Florida Trip

Well, a long time it has been. Chandler and I have had a pretty awesome last few months. First of all, we bought a new car. We traded in our Pacifica and bought a 2012 Chevy Cruze. The Pacifica was great, but wasn't too great on gas mileage and it was a little too big for us.

We absolutely love it. Secondly, we went on a belated Honeymoon vacation to Florida last month. I think half our family has been to Florida in the past month. We had so much fun and it was a great get away. And, unlike events in the past, we did take quite a few pictures. We flew in to Orlando pretty late on Tuesday so we just picked up our rental car and checked into our hotel, then promptly went to Waffle House. It was actually very good, but the service was somewhat terrible. I was wondering if our whole vacation was going to be that way, but it wasn't and I was very glad. Wednesday we headed over to Cocoa Beach to absorb some sun rays, and that we did. It was a fun beach, but there was a charge for EVERYTHING! There was even a $2 charge to go out to the end of the pier. Quite lame. We didn't stay super long, but it was nice to just relax after 7 hours of flying.

Thursday we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. The first ride we went on was the Hulk roller coaster. Probably not a good way to start things off, it was quite a long wait and it was WILD!!

We eventually made our way around to Harry Potter World. It was so cool but so crowded! We didn't go on any of the rides because it was so crowded, but we did get some butter beer. It was so good! I would go back again just to get some more butter beer. In the next picture you can see the castle in the background.

They also had a Dr. Suess setup. It was so cute! All the buildings and everything were so cartoony and fun.

While we were eating lunch, someone started walking down the street telling everyone to get on the side walks. Seconds later super heroes were riding down the street honking and giving people high fives. It was fun to see the little kids getting so excited.

Not sure what this world was, but I thought it was a pretty cool building.

Closer to Hogwarts castle!

The last ride we went on was a Spider Man ride. The wait was so long but so worth it. It was a 3-D ride and it was so realistic! It really felt like we were being flung around in Spider Man's web and falling from buildings and everything. It was so cool! After we got back from Universal Studios we went up to the temple to take some pictures. It was such a pretty temple!!

Friday we went to Daytona Beach. Little did we know it was Bike Week. There were motorcyclers everywhere! But, the beach was so beautiful. We purchased a day pass to be able to drive down on the beach and then used the car to block the wind while we relaxed.

After we were done at Daytona, we met up with my Aunt Colleen and Uncle Mark for dinner. It was so great to see them. They were so nice to show us around a few of the resorts at Disney World. We stayed and watched the fireworks and they were able to get us tickets to go to Disney the next day with them and two of their friends. Saturday morning we went to Downtown Disney with Mark and Colleen and then met up with their friends Steve and Becky and went to Epcot for the Flower and Garden festival. By that time, my legs were basically fried...so we went on a few rides and walked around to the different "countries" there and then left to drive up to Jacksonville.

Resorts:

This resort is called the Grand Floridian. It had a 50's feel and there was a live band playing on the second level.

This resort had a wilderness feel similar to Yellowstone. Please excuse the disgusting face I am making.

This resort had an African Safari theme

The middle of the resort was a big open Safari and had all sorts of wildlife native to Africa

Fireworks over Space Mountain

Downtown Disney:

Mr. Potato Head!

This was made out of glass! There was also Cinderella's carriage with Cinderella and Prince Charming inside!

These were made out of legos!

The Seven Lego Dwarfs

Buzz and Woody

Epcot:

The famous Epcot ball

Finding Nemo ride

Dolphin!

And a Manatee

Alice was signing autographs. She was so cute with this little girl and was very bubbly and in character the whole time

A few of the ferries in the butterfly exhibit made out of shrubbery

 After Epcot we drove up to Jacksonville. On Sunday we met up with one of Chandler's mission companions and his wife in St. Augustine, the oldest city in America. We ate at a pizza place and walked around the shops.

The fort at St. Augustine

Looking out at the ocean. Please excuse the fact that I look pregnant...totally not, we had just had a big meal.

Lauren and I, being classy

Monday we went up to Savannah, Georgia. We were going to go up on Saturday for the big St. Patrick's day festivities but then went to Disney instead. It was a pretty good trade off though because a couple people we talked to said it was super crowded and busy. We ate at a restaurant called Spanky's. My coworker who used to live in Savannah recommended it and it was AMAZING! They had the best chicken strips with honey dipping sauce and "spuds", basically potato slices dipped in batter and fried. They were so good!

After lunch we walked around River Street for a couple hours, got some shirts, and then drove over to another cute little street to walk around.

Chandler saw this huge barge and wanted a picture with it

I really wanted Chandler to get this shirt. He would only let me take a picture of him with it. If you can't read it it says,
"I don't need Wikipedia. My wife knows everything."

While we were walking around we saw this guy who was bending wire into people's names for free! He made this for Chandler and I. I love it so much! On the way back to Jacksonville I just kept staring at it.

We saw this cute little building before leaving Savannah. I just loved the look of it!

Monday night we met up with Bram and Lauren again for dinner and frozen yogurt. They were so fun to be around it made me want to stay another week! Thanks to everyone for the great time. We loved getting away for a week and loved being able to see a few relatives and close friends. Now, it's back to the real world.