We are Thankful for...Orlando Trip!

One day, while sitting around having some cocktails on an easy, breezy weekend with the Antley's, we got a call from my dad saying he had gotten a great deal on a large villa in Orlando for the week of thanksgiving.  Since it was my side of the family's year for Thanksgiving (and did I mention the cocktails?) this deal sounded to good to pass up so we decided to go for it.
 Pros: Nice, huge, villa near all of the parks, plenty of room for all of us as well as sister Kelley and her family. Disney vacation for the kids on the week of Thanksgiving!
Cons: Disney vacation ON THE WEEK OF THANKSGIVING!!! 
Haaaa Basically it was a fun trip but crowded at times. 
We decided to break the trip up and stop in Charleston on Saturday. We wanted to see the Johnson's and their brand new beautiful home. It was fun. A little bonus for us. 

We arrived in Orlando on Sunday. We had decided to wing the whole trip and not buy tickets in advance. I am thankful we did it this way! Monday was the Magic Kingdom. The last time that I had been there was when I was 17 and not to much had changed there. Except the crowd! It was packed. We saw a few parades  but Baylor, my parents and I only got to ride two rides due to the long lines eating away at our day :(
It was neat to see though. I have never been to Disney while it was decorated for Christmas before, so that was fun to see.  We left and let the rest of the group enjoy some night action. Everyone else got to do several more things as well as Space Mountain! 

We had a day off the next day trying to recover from the day before. Kelley, Duane, Gracie and Emory had arrived. They are actually going to Disney in a couple of weeks so they did Universal this trip and were mainly with us at night time when we regrouped at the villa. 

We watched the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom on this porch every night

Wednesday was extra special as it was Michael's 4th birthday!!  We wanted to go to Epcot. Jason decided to opt out and stay back with Baylor as he could not deal with waiting in 3 hour lines with a 2 year old again. To bad for them, Epcot turned out to be a completely different kind of day. It was wonderful! So much fun. No lines longer than a 20 minute wait. The kids loved it more than Magic Kingdom even! We all enjoyed country hopping. Had THE BEST pizza and salad of my life in Italy. 
This was a fun day that I will ALWAYS remember, and I cannot wait to return. 

Africa

Blink and you'll miss it, I'm wearing tennis shoes in public!

having a little lunch in Italy

Luckily the resort had many activities on sight and Jason and Baylor played some games and did some paddle boating on the lake. 

Thursday we decided to play it safe and do Sea World. Turned out to be a great day. Not crowded, barely any lines. The kids enjoyed the show and the rides. We will probably cross this place off the list this time since I don't see the need to go back. It was fun and well suited for small children, but once was enough.  We enjoyed the day and ended it watching a festive Christmas Tree light show. 

Ended the perfect day by picking up our Thanksgiving meal and eating back at our place in the resort. It was so nice to spend Thanksgiving with Kelly and her family this year. 

We could have stayed until Sunday but we decided to get on the road on Friday since we had a long drive ahead and a lot to get done at home. The boys were surprisingly  good on the 8 hour drive home! 

We had such a GREAT week with family in Orlando. I know the boys made some great memories. I enjoyed a few vacations in Orlando as a child with my sister and parents. I hope that we do the same for our family through the years. Jason and I are looking forward to the two of us taking our boys back in a few years to make some more memories and will hit up Universal, and go at a less busy time!
It was a very special Thanksgiving though. 
Add onto the holidays we go....