The happiest place on earth!

And so our voyage begins...after getting everything unloaded from the moving truck we quickly headed back to Salt Lake to fly to Orlando Florida for an entire week. It was my graduation / we need a vacation trip! and it was so worth every penny of the money we don't have since we just drained our funds paying for boards and moving to McCammon but I am sure glad we did it. Here is a detailed recap of the events that took place on our vacation...

Day 1:

After arriving at the Orlando airport we got our luggage and rental car which at first we were pretty excited about because we got an awesome deal on it and it was a ToyotaYaris which we have always wondered what they were like since they are one of the most economical cars. After driving on for an hour in the car on the freeway we decided we would never by this car. With the slightest bit of wind it practically flew into the next lane. There were other features of the car too we didn't like but it doesn't really matter because we were just using it for the week. The important thing is that the A/C worked great and that was really important in the Florida hummidity. In our car and on our way to the condo my aunt Maria so kindly provided us with as a graduation present to me! We thought we had followed the directions she gave us to a tee but we missed the turn off and ended up taking the scenic route and also went through 2 or 3 unnecessary tolls so it ended up costing us like $6 bucks just to drive on roads to get to the condo. It didn't matter though because we were just happy to be on vacation. I will admit though I did get a little bit grumpy on the way because I was starving and I am not the happiest person when we are lost either. We made it to the condo though and got all checked in. The condo was awesome it was on the first floor and was bigger than our apartment we just moved into I am pretty sure and if you stepped out onto the back porch the pool was right there. It was complete with everything we needed for the week, there were even dishes for us to use. Once we got settled in we made our way to Downtown Disney. I have been to Orlando and all of the attractions before but Mikey hadn't. The last time I was at Downtown Disney we ate at this fabulous place called Fulton's Crab House so we decided to have a special dinner there the first night. However the last time I was there my MOM paid the bill and I had forgotten about how expensive it was. Like most restaurants now though they had a special that included an appetizer, entree and dessert for a certain price. So we decided to go that route. Mikey got the FILET MIGNON and I had the KING CRAB LEGS. Of my goodness seriously the most delicious dinner I think I have had in a long time. There was plenty of food so we shared each other's meal so we could have the best of both worlds. To top it off we had cheesecake topped with strawberries for dessert. Oh so everything was super expensive at this restaurant but since most people were tourist everyone was pretty much dressed casually but Mikey ordered a lemonade which was delicious too I might add because it was freshly squeezed but it was $5 dollars for one glass. We were surprised! I was thinking for a price like that it should at least have some alcohol in it or something! haha just kidding you know we don't drink. The bill came out to be like a hundred dollars with tip and in my head  I was like that is like two weeks worth of groceries for us! but it was awesome and just thinking about it right now is making my mouth water. After dinner we walked around Downtown Disney and I of course enjoyed looking at all the stores while Mikey just tolerated it because he knew I was enjoying myself! While strolling around we ran into this little guy. A black lab lego dog (to the left of Mikey) which reminded us of our Mo Dogger at home so we had to take a picture!

 And of course we went to POOH CORNER! which my friends Sophie and Heather would appreciate since we had a Pooh Bear and Friends Club when we were younger. I was Piglet, Sophie was Pooh Bear and Heather was Tigger. I look like a Zombie in this picture but I had to keep it for the memories you know.

Once I was done looking around we headed back to the Condo and got some much needed rest after our travels.

Day 2:
Since it was MOTHER'S DAY and Sunday we decided to kind of lay low for the day. We had to get some supplies for the week so we went to Walgreens to stock up on sunblock and goggles for our trip later in the week to Blue Springs . We hit up Chili's for lunch (I know why not eat some place local but at that point we were starving and thought it sounded good). We stopped by a tourist shop where I found a super cute blue polka dot swimsuit and Mikey got some "MATRIX" sunglasses. He forgot his at home so in the future pictures you will see the sunglasses I think make him look like "Smith" on the Matrix. We pretty much hung out at the Condo for the rest of the day getting our rest for our Disney World adventure the next day. Every now and then I will have a craving for Pizza Hut deep dish pizza and lucky for me Pizza Hut was on the resort premises we were staying at. So for dinner we ordered Pizza Hut. It was greasy of course but cheesy and delicious!

