Spring Break

We took a trip to Florida (Disney and Port St. Lucie) for this year's Spring Break.  It appeared that everyone else had the same idea for going to Disney, because by Wednesday, the Magic Kingdom parking lot (the 4th largest parking lot in the world) was completely full.  They parked cars in the grass before forcing the remainder into other Disney parking lots.  To say the parks were packed is an understatement.  And it sure does bring out the worst in people in those conditions.  I am not a fan of crowds, so I really had to keep my patience in check.  However, now that we have to go by school breaks, we don't have much of a choice.  We did manage to have fun and do everything but a couple things on our "must do" list.  It would have been great to have the girls meet Anna and Elsa from "Frozen", but the wait was 4-5 hours long.  Yes, you read that right.

We did Disney Monday - Wednesday and then drove to Port St. Lucie on Thursday afternoon to visit my Great Aunt Arlene and my dad's cousin, GeriAnn.  The last time we had visited them was before we had the girls, so I was especially looking forward to having Aunt Arlene (who shares a birthday with Clara) meet them.  Unfortunately, we didn't get that chance, because GeriAnn called me on Tuesday morning to let me know that Aunt Arlene died on Monday night of a massive heart attack.  Disbelief, sadness, loss for words.  I know that God had a plan for the way things happened.  Maybe it was for me to be there for GeriAnn, since she doesn't have any other family (besides her husband) nearby.  I'll never know for sure, but I was sad that we didn't get one more chance to see her.

Before we knew it, we were on a flight back to Chicago, and vacation had come to an end.  Vacations always go too fast, don't they?  Below is just a sampling of the hundreds of pictures and videos that we took.

  

 The first picture we took at Disney.

 

It's so pretty when they light the castle up at night!

  

Each side of the castle has something different to see. 

 

 

We were able to go on several rides.  This one was Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid.  Disney does such an awesome job of paying attention to detail and using bright colors.

 

On the Mad Tea Party ride.

Part of the It's a Small World ride.

 

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

  

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

  

Prince Charming Regal Carousel

 

 

A new attraction at Disney (and one that ended up being one of Hailey's favorites) was the castle from Beauty and the Beast.

 

Starting out in Belle's cottage and then the mirror you see on the wall magically expands and turns into a door.  Hailey was so surprised by that!

 

You then walk through a castle hallway to Belle's dressing room. 

 

 They picked characters (some of the kids and adults) to be a part of the story of "the day that Belle and the Beast fell in love".  The wardrobe talked and moved as well.

 

Then we went into Belle's library in the castle for the story.  Even Lumiere talked and moved.  It was really really neat.

 

Posing with King Triton.

 

A quick nap!

 

Pooh's Treehouse

  

The hat at Hollywood Studios.

 

Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage

 

 

Disney Junior - Live on Stage - This is the Doc McStuffins part...Clara's favorite show on Disney Junior right now.

Waiting to watch Muppet Vision 3D.

 

Playing in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids exhibit.

 

Water would come shooting out in different places.  The girls had a blast playing in it!

 

Clara loved this slide and if you can hear her at the end, she says to the lady and child in front of her (that were apparently taking too long to get out of the way), "Watch out!"

 

Walking down the Streets of America.  

 

You certainly don't see these anymore!

 

The ball at Epcot.

 

They had lots of garden statues all over the park.  So beautifully done and kept up.

  

   

The underwater viewing at SeaBase.

 

  

The Germany area of Epcot.

 

 

The German food we had for lunch.  Brats or hot dogs with sauerkraut on top.  Paprika chips.  Apple strudel and Black Forest cake.  Very yummy!  

  

The Voices of Liberty at the American exhibit.

 The Voices of Liberty singers performing "When You Wish Upon a Star".  So pretty!

 

Lots of character greetings!  Snow White, Belle, Fairy Godmother, and Aladdin and Jasmine.

 

Daisy, Goofy, Minnie, Mickey, and Donald

 

Sofia the First, Rosetta and Tinkerbell (Disney Fairies)

 

We went to the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart, Florida and Brian got to feed a stingray.  Hailey and Clara were too scared to. :-)

 

 

 Right across the street from the Coastal Center was the beach and Atlantic ocean!  This was Clara's first time seeing the ocean.

 

It was a very very windy day, but we still played in the sand and looked for shells.

 

 

Putting our feet in the water.

 

 

Some pool time!

 

Clara had fun soaking everyone with the soaker pump.

 

Getting creative with the raft and noodles.

 

Clara sun-bathing. :-)