Beach & Mini Golf

We spent the second half of our week in Florida in Venice at Cory's parents place.  Brady really wanted to play golf.  He loves mini golf, real golf, golf games on the iPad- basically anything associated with golf.  We went to a mini golf course where in addition to playing golf you could feed alligators.  Brady got a hole in one which resulted in lots of jumping and cheering.   We also made sure to hit up the driving range.  Perhaps we have a future Tiger?  As papa says, he does have the right last name.

We also were able to spend some time at the beach.   I was able to read the entire Hunger Games book on our beach day.  Not my typical type of book, but I enjoyed it.  I think I was so into finishing it I forgot to reapply sunscreen.   It didn't help that half of my body was shaded and the other half under an umbrella.  I still have goofy tan lines.

LegoLand

After fighting the crowds at Disney it was a pleasant surprise to arrive at LegoLand and have a very small crowd.  We went to a LegoLand in Windsor while we were in London and Brady loved it.  When we learned that they recently opened a LegoLand in Winter Haven we knew we had to fit it into our Florida itinerary.  This theme park is perfect for young kids.   There are tons of age appropriate rides, shows and attractions.  If you go when the lines are long they even have lego stations set up in the lines for the kids. 

Cory's mom Ann drove up from Venice and joined us for the day.  You'll be able to tell from the pictures that she was frequently requested as Brady's ride partner.  We had a really nice day at the park.  I think our longest ride wait was 15 minutes for the boat ride.  You can't beat that.

 

Magic Kingdom

For the last month, every time we watch the Disney channel and they show the castle Brady will get real excited and start yelling we are going there.  He was ecstatic to see the castle after we walked in the entrance. 

We had intentionally planned to go to Magic Kingdom on a Monday because we thought it would be less busy.  It didn't cross our minds until that Saturday that the Monday we selected was President's day.  We don't ever get the day off work so it isn't a holiday we ever celebrate or give any thought to.  Oh my!!!  I have never seen so many people at a theme park.  It was absolutely crazy.  We still had a really nice day, but spent quite a bit of time waiting in lines.  Brady was a great sport about waiting.  One thing I give Disney credit for is that they have customer service down.  Even with the massive crowd everyone we interacted with was pleasant and they had things under control. 

One of Brady's favorite rides was the Buzz Light Year "shooting" ride.  I'm not sure this was the best ride for us to go on since they give everyone a laser gun and the objective is to shoot the targets.  We discourage any sort of activity related to weapons or shooting and this ride has certainly resulted in some extra 'shooting' around the house.  I have to keep reminding myself that boys play differently than girls.

In case anyone remembers going on the Small World ride as a kid and being bored, it's still the same.  Well, apparently they redid all of the characters, but they are still very similar to the originals.  Brady actually liked the Small World ride, but I'm sure by the next time we visit Disney he will decide it's boring.  Cory and I enjoyed it because we have visited so many of the countries they have on display.  Brady joined in and would point at the various displays and say "I've been there".  In many cases he was right.

By around 6pm, Brady was exhausted.  He looked at Cory and I really sweetly and said, "Can I sit in my stroller and have some popcorn?"  We got him his popcorn and within 5 minutes of finishing it he was sound asleep.

SeaWorld

We haven't traveled much since being back from the UK so decided it was time to take a vacation.  Florida ended up being the destination of choice.  The first 3 nights we stayed in Orlando.  We definitely at some point want to do the full-out Disney vacation, but decided to keep it simple this year and spend a day at SeaWorld and a day at Magic Kingdom.  SeaWorld was actually offering a buy one day get a day free offer, so rather than spending a long day, we split it into two half days. We stayed at a hotel that was walking distance to the park entrance which was made things really convenient. 

Brady was really excited to visit SeaWorld.  We had talked about Shamu quite a bit leading up to the trip so he definitely wanted to meat him.  We started by going to a Pirate show.  Brady enjoyed it.  I thought it was just OK.  A SeaLion was the star of the show with an occasional appearance of a weasel like rodent that stole the pirate map.  I'm sure this will come as a big surprise to everyone, but everyone ends up in the water in the end.

After the show, we checked out a few more animals, but what Brady really wanted is to go on some of the rides.  I was really impressed by his new found bravery and interest in some of the bigger kid rides.  His favorite was a crab ride that went up into the air pretty high.  It made me laugh because he had the shortest legs of anyone on the ride, but he had a smile on his face the entire time.

Another hit at SeaWorld was the sprinkler park.  I love the concept of sprinkler parks for younger kids.  Brady was having a great time until he slipped and scrapped his nose.  After a visit to the First Aid station we were back in business and back to the crab ride.

 That evening we hit up the Shamu show.  I remember going to SeaWorld when I was in High School and being impressed with Shamu.  Once again he did not disappoint.  The next day we slept in and then revisited some of our favorites.

Other miscellaneous SeaWorld pictures.