Day 3:

Disney World Park Hoppin'! Ok so here's the background...My cousin STEPHANIE sent us her Parkhopper passes to Disney World to use for one day at the parks and one day at a Disney Waterpark. They have this fingerprint scanner at the gates but she said they never work and that my other cousin PAT and his wife had used them and they worked just fine even though they were under her name and JOSH her husband. Needless to say we wanted to see as many of the parks as we could in one day because who knows when we will get back there. We mapped it out the night before and our game play was ANIMAL KINGDOM-->EPCOT-->MAGIC KINGDOM. We got up early and we were at Animal Kingdom as soon as the gates opened. (Sidenote: Mikey was really nervous about the fingerprint thing and what to do if it didn't work and then they were suspicious, it was really making my laugh inside and out. When we got to the gate the lady in front of us was struggling and the fingerprint wouldn't register and let her in. I could see him growing more anxious inside but our fingerprints went through with flying colors and we were off to see the animals!)

First thing first was the SAFARI ride I have seen shows on tv and wanted to make sure I saw everything I wanted to so like I said we got maps and mapped out each of our target points at each park. We
entered  HARAMBE      

and boarded the caravan. I was a little disappointed to find out it wasn't a "real" safari ride just pretend but it was pretty cool.

The animals were all out roaming pretty much free on the wildlife preserve they have there. We saw a baby giraffe right by the truck and the mama giraffe was nearby too.

There were elephants and hippos and a robot lion. It was great! I mean of course they can't have a real lion just roaming around while people are being driven through there can you imagine the liability. It did look pretty realistic though except for when it moved it's head to yawn.

 And the best part of the whole safari ride was this crazy OSTERICH that was trying to attack the truck. He was not happy that we were driving through there. I was scared it was going to peck my face. I escaped without any harm though!

Next stop: Expedition Everest to ride the Yeti roller coaster! It was really fun! The line the whole way in was just like it would be if you were visiting the villages near Mt. Everest. At least I would hope so I have never been there of course but it was cool to see all the pictures of climbers and Yeti legends. The roller coaster was a lot of fun and in the middle of the ride it switches tracks and goes backwards. That threw us for a loop!  We explored other stuff at Animal Kingdom but for the most part it was like a glorified zoo which would be fun for little kids...so we said our goodbyes and we were off to EPCOT.

 I'm not going to lie I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Epcot. When I was mapping everything out I thought we wouldn't spend much time there because it was mostly an "educational" park with all the different countries and space age stuff to learn about but it ended up being really fun. By the time we got there it was around lunch time so we headed over to NORWAY which is where Mikey's grandma is from and had lunch in the little cafe there. Much to our surprise they had GRANDPA'S WISKERS! It is a norwegian rice pudding with raspberry topping. The girls working there were from Norway and we found out from them that everyone who works at the EPCOT COUNTRIES has to be from that country in order to wear the uniform.                                                     
After lunch we took a ride on the viking voyage and got a little taste of Norway in the shop at the exit of the ride. Pretty cute viking if you ask me! Even though the hat wouldn't fit his fat head! :)
We walked around and looked at all the other countries, went on a train ride that took you through some new ways of planting foods and raising fish and various agricultural things. Mikey really like it because he is very interested in environmental issues and enhancing the way we do things and I was pretty interested too. There are some pretty cool ways to grow fruits and vegetables I had no idea existed. We tried to go on the behind the scenes tour but it was done for the day, so we walked around some more and then ended up at SPACESHIP EARTH.

