We had a morning flight out of Milwaukee on the Saturday we left, but instead of staying overnight in a hotel the night before, we got up around 3:30 am and got on the road. The kids were so excited to go and eventually went back to sleep, so it worked out great. By 8:00 am we were in the air toward Florida.
Excited to go early in the morning!
Emmit and I were flight buddies, and despite his happiness here, Emmit's first flight was a rough one. There was terrible (seriously the worst I have ever experienced) turbulence, and we soon discovered that Emmit has a bit of motion sickness. He never threw-up thankfully, but I had people donating their puke bags to me as he was turning shades of pale green and complaining about feeling sick. Several other people got sick on the flight so it was one we were ALL ready to get off!!
Ellie and Daddy were flight partners. The turbulence didn't bother Ellie at all...she was supporting Daddy who Emmit seemingly gets his motion sickness from =)
Yeah, we're in our rental car and off the worst flight ever!
We rented a condo in Cape Canaveral right on Cocoa Beach for the week. We found this place online through a rental-by-owner site...it turned out to be awesome. This was home for a week...ahh! =)
Inside the kitchen/living area looking out to the balcony that we spent a lot of time on. We also had two bedrooms and two bathrooms so we had plenty of space.
Balcony view - paradise!
Our first few days went roughly like this...get up around 7:00 am, lounge around and eat breakfast. After breakfast, head to the beach and take a walk to pick shells. We had a beautiful white sand beach right outside our door. After shell picking, come back to the condo and play at the pool/hot tub until lunch. After swimming, eat lunch in our condo, and then after lunch head to the beach. Spend the entire afternoon playing at the beach, come back and eat dinner around 5:30, put the kids to bed around 7:30/8:00. Mom and Dad enjoy a cocktail on the balcony to the cap off the perfectly, relaxing day. Repeat. Ellie and Emmit absolutely loved the beach....they couldn't get enough. There were so many families on vacation like us, so just about every day they made friends and had fun playing in the sand and water.
We went on a couple short excursions during our week in Cape Canaveral. One was to visit the Kennedy Space Center. We spent about 6 hours there, and it was OK. The kids enjoyed, but Colin and I both thought the park hadn't been very well kept up. Never-the-less, we saw some interesting things, had lunch in the park, and got a few souvenirs to take home which the kids liked =)
Their favorite part of the space center - the Angry Birds exhibit!
Learning about space at the IMAX theater...look at Ellie's eyes...haha! =)
We went out dinner twice during the week. Otherwise, we cooked or grilled at the condo the entire trip which helped keep costs down. Going out to dinner with the kids for every meal for a week was also not our idea of a vacation =)
One of our dinners out...the kids tried a lot of new things in Florida. By the end of the week, Emmit had proudly tried mahi mahi, shark, sushi, and crab legs =)
Colin took a picture of my mojito =)
The pool at our condo was SOOO nice. It was huge and heated so even on days when the air was a little chilly, we still swam without skipping a beat. The kids did awesome swimming, and by the end of the week Ellie was completely floatie-free and Emmit was taking his off for short spurts too. They both skipped a level of swimming lessons at the Y after coming back home - sweet! =)
Beautiful sunrises and sunsets
Breakfast in the condo
Lounging (and napping) on the balcony
Ships in our balcony view. Port Canaveral, where all the Disney cruises (and other cruises) leave, was right near where we stayed. Everyday there were ships or barges to watch out in the ocean.
Playing with their toys from one of the space center gift shops
We bought the movie Frozen and watched it for the first time one night on our trip. We were thankful that we were not frozen like everyone else at home though =)
It was super humid in Florida, and both Ellie and I were rocking wild curls all week!
We went to Florida just the four us not really having any plans. The first day we were on the beach though we quickly realized there were many other families there doing the exact same thing. The kids just seemed to flock together...making new friends every day. The second day we were at the pool we met a family from Cleveland. They had a 9 year old daughter and 5 year old twin girls in kindergarten like Ellie. We played together at the pool that day and pretty much every day after. The third day we met another family from Milwaukee - their kids were 6 and 4, just like our kids. Ironically, the Dad grew up in Greenville and his parents lived a few miles from us. Our three families spent a lot of time together over the week we were on vacation - playing at the pool, at the beach, and even planning a vacation-themed birthday party for the now 6 year old twins. By the end of the week the adults were giving hugs and exchanging contact information. I don't know if we'll see these families again, but our week together was sure memorable - I hope we do! Here are a bunch of pics from our last fun day at the beach.
Our last night we went for an evening walk on the beach and just enjoyed the warmth and ocean breeze one last time. We had a very early morning flight again, so it would be dark when we left. We washed up our shells and packed them up to take home. First family vacation in the books - it was awesome - I cannot wait for Spring Break 2015!
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