Flying to Orlando

When Zuri was two and we were living in Georgia, my sister Emily came to visit us for a few days.  We took her to see the sights around Atlanta and had a blast.  Emily and Zuri formed a special bond, that they still have despite the distance and time between visits.  Emily told Zuri that when she turns eight, she will take her to Disneyland, and every two years after they will go on a special trip.  

Well, she turned eight and Emily remembered her promise.  It was going to be just the two of them, but the invitation was extended to J and I as well.  J declined because he had already taken so much time off work for our vacations this summer and hunting, but I gladly accepted.  To help offset the cost, I took care of the hotel room and we split the food.  Unfortunately, our planning took place too late, and hotel rooms in Anaheim were booked out for over 13 months, but there were openings in Orlando, so instead of Disneyland, we did Disneyworld!

When I booked the hotel room, I mistakenly looked at the wrong track, so Zuri was actually in school for the week we went--I had thought she was off track.  D'oh!  The timing worked out well, though, because it was the slow period for Disneyworld and we didn't wait more than an hour for any ride.  In fact, many rides had less than a ten minute wait and we were able to ride multiple times in short periods of times.  The temperature was also pretty nice.  There was only one day that I can remember it being really hot--in Animal Kingdom, but the rest of the time it was almost perfect.

We flew the red-eye flight, and our flight was delayed, so we didn't leave Utah until after midnight.  I thought Zuri would crash on the plane, but she stayed awake until about an hour before we landed.  It was her first flight (that she could remember) and she was really excited.

Leaving so late meant arriving in Orlando super early, which wouldn't be an issue, except that check-in time for our hotel wasn't until four in the afternoon, so we had almost 12 hours to kill before we could check-in.  With Zuri being awake the nearly the whole time on the plane, it meant I was as well.  We were tired, so I took a chance and went to the hotel right away.  We got lucky and they let us check in early.  Zuri and I crashed.  Emily wasn't due to arrive in Orlando until the afternoon, so we took advantage of the time and slept.  Much needed!

Welcome to Orlando!

One of the hotel buildings...there were 18 buildings on the property!

 

The sunrise from our balcony when we arrived at our room

The view from our balcony

We had a jetted tub in our room!

 When we woke, we were starving!  The hotel was so large that they shuttled us from the check-in to our building, and of course we were near the end of the property, so it was quite a walk.  Still, we walked to the little grocery store (somewhat) nearby.  Zuri wouldn't go without first seeing the pool, and of course she had to dip her feet in!  Silly girl.  All week she talked about swimming.  I almost think she would have been content spending the whole vacation just swimming.

We picked up a few groceries at the mini-store (like a gas station store) and we were planning on getting more when Emily arrived, however, we didn't end up doing that--we went swimming instead. Zuri was pretty insistent and we spent the rest of the day in the pool.

The fountain in the pond in between buildings on our walk to the grocery store.  Every pond had an alligator warning sign posted--no swimming!

We watched as an airplane made this smiley in the sky!  How fun!

Emily's here!

"C'mon guys! I'm waiting!"

This is the life...

Halloween 2016

Halloween this year felt a little rushed since Zuri and I had just gotten home from Florida.  We had spent the week in Disneyworld with my sister Emily.  Lots more to come on that one!  Zuri really wanted to be something scary this year, but unfortunately, even though she is eight, she is the size of a six year old, and all the costumes we could find in her size were of pretty princesses and fairies and whatnot.  So we improvised and took her witch costume from a couple years ago and made her into a vampire/witch.  

Kai was a ninja, and although his costume was a 5/6, it really didn't fit through the torso--too tight-- but was super long in the arms and legs.  He was a little uncomfortable, and really happy to get out of it.

River resurrected Zuri's old Princess costume that my mom made several years ago.  She was really cute, saying "Princess!" over and over.  She didn't like the hat, though, and refused to wear it longer than it took to snap a couple pictures.  River also really got into the trick-or-treating spirit.  She loved going to the houses and saying "trick-or-treat!" and getting candy.  She thought it was the best thing in the world.  No shyness there.  She didn't really get scared with any costumes or decorations either, which was nice.  For weeks, as we saw decorations in the stores and throughout the town, she would say, "Halloween! Scary witch! Spooky pumpkin!" It was adorable.  Christmas will be lots of fun this year.

Our neighborhood is a lot of fun when it comes to Halloween, and not just for the kids.  We have several neighbors who do things for kids and adults alike.  We have one neighbor who always makes scones, homemade root beer, and hot chocolate; another neighbor cooks up hot dogs and hot chocolate; another does scones and a mad hatter's tea party.  It's fun, and a nice break from trick-or-treating when little legs get tired.

Our trick-or-treating didn't last very long this year.  We ate dinner quickly and headed out.  Not even ten minutes in, Zuri was complaining of a tummy ache.  I didn't think too much about it, but then she said she needed to go the the bathroom.  Luckily, we had just stopped at a friend's house and she asked to use their restroom.  She was inside for quite some time, so I knew something was going on.  However, she was fine coming out, so we caught up to J, Kai, and River, who had gone up ahead.  About 30 minutes later she was saying that her legs were tired and she was ready to go home.  Knowing how well she handled Disneyworld, I was really surprised, but we cut our route short and made it home about an hour after we had started.  We made it just in time, for Zuri had diarrhea she was holding in.  Poor girl. 

Stopping in for scones and root beer