 This is the ride that takes you up in to the giant golfball that is at the entrance of epcot. It was fun to go on but a little out dated. They made it back when computers weren't super huge yet but it was fun to see how technology was evolved. Did you know the computer was created by a farmer? Fun note for us: We didn't know when this camera flashed that it was taking a picture of us for a fun computer animated slideshow of our lives in the future according to the questions we answered on the screen. And so our faces looked pretty shiny from the humidity and exhausted. We got a good laugh out of it and I wish we could of printed it off to take it home.

If you look hard enough you will see that STITCH is in there. The shrub to the right of me. In case you didn't know I am kind of in love with stitch and wish he were real. I would definately have one! We found him while walking around epcot and I had to have a picture for our future landscaping of our house! haha just kidding, I am not THAT in love with him. So at this point we were getting a little tired and thought we would just head over to MAGIC KINGDOM but we decided to go on the FINDING NEMO CLAM SHELL RIDE and I am so glad we did. The ride was pretty cute especially for little kids but the end was awesome. The calm shell ended at this three story high tank with dolphins, sea turtles and numerous fish. It was a sort of ocean discovery center for anyone to learn things at. They had scuba divers and the best part a dolphin show. We made it there at the perfect time too because the dolphin show began right when we got there. Those animals are amazing and so very intelligent. It was seriously probably the best part of the day besides spending it with my love of course!

Before we left EPCOT and made our way to MAGIC KINGDOM we found the perfect mouse ears for me...

After a quick photo shoot we made our way to MAGIC KINGDOM.

 (This is the only picture we had someone else take. We never wanted to take the time to ask someone to take our picture but this couple was trying to take theirs and we were trying to take ours so we both just looked at eachother and asked at the same time...it was like love at first sight...haha)
It was about dinner time when we got to MAGIC KINGDOM so we checked out our options and decided to grab some grub at PECOS BILL'S nothing special just your basic burger and pulled pork sandwich that cost an arm and a leg seriously I don't know how families do it. The tickets to go to Disney World are expensive enough then you have to pay for food and souvenirs. We saw way too many kids passed out in their strollers or crying because they were exhausted and decided we aren't taking our kids unless theyre babies and free to get in or old enough to walk, know that no means no, and especially old enough to remember it because we will probably go bankrupt in order to afford it. As the night grew darker we climbed the SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON tree house which would be so cool to live in, in the right weather conditions of course. Watched the people get soaked on SPLASH MOUNTAIN and then took a spin around MIKEY'S RACE TRACK.

 Mikey is a crazy driver. If you are ever on the road with him be aware. He just looks crazed in this picture! We finished the night off with a carton of milk and a brownie as big as my hand and one inch think while watching the LIGHT PARADE. It was pretty cool and all the kids loved it. It was like HALLOWEEN and CHRISTMAS combined with all the lights and costumes.

By the time we got back to the condo we just tanked. I wish we would of had a step counter to see how much we walked during the day. But it was worth all of those steps to be together in the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

Day 4:

After our very loooooooooooooooong day at DISNEY we decided to take a relaxing day and just enjoy what FLORIDA had to offer. Mikey's good friend, Brent, is from Orlando and so before we left Utah he told us a bunch of great local places to go. We hopped in the car and made our way to BLUE SPRINGS which was just about an hour outside of ORLANDO. It was so breath taking there, the water was crystal clear and the vegetation was so lush. I know there is a different outdoor beauty out west but man was this awesome! The pictures don't do it justice at all.

 The dark area in the middle of the water is a giant crack that drops like 200-300 feet or something to were the spring begins. Also if you look really closely you can see the swimmers and divers in there too. When you swim over that crack you can feel the spring water pushing you it was crazy.

 This is were you get into the river and swim up to the spring opening. At first it was a little cold but we quickly adjusted because it is nothing like the cold of mountain spring water. I think year round it was like 70 degrees or something.

 This boardwalk went from the state park entrance or office up to the opening of the spring. It was really pretty with all of the green and moss covered trees.

