Two weeks, two glorious weeks....it wasn't long enough. The end of January-early February was spent down in Florida with my side of the family. We rented a big house in Kissimee with a pool and jaccuzzi and enough bedrooms/bathrooms to give each family their own "space" and had a great time! We did this 3 years ago as well over Thanksgiving and we went to my cousin AnnMarie's wedding. Obviously we all had a good time as we decided to do it again together!
The only difference this time, was that not all of us stayed the full two weeks. We were one of the lucky ones this year though. We drove down straight...yes 16 hours (with stretching breaks, etc) and stopped by and visited Aunt Sharon, Uncle Jimmy, Kelly and Dalton. It was the first time Maddie was meeting them and she decided to turn on the charm, even after been in the car for so many hours straight!
She really did well in the car, slept most of the ride. We did drive down to Florida, and left around her bedtime so she WOULD sleep in the car, happily it worked out really well in both directions, she only got a little antsy toward the end of the drive (heck so was Mommy and Daddy though!)
So what did we do in Florida? We spent time relaxing, swimming, going to Disney and SeaWorld...the first week the weather was quite chilly and we went out with jackets almost every day, the second week was gorgeous, sunny, warm (well relative, it was in the teens in Delaware and high seventies in Florida). Maddie loved being out and LOVES swimming. Heck she asked the other day to go swimming in the pool (by saying "Swimming, Maddie Swimming, Yes, Swimming, Pool, Yes") Don't you just LOVE her sentence structure?!?!
Each day in Florida, even if we were doing a relaxing day at home by the pool, Maddie would ask if we would be going to see the animals today. Our first day in Florida was spent at Animal Kingdon with Uncle Kevin, Aunt Tina, Guilian and Gavin. So, from then on, she would ask "Animals today?" She definately had a good time....but then again, she would have had just as much fun at a playground *grin* Aunt Kristy, Molly, Mom Mom, Maddie and I also spent a special day at the Magic Kingdom and had lunch in Cinderella's Castle with the Princesses! It was alot of fun, Molly had a blast and had her picture taken with each of the princesses. Maddie on the otherhand didn't want to have anything to do with them, although she did like to say their names over and over and point them out. Fairy Godmother was able to sneak up for a stealth picture with Maddie, but that is the only one. (speaking of which, I need to get some copies of pictures from Kristy, Kevin and Mom....So, if you're reading this...let's all make some CDs of pictures, including from Christmas!!!)
I still think our next big family vacation needs to be at another location. While I do like Florida, there is more out there in the world to do and see...now I just need to convince the rest of my family of that fact. I believe I'll have an easier time with some than with others, but I think the closest I'll be able to get is to get them all to agree to a cruise somewhere... Disney is fun, and we did have a good time, but there is more to life than amusement parks. I'll have to slowly work on them to see if any are going to want to/be able to go back to China with us in about 6-8 years. Yes, I'm already thinking about/planning for a trip back to China to visit with Maddie...Ron says I need to start saving now so at least HE can fly business class *grin*
Florida was sort of a family reunion, seeing Aunt Karen, Ann Marie and Jack, who has grown so much since last we saw him in September! He's walking all over the place and is adorable as can be! We also got to meet a new addition to the family, Cousin Joshua! Joshua is now the youngest member of the family and was scooting around having a grand old time! Rebekah and Sean, who live in Malaysia, were in Florida visiting and we were able to spend an evening with them. The only problem is I think Rebekah is the one that was taking all of the pictures so I don't have one to post of the kids together!
We did have some adventures with the house rental, heck, when aren't there issues with something or another... The first was the pool heat wasn't working and the cable on the TVs was out. After 2 days we had both working just fine, and we were enjoying ourselves....then on Superbowl Sunday....some sort of pipe burst and we had to move to another house. Happily this didn't happen until it was just Mom Mom, Pop pop and Us as the mass chaos that would have been caused by us ALL having to pack and move would have tipped some people over the edge I'm sure! The second house was very nice, pool heat and cable worked perfectly from the start, we even liked the layout a bit better too! All in all, one thing I would tell people that rent out their houses with pool heat. Have some sort of thermometer that is out and visible to the guests because everyones sense of temperature is different and if a pool is supposed to be heated to a certain temperature, there can be no disagreement if there is a solid number looking people in the face. There, I said it, I got it off my chest.
I'll now post some photos of our trip in peace =)
Aunt Sharon, Maddie and Uncle Jimmy relaxing in Palm Coast, Florida!
Maddie and Dalton enjoying swinging together!
Gulian, Maddie and Gavin share a ride at SeaWorld on their way to feed the stingrays! Oh my, don't get me started, I've never seen a little boy as happy as when he was feeding the stingrays!!
Daddy and Maddie at the Animal Kingdom checking out the birds.
Maddie sporting one of her new bathing suits, she's going for the girl surfer look here! 
Maddie and Uncle Kevin sharing a bit of birthday cake in Florida!
Pop Pop and Mom Mom with Maddie in Adventureland at the Magic Kingdom!
Mommy and Maddie taking a ride on the teacups, which she liked by the way as long as you didn't spin too fast!
Yes, life is tough in Florida, swimming, taking a bit of time in the jacuzzi, playing ball.....so tough. Did I mention that 2 weeks isn't long enough?
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