Labor Day Weekend

We spent this past Labor Day weekend up in Orlando with Kristen and Kevin and had a great time! Jeff, Johnathan and I had planned on going up there for a while and right before we left Kristen and Kevin surprised us by treating us to stay at an awesome hotel instead of crashing at their place. It was a really nice condo hotel with a great pool area for Johnathan to play in and it was right around the corner from all the places we went that weekend.

We left bright and early Saturday morning. We set up a DVD player for Johnathan, it was the first time he had EVER watched Elmo and from the very first "la la la la, la la la la, Elmo's World" he was hooked! What is it with Elmo . . . it made for a very happy and quiet trip!

Okay, so I might not look very enthusiastic here, but we really were having fun!

We got to the hotel and quickly got changed to go play in the pool. It was fun to splash and play the afternoon away!

After a poolside lunch, we all got ready to go to Sea World for an nice evening out. Johnathan loved every minute of it and so did I. It was really great to see this place through Johnathan's eyes. Johnathan doesn't say many words, but one that I've been working on for a while is "wow", he definitely used that word a lot that night!

"Mom, don't embarrass me!"

How cool! Johnathan looked so tiny next to these huge fish tanks!

Sea World has amazing way's to watch all the different sea creatures! Here we are underneath a sting ray tank . . . soo cool!

Happy Family! (Kris, thanks again for always being our go to photographer!!!)

Love that look in his eyes, taking it all in!

There was a really neat tank that you could actually crawl into, pretty cool huh?

Then we went to the shark area, there is a moving sidewalk that takes you slowly through a shark tank . . . there were HUGE sharks all around us, so very very cool!

So, here's where I pushed a little too much into the day . . . Johnathan didn't really take a nap that day and it was getting late and we had already done a lot that day . . . Johnathan was a little cranky, but I insisted that we take him on the carousel . . . I truly had the best intentions, I just knew he was going to love it once we were on and moving . . . too bad for everyone around us that the process of waiting in line and getting strapped in took far too long for Johnathan's patience . . . . all that being said, once we started moving Johnathan LOVED it!

Auntie Kris keeping Johnathan safe and sound and as happy as can be!

We ended the day watching Shamu Rocks. It was really so much fun! Johnathan liked the music and lights . . . Jeff liked that they served beer . . . I was just happy that my two guys were happy! :-)

Clapping along to the music!

Awe, what a great photo! Love you guys!

The next day was so very special! We spent the day at Discovery Cove, it's a very different type of water park where you can swim with dolphins. Kris got us an amazing discount that allowed us to enjoy the all-inclusive, no worries, just show up in your bathing suit and we take care of the rest, type of day. Here we are waiting in line to sign in.

We all got name tags, even Johnathan had one! Then they take a "Welcome" photo.

Discovery Cove is a really cool place . . . they limit the amount of people they allow in daily so you never feel crowded and never wait in a line for anything, it's all inclusive (including food, soda, and alcohol), they supply you with everything but a bathing suit (sun lotion, towel, floats, etc.), you can swim with dolphins, sting rays, and have a coral reef snorkeling experience too. The one thing they require is that everyone where a full wet-suit or a fashionable vest . . . we chose to put Johnathan in the wet-suit and the rest of us got the oh-so-flattering vest. Here's my little Scuba-Steve!!

And here we are . . . love the vest!

Enjoying an ice cold beer in the hot sun on a very relaxing day of doing nothing but what we wanted. If that's not a perfect day I don't know what is!

They even supplied us with a stroller that was easy to push through the sand!

Do you think Johnathan was having fun here? hmmmm

The best part of the day was going through the lazy river . . . it was amazing! I'm sure it was over a mile long, some parts were very deep, some parts had a fast current, other parts just let you be lazy, there were waterfalls and it even took you through the aviary with birds flying and swimming right next to you. We went through at least 4 times. Johnathan was SUCH a trooper through it all. The waterfalls were pretty intense, but he just hung on to my neck and as soon as we were through he had a smile on his face again! Getting ready to go through one more time . . .

Here we are right before the first waterfall . . . quick note - the first time through this waterfall I lost my sunglasses, but I was so concerned about Johnathan I just let them go, they were $16 from Walgreens I figured I would just get another pair, no biggie. Jeff went back with snorkel gear just to check to see if he could find them . . . he came back with FOUR different sunglasses (apparently I'm not the only one who lost them), none of them were mine, but I chose a pair that seemed to fit well and look nice . . . come to find out, after checking on the internet, I snagged a $200 pair of sunglasses. I know, right? Score!

Oh it was just a wonderful day all around. One that I would love to repeat over and over. Each one of us had fun and really enjoyed being there and being together!

As most fun weekends do, this one went way too fast! Before we knew it, we had to pack up and come home. Above and beyond all the fun we had, I was so happy that Johnathan got to spend time with Kris and Kevin. Enjoying the last bits of time together.

A nice breakfast outside, hot coffee for me, cold milk for Johnathan, and we were off!

Fortunately we had Elmo to serenade our trip home . . . it made the four hour drive not seem so long!

Thank you Kris and Kevin for such a great weekend! We can't wait for next time!!!