Tuesday, March 17th
Leaving the Portland airport. We took a "red eye" flight so we left at 6:00 PM. This is a shot of the Portland Airport carpet. I guess since they are replacing the carper at this airport everyone gets a shot of if when they leave.
We had a layover in Salt Lake City. It was almost midnight before we got back on a plane heading for Florida. Sometimes the cheapest flights are the absolute worst flights but when you have a family of 5 you get what you can!
Wednesday, March 18th
As you can imagine we were all exhausted when we landed in Florida at 7:00 AM. No one really slept on the airplane. We got our luggage, picked up our rental car and drove the 30 minutes to our rental house. As soon as we got there we all crashed into bed. Around 11:00 AM Julian woke Hyrum and I up with "Dad, there's a snake on the loose." I was still pretty groggy and thought maybe he had a bad dream. We followed him down the stairs to where he said the "snikkety snake"was hiding. He told us he had picked it up and was going to flush it down the toilet but then it slithered away too fast. Umm...what the heck? Hyrum and I looked all over downstairs. I was a bit freaked out because I hate snakes. But then we found this...
Not cool Florida...not cool! Hyrum was very brave and got it in a bag and then outside. I'm so glad it wasn't a poisonous snake since Julian had picked it up!
After the snake drama was over I went to the store to grab some groceries. Hyrum and the boys hung out at the house. There was a pool table, air hockey table, tennis rackets for the tennis court next door AND there was a swimming pool right out our back door!
The Platt family joined us for dinner. It was so fun catching up with old friends. I think Cael and Brecon stayed the night with us. Even though we all had a morning nap we were ready for bed that night!
Thursday, March 19th
We all headed out to Universal Studios. We met Ben and Becky at the front gate and had a great time walking around in the Harry Potter world and seeing a few shows. The boys loved having friends to go on crazy rides with them!
Inside Gringotts Bank waiting in line for one of the Harry Potter rides. Everything was so cool to see how they made it just like on the movies.
Having ice cream in Diagon Alley
Every once in a while the dragon on top of Gringotts Bank would shoot fire...how cool is that?
Waiting for the Hogwarts Express
Julian and I with Hogwarts Castle in the background
Playing at the Jurassic Park playground
Hyrum got a shot of our boat coming down after the Jurassic Park water ride. It shoots you down pretty fast at the end and I think Julian didn't like it very much but my twins LOVED it!
You can't visit Harry Potter world and not try some "Butter Beer" I actually really liked it and the "Pumpkin Juice"
The kids were getting pretty worn out so Hyrum took all the kids home (except Brielle). They had fun playing in the pool and Hyrum made them a yummy dinner.
Julian in the pool
Silly Cael!
Yummy dinner with friends.
Emerson pool side. You have to be sneaky when taking his picture because he hates having his picture taken.
Ben, Becky, Brielle and I had fun walking around a bit more in the evening. In this phone booth if you type in a certain number you get put through to the "Ministry of Magic"
We had some dinner and then stayed for the Universal Studios night show. It was a long day but I had a lot of fun!
Friday, March 20th
We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom park this day. The boys favorite ride was the Mt. Everest roller coaster. They also went on the Dinosaur ride a few times. I was so happy they had friends to go on rides with...I'm way to chicken to go on any of their favorite rides:)
Waiting in line for the dinosaur ride
We met up with the Platt's again. Here we are on the "Kali River Rapids" ride that Hyrum got totally soaked on!
We watched the "Finding Nemo" show...mostly because it was in an air conditioned building:)
While the big kids rode the Mt. Everest roller coaster over and over I took these three cuties on a train ride to pet some goats. Brecon, Julian and Brielle
Julian with the goats:)
Julian and I on the animal Safari
This giraffe was so super close, you could almost reach out and touch him
Most of the kids were pretty tired after our Safari trip so Ben took all the kids home (except Julian) and Hyrum, Becky and I stayed at the park to watch the Lion King show. It was lots of fun. I think my boys would have really liked it if they had stayed.
By the "Tree of Life" at the Animal Kingdom
Saturday, March 21st
We all needed a break from walking around giant parks. We decided to meet up with the Platt's at one of the Disney Water Parks, "Typhoon Lagoon." This was a fun day but we didn't spend much time together. Ben and Hyrum had the older boys off doing the crazy water slides. Becky had her little 3 year old Brielle and I had Julian. We met up every once in a while if we saw someone at the cooler coming back for a snack. I think it was a nice break from the busy amusement parks. We didn't get many photos because our cameras were in a locker all day. I did catch a quick photo with Julian on our way out, what a fun day in the sun and water!
Sunday, March 22nd
We all took it easy Sunday morning. Everyone got to sleep in and enjoy a yummy pancake breakfast. The kids played in the pool some but mostly we just relaxed around the house and watched some movies.
Emerson and Connor got to be good little friend during this trip. Here they are relaxing by the pool on Sunday morning.
By Sunday afternoon we were up for braving another trip to Universal Studios. This time, instead of everyone hanging out together we split into two groups. Hyrum and Ben took the older boys, Townsend, Emerson, Cael and Brecon on all the crazy scary roller coasters. Becky and I hung out with Connor, Julian and Brielle doing some of the fun kid stuff.
Connor and Julian getting ready for a ride
Julian liked this Dr. Seuss ride
We got to watch the evening parade. It was still Mardi Gras season so Julian collected like 50 strands of beads.
At the end of the night the group all met back up together in the Simpson Land. Here are the twins looking kind of tired after a long day!
Monday, March 23rd
We headed to Disney's Magic Kingdom on this day. Unfortunately after the thrilling rides at Universal Studios, my twins were NOT impressed with the Magic Kingdom. I had to agree a bit with them, the rides were pretty lame but Hyrum thinks they keep it that way to provide a sense of nostalgia for those who come back with their kids. I think the only ride the boys loved was Splash Mountain and that's a lot of money to pay for one ride:)
We have arrived!
Emerson and Dad at the "Tomorrow Land" Speedway.
Julian and Mommy at the Speedway
Taking an ice-cream sandwich break. I'm pretty sure all 3 boys were worn out by this day. Next time I would spend more time and have more "down time" days interspersed with park days.
Hyrum, Julian and Townsend on Splash Mountain
A shot with all of us on the ride. I was really scared to go on this ride but Julian helped me out..."It's not that scary Mom." I love how the twins have their hands up in the air..that's how they roll!
We stayed for the parade in the evening.
The fireworks at the end of the day were probably a highlight for the kids, they put on a fabulous display!
We had to say goodbye to our friends:( We were flying out very early the next morning. I loved seeing my boys with their friends. I hope we can get together again soon!
Tuesday, March 24th
We had to wake up around 4:00 AM to get packed up and to the airport for our 7:00 AM flight. We landed in Los Angeles and rushed to our gate because we only had 30 minutes before our next flight. When we got to the gate it turns out our flight was delayed. We were stuck in the LA airport for 5 hours!!!! We were all so exhausted, I just wanted to get home.
Playing Uno at the LA airport
Overall I think our Spring Break was a success! I might not ever go back to Magic Kingdom but I know the boys are already talking about going back to Universal Studios. It would be nice to spend a bit longer in Florida and see the Kennedy Space Center or go see some alligators in the swamps...I guess we'll keep Florida on our list of places to go in the future:)
