Vacation!!!

At some point in the recent past, Carol and I decided that it was time to go on a trip somewhere beside Utah (nothing against Utah, but it was time for a change). Fortunately, Annette (Carol's sister) lives in Florida and we hardly ever get to see her and her sweet family. So we planned it all out, loaded up the car and went to St. Augustine for a week. Pretty sure we either forgot the camera or didn't pull it out for the first few days, so pictures from that portion are limited to what is on our phones, and I haven't downloaded those yet.

We left last Friday after I got off of work, and as is our habit, just drove through the night. Rollie, (Annette's husband) is doing some military training near Pensecola, so around 6:00 a.m. we picked him up and he drove us the rest of the way in on Saturday morning. After a power nap and a shower, we went to the church and were blessed to be able to witness Ammon get baptized. It was an awesome ordinance, and Rollie did an amazing job.

Sunday we went to church with Annette and it was great to actually just go to meetings and have a little break (at least for me; Carol spent the whole time in Primary so I don't know how much of a change it was for her). On the way home Emmett asked me if I was going to stay to count and was quite pleasantly surprised when I said no. The rest of the day we just hung out and relaxed.

Monday we went into St. Augustine and went to an Alligator Farm. The kids loved it. Cora and Jess were both freaked out by the hairy catipallars that seemed to be everywhere and a bird pooped in Jess's hair, but after a few tears and a trip to the bathroom to clean it up she was okay. After that we ate at a great fish house, and then we wandered through the city a bit. It is kind of a tourist trap, but that is what we were so it was fun. On Tuesday we went back into the city and did more of the sites. It is the oldest continually inhabited European city in the U.S. but since it was founded by those silly Spaniards, the history books don't talk about it. We rode a trolly through the city and had a tour, and then visited a pirate museum and walked through the shopping district.

On Wednesday we drove down to Orlando and went to Disney World. We weren't planning on going but Alan and Bonnie sent us a surprise gift of funds (thank you!) and so we decided we would let the kids experience the Magical Kingdom. We actually broke out the camera at that point so there are a few pictures below of our visit. It was spring break for the locals so the place was PACKED! But we were still able to cover most of the park and the ride all the classic rides (Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, etc...) I lucked out and took Cora and Jess on Splash Mountain while Carol took Emmett and Maren on It's a Small World. Then we switched, Carol went on Splash Mountain and I took Emmett and Maren to Mickey's Phylharmagic. We spent pretty much the rest of the day together and didn't get back up to St. Augustine until about midnight. It was a super long day, but the kids had a blast and were troopers. They didn't whine or complain almost the whole time. There were a few short lived moments but over all they were great!

On Thursday we went to the beach. The kids had so much fun! Cora and Jess were having a blast body boarding, and Maren and Emmett built sand castles and played in the shallows. Annette brought a little Hibachi so I grilled some hot dogs and sausages and we just played all day. We figured out we are a little out of practice with sun block, so there are a few patches of red skin here and there but I think if we lived next to a beach the kids would want to spend all summer and every Saturday playing in the water (and I have to admit, other than the sand it is a bit tempting). Friday we packed up, cleaned up, and tried to get Annette's house back into some what of the condition it was in before we arrived. With Rollie gone on training we increased the size of her house 200% from what it usually is. Then we had dinner and headed back home. We got back in yesterday morning and slowly unpacked and tried to get ready to head back to the routine. Carol and I were both glad it was conference weekend and we didn't have to jump back into that part of the craziness that fills our daily lives just yet. Now here we are Sunday night and ready to get back to it in the morning. Below are some of the pictures we took. I uploaded just about all of the pictures to Facebook so you can see the rest of the trip there.

On the train headed to Frontier Land about to start our day in the Magic Kingdom.

Maren and Emmett on It's a Small World.

We ate "lunch" on the people mover. I say "lunch", because the sandwiches got left in the car so we pretty much just ate the snacks that we had packed. There was plenty of food, but we had to refill our water bottles at the drinking fountains, and well they tasted like swamp water. Even not getting a real meal the kids were great.

Maren did have a good time, but she was upset because she thought someone was laughing at her. There are pictures of her smiling.

The whole family in front of Cinderella's Castle.

Maren working on her sand castle.

Jess was a little afraid of body boarding at first since she really didn't like the taste of the ocean, but once she really caught her first wave we had to practically drag her out of the water.

Cora bought a cheap body board at one of the shops on Tuesday. For $6 and change it was probably the best thing she could have gotten. She didn't want to leave the water for anything!

Emmett loved building sand castles and smashing them as well as looking for seashells. There were moments where it looked like those little blond locks belonged at the beach.

I am so grateful to have had so much wonderful time with my family. It really was a great vacation and it was so nice to not have to worry about homework, grading papers, research and all the other things that have constantly plagued me on any of our past trips. More than one prayer of gratitude was offered for such a stress free time with my beautiful bride and wonderful kiddos. Now we need to plan one with just Carol and me!

~Hosh