Life in Florida

Two Big Milestones for M and L

July 22, 2013 by Jennifer 4 Comments

We are back from a wonderful family vacation to Florida. Seeing my in-laws always brings so many smiles for us and it is always so sad when we leave them. I wish the miles in between us were not so many. Over the next few days, I will be doing a recap of our vacation. We kicked off the vacation with time at the lake.

After experiencing rain and rain and rain, we were all not quite sure what to do with the bright state of Florida. The in-laws knew exactly what to do… head to the lake. The views were absolutely beautiful. Relaxation was very high up on our priority list that day.

The lake brought lots of joy for the girls. M experienced tubing behind a boat for the first time. The squeals of delight could be heard for miles, I’m sure.

She was screaming the entire time but we knew she was having so much fun since she loves a great thrill ride. They came in from their ride and they all agreed they wanted to go out again.

While M was experiencing all the fun in the lake with the boat and tubing, L was just as excited to experience fishing for the first time. She has begged her Daddy to take her fishing for the longest time. This was her big day! This video cracks me up, every time we watch it.

Guess what her bait was? A piece of bread! That’s right. She caught about 10 fish and was on cloud nine the rest of the day.

This day ranked up there with our “best day ever” days. We are looking forward to doing it again soon!

Jumping in the water

July 22, 2012 by Jennifer 2 Comments

Last week our travels landed us in Northern Florida to visit family. We had not seen them since Thanksgiving of last year, so it was a much over-do visit. It was Birthday celebration time for my husband’s son.

After Moe’s Southwest Grill catered the party, we set out on a journey of tubing down the springs. The springs are quite different than the river here in the NC mountains. You can actually see straight to the bottom in the crystal clear water at the Ichetucknee Springs State Park.

Florida State Park Springs — Photo Courtesy of Florida State Parks

The girls were over the top excited to go on their first tubing experience. Unfortunately, I had some anxiety going on. I was terrified that the girls would fall through the tube or they would float too fast from me. Ashley tried calming my fears. L rode in a boat tube so she was fine. M is the one that I had to worry about. My nephew and her decided to share a dual tube.

The fun began. We jumped off the dock and hoped we landed on the tube. Success! We are doing a great job. This will be relaxing. Wake-up to reality Jen. The springs current was not taking us in a straight direction. We were headed straight for a huge tree right in the middle of the springs. Titanic hit an iceberg, we were going to hit a tree and deflate our tube. The hubby and I are paddling fast and trying to steer. Laughing, paddling, laughing harder and paddling harder… we detoured and back on track without hitting the tree.

I have L and R (our little granddaughter) connected to our tube but somehow M and my nephew get stuck in moss. This is not good. My nephew is yelling… pedal, pedal, pedal. I said, Z… peddling is not going to get you anywhere. You better paddle. We all start laughing. Unfortunately, paddling was not helping and they were getting farther away from us. My heart starts beating fast and I decide to escape my tube and jump straight into the springs. Fish you better move out of the way. I am on a mission to save my precious M and Z.

The current is strong, so since I am swimming backwards to them, I am up against a fight with the current. There was no current going to stop me. M needed me and this mama bear needed her cub. With a one track mind, swimming hard, I made it to M. All I wanted to do was hold her and not let her go, but we needed to catch up with the rest of the family. I start swimming and pulling both M and Z behind me. We finally reach hubby. Please hold onto them and DO NOT LET GO! My next mission is jumping back into the dual tube with hubby. Once.. no go Twice.. this is not working… all hubby says… Jen you are going to turn us over. Not, let me help you honey instead. Sigh! It’s you are going to turn us over. That’s all I needed though. The adrenaline was pumping. Third try, I jumped successfully back onto the tube and all was well in the tubing world.

What a journey…. but I would do it again in a heartbeat to save my loves!

We went down two more times. M, L and Z all wanted to go down again. I think we may have a new family tradition when we head to Florida.

Gaylord Palms Orlando FL Presents Shrek in ICE!

