This last week we flew to Florida for our annual family vacation. Also, Stephen turned 41. His birthday was extremely low key. AND I think he liked it that way.
We celebrated Independence day in our new home with my parents. We saw some fireworks and talked with our new neighbors who invited the boys to play with sparklers. We live so close to the river now that we can not see the fireworks from our house any more. I'll have to remember that for next year.
On Tuesday, we jumped on a plane and flew to Orlando. We arrived really late but were excited to see our entire family. On Wednesday we went to Universal Studios. It was a blast!!
Both boys said Universal Studios was their favorite day of the trip. On Thursday we slept in and swam at the pool at the house. Then we got ready to zipline at Gatorland. Also, a very fun afternoon! My dad even wrestled a gator!
Friday was Stephen's birthday! I woke up early to get us in line to ride the Star Wars Rise to Resistance ride. You have to get in line at 7 AM on your phone. I woke everyone up and had them ready to click the button on their phone. Well only Craig and I got in the queue to ride the ride. Everyone else was completely disappointed. Everyone else had a chance to get in the virtual line at 1:00 as long as they were at the park. Mom, Dad, Sharla, and John all got on the ride, but Michael did not. So he spent some time talking to customer service to get his family on the ride. Our ride started at noon so we were in no rush to get to Disney World. So we took our time. The day at the park was a bit of a let down, really. Disney World Hollywood Studios was not really worth all the stress. The Star Wars ride was awesome. We rode the Tower of Terror then went home. We bought a cake and ate dinner then played games with the family. It was a very low key birthday as far as birthday celebrations go.
Saturday we slept in and sat around. We went to the community swimming pool then came home to get ready for family photos and games. We had a fun surprise as John proposed to Sharla and she said, YES! It was so sweet. After family photos we came home, ate dinner, then played some games as a family. It was a great day!
Sunday we cleaned up the house, checked out, and headed to the beach. We had a late afternoon flight so we had plenty of time to drive two house to spend one hour at the beach. We made it to our flight, but it was a bit delayed which made our connection really tight. We landed with about 50 minutes to make it to our next flight our of Denver. Well, the walk way from the plane to the airport would not move, so we sat on the plane for 15 minutes. By the time we got off the plane we had about 15 minutes to make it to our next flight. We had to run. My parents could not run the length of the Denver airport so I got to the gate and told the airline that my parents were coming, but slowly. They said they WOULD NOT hold the plane! WHAT?! I was shocked. They made it to the flight and got on the plane. It was tight. We were so glad to get home and sleep in our own bed. These trips can be stressful and take a lot of planning but they are always worth it in the end. I look forward to spending a week with my family every year.
