WE WENT TO FLORIDA ON VACATION IN JANUARY!
We went to Naples to visit my aunt Barbara for the first half of the week. The kids loved the beach and swimming in the Gulf! Alyssa made herself right at home, playing in the sand, digging for shells and playing in the water. Nicholas got right into the sand - literally - when Daddy buried him! He liked the water, too, but he did NOT like the taste of it!
The kids got to see a Starfish that someone had caught. It was missing a leg, but was still alive. The lady who caught it said that the leg would grow back once it was living back in the salt water so she released it back into the water. We also got to see a bunch of dolphins swimming in the distance. John got two of them on video one day, although I'm not sure how good the video came out because of the distance. The second day - you know, when we didn't bring the video camera!! - there was about 5 or 6 of them swimming together, jumping in and out of the water. What an amazing sight that was!
After Naples, we went to Orlando for the rest of the week. John and I were able to visit some old friends that we worked with at Disney World a lifetime ago. It was nice to visit. The construction in the Orlando area is amazing. Granted, it's been 9 years since we left, but the new development and construction is truly outstanding. Even the highway exit numbers were completely different because of all the new exits they added.
Luckily, we still have some contacts down there, and we got free tickets to both Universal Studios and The Magic Kingdom! The kids were still a little young for Universal, although Nicholas said that E.T. was his favorite ride! We spent about 4-5 hours walking around there on Friday, and we had a good time!
On Saturday, we met up with old friends (no pun intended!!) and went to the Magic Kingdom. Nicholas and Alyssa met a new friend - Emily Moran - and we all had a great time playing, catching up on old times and riding the rides. Of course, my digital camera was just about full from all the pictures at the beach, so I had to use the old standby...a disposable one which hasn't been developed yet! There are a few pictures of the kids at Downtown Disney and when I get the other ones developed, I'll add them to the site as well. In the meantime, I'm going to try to figure out how to download the pictures that Sharon took to this site, so check back in a day or two!!!