December 6, 2011 by Jennifer 1 Comment

Christmas at Gaylord Palms Resort makes holiday dreams come true. This is a statement that was read to me a couple of weeks ago before I attended this year’s ICE event at the Resort. I was already shaking my head in agreement before I even was able to capture the event in person. This was my third year of attending the Gaylord Palms ICE event. Each year it has got better and this year has topped the charts. Watch out Gaylord, you have your work cut out for you next year to make it even better. The entire family was in awe the whole time we were visiting the Gaylord Palms. I am going to share our ICE and Snow adventures with you today and then tomorrow share even more adventures that are included in this year’s holiday package.

The highlight of Christmas at Gaylord Palms, ICE! is open daily (till Jan. 2, 2012), including
holidays. With more than 16,000 square-feet of frosty 9-degree bliss played out in a winter
wonderland of exciting hand-carved sculptures, ICE! Is a favorite holiday tradition. This year it features
five 30-foot ice slides and an all-new, tribute to the unforgettable DreamWorks’ Animation TV classic
Shrek the Halls. The attraction is carved by a team of 40 artisans from Harbin, China, an area best
known for its annual International Ice and Snow Festival.

I am always so amazed by the work and carving skills. Let’s take a virtual stroll through the ICE event. Passing the hot chocolate around. Be prepared to be amazed!

Isn’t this just breathtaking? Believe me, it is even better in person. You will be in awe the whole time. M and I had to create laughter and family fun on the ICE slides. Yes, you are sliding on ice!

Gaylord Palms always over the last three years included a nativity scene in ice. The beauty, the twinkle of the light shining down has me in awe every time. We caught L standing in front of the Angel for a good three minutes. She would talk to the angel and just stare upwards. Hubby and I both got chills.

A new feature that was added last year is SNOW. Yes, really there is snow in Florida. The Kung Fun Panda Awesome SNOW! features more than 130-tons of snow is freshly made daily to allow kids of all ages to build snowmen and forts while playing in over 3-feet of the cold stuff. The best part? We did not even have to wear a coat. The atmosphere is kept at a crisp 55 degrees. The girls were having so much fun throwing snow balls and not having to worry about freezing. We built a snowman, had fun sliding down the slides and catching each other off guard with a snowball.

Truly a magical and wonderful holiday experience for the whole family. What are you waiting for? Go create memories and have a blast. Believe me, you will not regret the experience. Merry Christmas!

Disclosure: We were invited on a FAM trip to the Gaylord Palms to experience all the holiday festivities. All thoughts and opinions are of my own.

Disney Junior Dance Party With Jake and Neverland Pirates

March 26, 2011 by Jennifer 1 Comment

The Disney Celebration fun continued Friday night with a Disney Junior Jake and the Neverland Pirates Dance Party. The girls danced their hearts out the whole night with not only Bones & Sharkey, but also Donald Duck and Handy Manny. The stage was set at Hollywood Studios right in the Disney Junior area of the park.

The DJ really kept the kids on their toes and kept the excitement going all night with surprise guests from Disney Junior filling the dance floor all night. Join in with the fun and get ready to dance as you watch the video from the night.

Grand Floridian Outdoor Fun

March 25, 2011 by Jennifer 6 Comments

Here is the first of many posts over the next week to share highlights from our fun at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. It indeed was that, a fun celebration. We were so honored to have a room on the water at the Grand Floridian.

Grand Floridian Disney Resort — Grand Floridian Waterfront Room View

The first day was just full of awesomeness that started out with some splishing and splashing in the uber cool beach pool.

Grand Floridian Pool — Open Your Eyes Mom

The pool starts off on one side like an ocean. Then proceeds to get deeper the farther you go in. This allowed kids of all ages (including moms and dads) to have fun in the water. No tears were ever shed that the pool water was too deep. Now, to add to the already cool pool was a fun waterfall slide. M was really enjoying the slide over and over and did I mention over?

After playing so long in the water that our skin was so wrinkled it was time to go have fun on the Grand Floridian lawn and sandy beach.

Grand Floridian Sand — Disney Princess Brides

Grand Floridian Sandy Beach — M playing with her friends in the sand at Grand Floridian

The night was filled with great food, great music and the biggest surprise of the night Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

Grand Floridian Mickey and Minnie Mouse — M so happy to be with Minnie and Mickey Mouse

Since our room was right on the water at the Grand Floridian, we had the most perfect view for the nightly electrical water parade and the fireworks over Magic Kingdom castle. Here is a short video recap of the fun we had in the great outdoors of Grand Floridian.

Life in Florida

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