VACATION!! - (Part Three!) - The Beach!!

On Wednesday, we checked out of the hotel in Orlando, and headed for Daytona! Lord knows we were ready for a little relaxation! (Our feet especially were ready for some rest!)

We got to the hotel way earlier than check-in because we wanted to get to the ocean!
Lylah LOVED it!




Nathan Loves playing in the waves!




Carter is a sand-bug! He's loves digging and playing in it!




Our room. It was on the top floor- an Awesome view!


This is a big thumbs up picture! (Incase you don't know the story behind this picture, when we were here in Sept. '07, it rained and stormed the first 3 days we were here- so I took a thumbs down picture. On day 4 when it was sunny again, I took a thumbs up picture. Only thumbs up this year!! YAY!)






Waking up...




Mom getting breakfast ready! (thanks mom!)






Me catching a wave in!








Lylah's heading out to ride some waves in too!


What an adorable unsuccess!


Mom went in for a cool-off and got smacked!!


Zach headed out to the sandbar with the boogyboard to catch some longer waves.


Lylah thought it was funny to eat sand!

YUCK!!


Playing at the pool for a bit.


My little fish!




Just the boys- 1, 2, 3, JUMP!


I wish this picture would've come out clear! (and that my mom wasn't trying to hide her face!)




Wow- what a great vacation we had this year! While we were gone, Zach's Dad, Paul stayed at our house to house, dog, and fish sit. Thank you Paul! Also, John, Christy, and Travis came over numerous times to let the dogs out to go potty. Thank you, you guys! Zach and I really appreciated your help!

It was really hard to pack up and leave the beach and come home to this rainy Indiana weather! It's really something special to just sit on the balcony and look out at God's beautiful creations of the sand and ocean- and relax to the calming sound of waves crashing on the beach. It creates one of the most perfect settings in an endless possibily of places to talk to God and be thankful for the life and world He has given us! (Now I'm really missing the beach!) ... Maybe I'll just get myself a heatlamp and wave sound machine. hehe!

VACATION!! - (Part Two!) Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios!

On day two of our vacation we went to Animal Kingdom.

It was MUCH less crowded! The first thing we did was head to the safari- which was awesome! Because we got there as soon as it opened, the line wasn't too long of a wait- about 20 minutes. However, as soon as we got to the front, Lylah had to go potty, so Zach had to wait at the side for about 15 minutes while I took her potty- way far away! Then, I had to 'cut' everyone to get back to the front of the line. I felt like I was in the highschool lunch line. (although, I was a good-girl and never cut anyone!)

So, I'll try to keep it light on the enormous amount of pictures I took there of the animals, but it'll be hard! I love all animals! I'll try to post just some of my favorites!
Hippos


Crocs- or Alligators - I never can remember the difference...


I love this tree! The tourguide says they call it an 'upside down tree'.









I know this pic is of his rear-end, but the span of his horns is almost 5 feet!


Elephants!


More rear-ends! (But, can you see the baby by his momma!)





Flamingos - picture for mom!


Rhinos lounging in the shade


Cool Rock- and on the back side of it...


Was the lioness stretching out for a good nap!




A warthog- the boys liked him because of Pumbaa from Lion King!


The sign to the right says "Attention Parents, leave misbehaving children here for animal food."



Beautiful!


And, just to the right of the falls, I captured one of my favorite pictures:




Pondering something important...

I love his different facial expressions!



Here's another gorilla laying on her back, using her arm to cover her face. (I do the same thing in the mornings when I don't want to be bothered either!)


A view from the bottom


I told Nathan this was a Time-Out crate parents could use. hehe - He didn't fall for it.


I thought it was interesting how long this little guy's beak is compared to his little body!


Here's a Meerkat the boys liked- it reminded them of Timon from Lion King. (In case you're unaware, Timon and Pumbaa -the warthog- were best friends.)


Another beautiful view!


Being silly!




On our way to Camp Minnie-Mickey to see more characters!


Carter and Flick (from "Bugs Life")


Carter and Turk (from "Tarzan")


Lilo and Stitch


Goofy and Donald Duck


Again, Lylah did not want to see the characters!


Next we decided to head over to see the Bugs Life 3D show. Zach told me to hurry, but he got distracted at this station where the kids put their hands in the log and tried to guess what animal things were in each hole. Some of the things were a turtle shell, deer antlers, and skeleton bones!








We got a bit wet on the rapids! Lylah couldn't ride, so the first time the boys rode with my while Zach kept Ly. Then we switched. The boys got soaked when they rode with Zach!


Lylah had fun playing in the water too!




Nathan was excited to see the Giant Bats. (you can't tell from the picture, but their faces are actually pretty cute!)


Zach's favorite-- The Tigers!

'Quit taking my picture!'



(This is the stance I take when I'm peeing in the pool too...)








Sad Face:


Happy Face: (Carter's idea)




So- this is a story you'll want to read! We were waiting in line to visit Goofy and Pluto. Lylah has a baby Pluto stuffed doll, so 'says' she likes Pluto, so she agreed to wait in line. Well, about every 15-20 minutes, the characters are lead away to go switch with another set that have been breaking in the cool. Lylah did not see them walk away behind us while we were in line. But... she happended to turn to see the new set walking back. Imagine being not even 3 years old yet, and seeing this HUGE Goofy trotting up toward you. Lylah was terrified! She started to run away from Goofy! But, because he's so big he obviously didn't see her and she ended up getting under his feet in a collision! She ended up on the ground and Goofy tripped and almost fell too! Fortunately, nobody was hurt - or sued! lol











Here we're on the tram back to the van to head over to Hollywood Studios. Nathan took off his shoes to dry out his wet feet! He wouldn't let me get a better picture- but he totally had old-man prune-feet!


Hollywood Studios!! (aka MGM)



Playing at the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" set


Riding 'Anty'.








We got in line to see Woody and "Buzz-Light" (according to Lylah). It was nice the line went throughout their house and there were things for the kids to do and picture opps along the way.




"Stinky Pete"




By this point, Lylah had built her confidence to meet Woody and Buzz Light Year!


She didn't get too close- or give hugs, but she didn't scream, cry and run away! Finally she made some progress...at the last characters we met! hehe


"Bye-bye Buzz-Light" (finally bravery built)


Lylah wanted to take a picture of me!


Mommy's turn to take one of her! (I was trying to keep her busy until the final show of the night started!)




It was an excellent show, where they used water, lights, and film projected onto water sprayed up to make like a 'screen', all during a live-action show with different characters. It was really great!



They even caught the water on fire! (to which prompted a TON of questions from the boys on how that was possible)


Lylah was pooped!


So were the boys!



I am so glad we were fortunate enough to take this wonderful trip to Disney World! We all had such a great time and can't wait to go back!