When we got into the water the current was flowing against us and I was a little nervous because on the way into the water we happened to see a dead snake on the bank. I HATE snakes they are the one creature I fear the most so I was hesitant to put my feet down. Luckily I married a great guy and he dragged me behind him up the river to the beginning of the spring. We spent quite a bit of time swimming over the spring and just snorkeling there. There was a guy there who was an avid diver and he could got so deep into the crack and hold his breath forever it was amazing. Once we had had our fill of the spring opening we slowly floated down the river, snorkeling the whole way looking for wildlife. We saw a couple of turtles swimming and a bunch of different fish. It was really a neat experience and now we recommend anyone going to FLORIDA to check it out if they are near by.

After BLUE SPRINGS we hopped in the car again and made our way to Daytona Beach. We found a FIREHOUSE SUBS restaurant when we got there and enjoyed delicious sub. When my MOM  lived in TALLAHASSEE and I would visit we would eat there at least every other day. I don't know what it is about their subs but I love them. I was glad to find out that Mikey thought they were quite delicious as well. Once our bellies were full we found a place to park and took a walk on the beach.  

We found a nice spot without very many people around to distract us and took a nice little cat nap. However it was extremely windy if you can't tell from the picture. FLORIDA WEATHER was not good for my hair at all. It wasn't worth trying to do it because by the end of the day it just went curly and was all over the place so I just managed the best I could. Guess I won't be living in a humid place or else I will need something to tame my hair. Once we woke up from our nap we were over the beach. It was too chilly to swim and not much else to do so we headed toward the shops to find out where the famous AUNT CATFISH'S was located. A nice lady at one of the stores gave us a free map and showed us where to go, she also pointed out a lighthouse nearby so we decided to stop there on our way.

AUNT CATFISH'S was right on the water of the bay and had some delicious seafood however we were dressed in beach clothes so I felt a little underdressed when we arrived there however lucky for us they had a table open out on the deck where we wouldn't be seen by lots of people in our lovely beach apparel. The legend of the food was true and we both went home completely stuffed.

Day 5:
The two previous days kept us pretty busy so we decided to lay low and see what the condo resort had to offer. We started the day off by sleeping in and watching tv (which might sound odd to do while on vacation but since we knew we weren't going to have cable when we got home we decided to indulge). We finally dragged ourselves out of the condo and challenged eachother to a game of dino mini golf. For the record I beat Mikey! He thinks he's got game but he doesn't at least not in the world of mini golf!

 We also enjoyed a romantic ride on the swan paddle boats of course Mikey did most of the paddling.

Once we were done exploring the condo resort activities we headed back DOWNTOWN DISNEY for a light dinner at Bongos a cuban restaurant, which was really fun to try and really good too and of course some more shopping. I had made my decisions about what I wanted to buy and  now was a better time than any to make my purchases. We topped the night off with a CARAMEL APPLE from none other than the CANDY CAULDRON .

Day 6:

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE!!! This was probably Mikey's favorite day of the whole trip. Because it was full of all the adrenaline rides.  We started out on the HULK and made a complete circle around the park ending at SUESS LANDING.

 The SPIDERMAN ride is the best by far. At least it was is my favorite. In highschool I had a sick obsession with spiderman so I might be a little bias but it was really fun. For this ride you wear 3D glasses but they are different than your usual ones and I saw this couple stuffing them in their bag I was like REALLY?! what are you going to do with those at home? because we were both pretty sure they wouldnt work at home but who knows. Below is a picture of us as we were getting ready to board Blutos Bilge Rat Barge. While in line we saw all these kids coming off completely soaked so we were a little nervous but some people seemed not to be very wet at all. We decided to take the chance since it was a hot day.

 Below you will see the after effects of our voyage on Bluto's Bilge Rat Barge.

 We were completely soaked from head to toe. My clothes felt like they just came out of the washer! But we had a good laugh about it!
Unfortuantely the WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER had not yet opened while we were at the park but we did get to see some of it while walking around. Hogwart's castle pretty cool. For big fans of Harry Potter I think it is going to be pretty amazing, but for us we will have to catch it next time.

