Trip To Florida Part One / Islands of Adventure

In the middle of December we took a trip to Florida! We were worried as usual about how the littlest member of our family would do on the plane. He did just fine but thank goodness I packed two full backpacks of snacks and toys because by the time we were landing we had just started to play with the very last thing and his attention was about to be lost! Whew close call!
We got our luggage and fancy rental car ( we must have gotten mixed up with someone special because we got a super upgrade) and headed to Granny and Grandpa’s house. We were going to spend the night there and visit for a couple days before heading to Disney.
After we were all unpacked and stretched our legs we went to downtown Winter Garden for some yummy Italian food and yogurt . The town has changed so much since I was younger. It has a very pretty main street area where they had a concert and christmas lights going on . It was such a nice night outside and Nolan had Granny walking him all over the place to keep him entertained. It was getting late so we headed back to get the boys to sleep. This was the hardest part of the trip. The boys both like to be in their own beds with their normal routines of sleeping. They were both sleeping in the same room at Granny’s house and I just didn’t know how this would work. Well it didn’t. Nolan ended up on the floor in our room fighting his sleep like usual. He finally got to sleep and we were good to go !
The next day we woke up and headed to Islands of Adventure!
The little ones were a bit cranky so we headed straight towards the area with rides for little ones. We finally got to Dr. Seuss Land!!! It is so fun and I appreciate it much more now that we have the boys with us. We ran through a little Whoville maze , Rode One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, the Dr. Seuss Carousel, and the Cat and the Hat Ride! That place was awesome! I wish I could live in Suessland. On our way to the next area we also go to meet the Mayor of Whoville! Nathan was much more interested in him than Nolan. Mr. Mayor tried to talk to him but he wouldn’t even look at him.

The next “ land” we went to was the Superhero area! We stopped to eat a quick bit in the Fantastic Four restaurant. As we were leaving guess who we ran into?! ..... Captain America!!!!! The boys rushed over to take a picture with him. They were both excited and thought he was so cool . As we looked over to our left we saw Wolverine ! This place was loaded with super heros. We must have gotten there right in time because as soon as we were done with Wolverine all the superheros hopped on their cool motorcycles and rode right by us! Since we were right next to the Spiderman ride we left Nolan with Grandpa and his popcorn and headed in . Nathan was a little scared but wanted to be brave so he could tell his friend Brady all about it when he got home. Thank goodness Brady is a spiderman fan or he would have not gone on it.
He got to put on his 3-D glasses and help Spiderman fight Dr. Octopus and save the city. We could tell he was very nervous but he tried it and that is a big step for Nathan. He actually liked it but said he did not want to ride it again :)

We left that land and were headed towards Jurassic Park! Kyle took Nathan to see if he was tall enough to ride it while we stayed back and watched the brave people flying down the drop into the water. Nolan loved watching this and thought it was soooo funny. He would say “ You hear it!? “ while holding his hand up to his ear every time one was coming. Nathan and Kyle headed back towards us. Kyle said Nathan was to scared to ride. He said he didn’t want to get wet. After a while of trying to bribe him Kyle went to buy him a poncho so he would keep dry . They ran into a Jurassic Park tour guide who told Nathan all about the ride and how nice the dinosaurs were. The whole reason Nathan finally got up the nerve to ride was because of him. He had him convinced he would love it. We of course jumped on our 2 minute window of willingness to ride with Nathan! We loaded up and told him step by step what would happen. When the big T Rex came we told him to close his eyes if he wanted but we were about to drop. WHOA! we sure did drop! He was laughing and thought it was so fun. I was so glad he actually liked it and didn’t run off screaming. On our way out we passed tour guide Jason who wanted to check on Nathan and see how it went. Nathan told him how fun it was and Jason said to come with him because he had a surprise for him for being so brave!!! He let him pick any dinosaur off the shelf in the store to take home with him. Nathan was so excited and it made him feel so special. He even took a picture with his friend Jason and his new dinosaur.

We walked around the rest of the park and over to the Harry Potter area! Kyle and I got to leave the kids with Granny and ride the new Harry Potter ride. It was so cool and made me wish I knew a little more about Harry Potter, I have a feeling it would have made a lot more sense. The also had a wooden roller coaster by the big one that we all could ride. Nolan had a face of panic the whole time . In his defense it did go a bit faster than we had thought.

The boys were getting very tired so we decided to head on out. It had been a long day and we were ready for dinner and showers.

Looking back I can’t believe all of this was just one day of our super fun / exhausting trip.
I need a nap just reading it.
:)