for the whole trip. He had to spend most of the time in his stroller, but he was really good about it and enjoyed riding around.

Universal Studios and HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!!!

The thing Levi and I were most excited about doing while we were in Florida was going to Universal Studios and visiting Harry Potter World. We were there as soon as the park opened and headed straight for Hogwarts.

It was so cool to walk into a place straight out of our imaginations. I don't know how everyone else pictured things but it looked just like I had imagined it would.

Inside Hogwarts was a ride called The Forbidden Journey. The ride is a combination of roller coaster and virtual simulations. It's by far the coolest ride I have ever been on. Levi and I loved it. Even if you're not a fan of those kinds of rides just a walk through the castle is well worth the time. It has iconic spots like Dumbledor's office, several classrooms, paintings that move and talk, the hour glasses with the house points, etc. To any Harry Potter fans out there, I would definitely put it on your list of things to do.

The village of Hogsmeade was fun to walk through as well. We stopped by many of the shops and even tried some butterbeer; which tastes like really sweet and foamy cream soda. We just shared a cup and I don't think I could have drank one by myself.

There were also other things to do at Universal Studios besides Harry Potter. A few of the rides we enjoyed were Jurassic Park, and the river rides. It was a warm day, and we all got completely soaked. Michael and Levi also went on a flying pteranadon ride that Michael really liked.

Sea World

The thing we were most about doing with the kids in Florida, Michael especially, was taking them to Sea World. We were not disappointed. We loved seeing the orcas. (Somehow Michael discovered that they are really called orcas and killer whale is just a nickname, so now we all have to call them orcas.)

One of the orcas had just had a baby in October, so they would let the mom and baby out into the big tank to swim around every once in a while. That was neat to see.

Of course there was the main reason that we went to Sea World, and that was to take Michael through the shark tunnel. He loved it. He was running around identifying all the different sharks that he knew. The one in the picture is a tiger shark.

There was also a seal show that was pretty funny. At the end they had a walrus come out. It was huge and just looked like a moving lump of light brown fat.

The dolphin show was probably our favorite show. It had a combination of dolphins and their trainers. Some of the trainers were on swings and trapeze like things above the water. They also had divers jumping off of platforms above the water. It was pretty crazy.

The dolphin show also included a false killer whale. It was just bigger than the other dolphins and a darker color. (Anyway, killer whales - I mean orcas - aren't really whales; they're dolphins.)
In Sea World, we also got to pet some rays. They feel pretty interesting, and there's not really any way to describe it. Michael was really hesitant to touch them at first. I could tell every time he touched one because he would suddenly jerk his hand back. After a while he got more comfortable and would actually pet them.