Day 7 - the Princess day

Today was all about the Princess... Princess Sydney that is! We promised her a trip to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique if she stopped sucking her thumb. Well she did stop stop, for a while, and now and then, but the dress was bought and the appointment was made so she got to go even though she has not completely stopped. I think it's improving. She went to the salon and got a hair extension put in, and makeup put on. What a beautiful princess she was.

Grandma spoiled Sydney and Zack with several stuffed animals while they shopped. They got to go on the merry-go-round and eat some chocolate! Sydney's favorite part was strolling around Downtown Disney showing off her glamorous new look. She definitely was a princess for the day!

Day 6 - Relaxation time!

After a whirlwind week of entertainment, Friday was our day of rest. We took a trip over to Downtown Disney in the late afternoon and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Of course the line was really long (2 hour wait), but even after all of that waiting, the kids had a great time looking at all of the animals while we ate dinner and they didn't seem to mind.

Day 5 - Sea World

We took a trip to Sea World in Orlando today with Grandma and Grandpa Willford. It was a good day of checking out all sorts of sea creatures. Out of all of the animals, I think the kids liked the polar bears and penguins the best. They had a really nice habitat set up for the artic animals and you could see them running around and playing. We also saw a dolphin and whale show. Both kids liked the show, but got a little fidgetity at the end. They also liked walking

through the shark "tunnel" and seeing the large fish. One of the gift shops had a cool floor which was an aquarium... and the ceiling was an aquarium too!

That night we decided to get really crazy and go see the fireworks at Epcot from the Boardwalk and Swan & Dolphin hotels. The kids did really well and had a lot of fun walking around at night. Zack was only a little frightened by the loud fireworks, but overall it was a great night!

Day 4: Clearwater Beach

After a late start, we headed for Clearwater beach today. There was a lot of traffic near Tampa, but the car ride went well - perhaps because we put a stop to the new car game "Yes" (antagonistically prompted by Sydney) and "No!" (responded loudly by Zack). We ate some lunch in the car on the way to the beach, and arrived around noon.
Clearwater was so crowded we thought we'd never find a parking spot. Eventually we did, and luckily it was a short walk to the beach. The kids had a great time playing in the sand and Sydney enjoyed the water more than Zack did - although Zack did like being carried out into the water. Around 4 pm we took a walk on the pier, and ended the day with some ice cream. The kids passed out from exhaustion shortly after our trip back home started since neither one had a nap today. We had a late dinner of pizza. Zack had a terrible time going to sleep - and he learned a new trick - how to climb out of the Pack-n-Play! We had to put him back to bed about 5 times until we eventually got him to sleep by sitting in the room until he fell asleep. Guess that's what we get for messing up the "schedule".

Day 2: Our first full day in Florida

"Oh look!" he cried, "It's 6 AM, our vacation fun must begin!"... and so it began, at 6 am when Zack woke up. Since his bedroom is right next to Sydney's, they were both up bright and early - except it sure wasn't bright yet. The sun isn't up at 6am we found out. After about an hour of wishfully faking sleep on the couches, Alan and Lisa gave in and got up and started our first day. We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. As the day warmed up, we went over to the clubhouse for a dip in the pool. Zack is a crazy guy his year! He just runs up to the pool edge and jumps right in! It was hard to keep up with him, running between the hot tub and the pool (not to mention not a very pleasant change in water temperature!). Sydney also had fun in the pool and didn't want to leave. However, all good things must end and we had to call it quits so we could have lunch and steal a nap after that early start to the day.
For dinner we went to a mexican restaurant that didn't exactly cater to kids. Zack ate a whole bunch of chips - all dipped in salsa, which wasn't very mild. That night Zack woke up at 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30am! At 4:30 I realized that he wasn't going back to bed without me, so I slept next to him in his room. What a night!

Day 1: The flight to Florida

Our flight to Florida actually went really, really well. Sydney enjoyed having her own seat on the plane, and Zack fell asleep for most of the flight. Then, when we woke up, they both enjoyed watching Bob the Builder on Alan's notebook. After a long car ride from the airport, we finally arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Willford's house. Eventually we made it up to our rented house (which is really nice) and called it a night. The weather was in the mid 80's today and looks like it will be nice all week.