Spring Break 2010

The weekend before Spring Break, Grandma and Grandpa Brown surprised the kids and me with a trip to Florida for a few days. The kids were SOOOOO excited, that was ALL they talked about at school...we literally counted down to Sunday! :)

Sunday morning we got up really EARLY (with the time change it was actually earlier than the alarm clock would like to suggest) and were in Orlando right after lunch. We surprised Aunt N for her birthday dinner...gosh I LOVE surprises!!!! :) We had a nice fun-filled evening with the fam!!!

Monday we went to the zoo with Grandma! This experience at the zoo was unlike any others we had taken in the past...for several reasons. The first was our experience in the bird encounter. Last year Little Miss A and Mr. D would have absolutely NOTHING to do with this exhibit, we all but RAN through couldn't even think about feeding the birds. This year, on the other hand, the kids probably fed EVERY bird in the place TWICE. They loved it so much that they were even trying to entice the birds to perch on the their hands. Unfortunately that didn't happen with the kids, just Mommy and Grandma.


We hit the train to see a side of the zoo we hadn't experienced yet. Seeing the animals SO close up and even being able to see eggs in nests was super cool, but pales in comparison to our next stop...

Mom is an amazing VIP zoo member which is the ONLY reason we got to do this...
A baby giraffe was born at the zoo ONE and a HALF weeks earlier and was an astonishing 6 feet tall weighing in at a whopping 140 pounds. Still adjusting to this new life, Momma and baby are still not part of the regular exhibit and not many people have even seen the baby yet. As if seeing the baby giraffe wasn't cool enough, Little Miss A and Mr. D got to feed Momma JoJo, with Daddy Raffiki watching from a distance with a protective eye over his sweet new family. It was an unbelievably amazing experience!!!

After a fun filled afternoon at the zoo, it was back to Grandma's house for some pool time. (The kids were constantly asking when they could go swimming.) They both threw on their suits and hit the hot tub. :)

Tuesday morning, Grandma packed a picnic lunch and we headed for the park. The picture below is triumphant one for Mr. D. After several failed attempts, disappointment and frustration in trying to master the bar (a feat his sister was easily able to do repeatedly time and again since she is still quite a bit taller than her brother) with Grandpa's help, D finally figured it out and was so proud of himself and his swinging technique. :)

We left the park and walked to the boardwalk to head for the beach. It was still way too cold, so we went with the idea of just "getting out feet wet" and left with two completely soaked kids that had a BLAST in the water!!!

Afterwards, we left the park and headed to Ron Jon's for some dry clothes and were off to the Dinosaur Store. I think my kids could have spent hours just in the gift shop. :) What a cool place. It definitely got them both talking about dinosaurs which is always fun. Library, here we come. :)

Wednesday morning, we got Aunt K and headed to Orlando, we picked up Kay then went to meet Uncle K for lunch. So special!!! :) Afterwards, with several changes of plans we ended up heading back to K & K's for some bread to take to the park to feed the ducks. No camera tricks, optical illusions or shifts in perspective here, these geese are HUGE!!!! It was hilarious to walk to the park, we could hear the geese before we saw them. Their honking sounding like a band of trumpets...hilarious!!! :)

Once the bread was gone it was off to play. This is the same park we went to before when Daddy and Uncle D spun each other so hard on the spinning wheels, they both nearly got sick. Though it was St. Patty's Day, there were no green faces this time around. :)
A St.Patty's Day dinner with super fun green drinks. What a great way to end a day. :)

We had such an amazing time!!! As always, it went WAY TOO FAST!!! Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa!!! We love and miss you so much already!!! :)