I decided that I love skipping town when the boys have vacation time during the year.
This Christmas we decided to go back to Florida (to the same timeshare we used for Spring Break).
It was a long drive (15ish hours), but so amazing to leave cold weather and get out of the car to sunshine and swimming pools! This Christmas we bought an amazing Black Friday deal to SeaWorld, Aquatica, 6 Flags, and Discovery Cove.
Honestly, this sea lion show was one of our favorite things to do!
Sharks. Enough said.
While I appreciate all the debate about animal shows and animal rights, we really loved the Shamu show. I thought the whales looked happy. Easton and Cache sat in the front row and got a bit wet!
Boys. Enough said.
The gift shops were fun, albeit expensive. Cache got some fun light necklaces and a few of the boys bought pearls and necklaces to hold the pearls. David thought it was too girly for them, but they loved it. It was fun to have Christmas music playing throughout the parks and all the Christmas themed souvenirs.
We tried our hands at a few games and won the highly coveted stuffed animals.
We ended Christmas Eve with a little nativity show at the park.
Christmas morning was great. The stocking were full and each boy had a few presents to open. We tried to keep it simple with the idea that Christmas was an experience this year, but the boys were still spoiled.
We planned to spend Christmas at Discover Cove.
The morning was a little scary because Declan fainted and it was a doozy. But he recovered quickly, we did presents, and still got there by about 9am. The park was amazing. Lazy rivers with real lanscaping, snorkeling in salt water with tropical fish, swimming with dolphins, and all you could eat food/snacks. It was a day to remember.
We took a day trip to the beach. On our way, we stopped by a water plant to see the porpoises. They love the warm water.
Wednesday night at Red Robin = $1.99 kid meals!
Crossing the bridge to the gulf bay beaches.
Loving this convertible.
Our car antlers lasted the whole trip.
We arrived at Fort DeSoto Park, the southern tip of the island.
The fort was pretty cool.
Cache and I enjoyed taking pictures on such a beautiful day.
The beach was just lined with amazing shells. Cache found a perfect sand dollar.
For some reason, climbing the walls of the bathroom seemed like a good idea until I yelled at them.
A little further north up the beach.
A sea worm?
Good bye beautiful island!
Next day... Aquatica water park. What did you say, a water park in December?
Ok, it was a little cool at times, but mostly amazing.
Followed by a trip to 6 flags in Tampa.
We finished up the trip with a day on Caladesi Island. We had to take a boat for the day.
We walked the island the whole time, finding 100's of perfect tiger cowrie shells and tons of coral.
No road trip is perfect until you can find all 50 states in the license plate game.
Thank you car for providing us Hawaii.