 I sat here below the castle and waited for Mikey because the Hulk roller coaster that blasts you from 0-45 miles an hour in about 3 seconds at the beginning of the ride gave me a good shake and my head was killing me pretty much all day but I still enjoyed myself. However I couldn't pull myself to go on the DUALING DRAGONS and as a single rider Mikey moved through the lines pretty fast. He experienced both FIRE AND ICE. On my first trip to ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE I went on the DUALING DRAGONS so I didn't really miss out on anything.

 We watched a short adventure play about SINBAD'S adventures which was super cheesy but all the kids in the audience seemed to like it and then made our way to the last stop: SUESS LANDING.

 My MOM is a HUGE Dr. Suess fan so the above picture was for her. The picture below meant something to us because sometimes I call Mikey- MOnkey because my friend Jeanine's little boy Aiden would call him that when we babysat him because he couldn't pronounce Mikey.

Our last ride of the day was on the Dr. Suess Express which went around Suess Landing on the roof tops so we could see it all without walking around because at this point our dogs were barkin'!

We left the ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE theme park and went to catch a bite to eat in the CITY WALK area outside of the park. They were running a special for dinner and a movie for $20 dollars so we decided to go on a date night there. We ate dinner at an italian restaurant and then went to the theatre to see IRON MAN 2. I was worried that I was going to freeze in the movie theatre because I get cold easily and we were still damp from the river raft ride but luckily we had our jackets and oddly enough the theatre wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. Once again at the end of the night we were extremely exhausted!

Day 7:

He looked through the telescope and what did he see...

                             

Disney's Typhoon Lagoon

 For our last day in Florida we decided to spend it soaking up the rays at the water park.

 The water slides were pretty fun but not very long. The lines weren't too bad so it wasn't that big of a deal but if it were the peak season and we had waited in those lines to go on the short water slides I might of been a little upset. However the shark reef that we were able to swim in was by far my favorite thing we were able to try while we were in Florida.
There is an abandoned submarine in the middle of the two shark reefs and on one side you can pay to use oxygen tanks and on the other for free you can swim across it with snorkels that they provide. Since you have to swim on the surface of both reefs we chose to just go with the free snorkels.

 This is a picture from inside the submarine where you can view the fish and the swimmers.

 If you look really closely you can see the little shark in the tank.

 I was so excited to try the snorkeling out! Mikey was excited but not as much as me!

 The attendants there prep you on what to do and said that the sharks in the tank aren't very big and are usually bottom feeders but when we were in the water it was a little scary because when they are swimming like four feet below you they seem a lot bigger and you know they still have teeth that would hurt if they decided to bottom feed on you. There were also a lot of cool fish and sting rays in the thank too. It was awesome! Ok so a funny story for us to look back on...we swam across the tank twice-the first time Mikey went ahead of me and I got a little frightened being by myself so the second time I told him to hold my hand the whole time. I wanted to go on the opposite side of tank we went on the first time and since you are only restricted to the vision through your googles I couldn't tell that I was making Mikey swim against the rock wall the entire time. Everytime he tried to signal to me to move over I thought he was pointing to a fish or something. The entire time he had to keep pushing himself off the wall and I had no idea that he was doing that because I was so mesmerized by the sea creatures! We got a good laugh about it afterwards and fortunately he still loved me when all was said and done!

 The coconut crusher was our favorite waterslide there. It was a waterslide roller coaster so we went up certain parts of the waterslide as well as down. It was really fun! In every picture that we took on roller coasters or waterslides on this trip Mikey is always laughing and I am screaming my head off. They were funny but we didn't buy any of them.

TYPHOON LAGOON was a great way to end our trip in Florida! Can't wait till we can go back, hopefully next time we can go with family or friends too! Not that we didn't enjoy spending time with one another it would just be fun to share with someone else as well.