Family Vacation 2011

Last summer we decided to take a vacation this summer with my Mom, my brothers and their families. We talked about several places and different things but settled on going to Florida. This was our first “real” vacation as we normally go to Iowa to see my family, to New Orleans or Atlanta to see Jeff’s family or just go to the beach for a few days to chill. I was pretty excited about this trip. Tamia was the only one of our kids that had been to Disney. My niece who is 15 went last year but my nephews had not been either. I looked at the millions of things to do in the Orlando area but we knew we wanted to experience Disney as a family so after talking to several people who had been recently our week was pretty much planned out. My brother Teige and his family vacation with another family (the Gochenours) each year so they joined us as well. I have to admit I was quite nervous about vacationing with 6 teenagers. Teige and his crew rented a 15 passenger van and drove down from Iowa...a 24 hour drive! That makes our 15 hour drive seem like nothing! We checked into the resort on Saturday, got settled quickly and headed to dinner..all 17 of us! I quickly realized that these teenage girls are sweet as can be and this is going to be an awesome week. Taryn instantly fell in love with Brittany and Kaitlyn and started to call them her blonde “friends”. Kiarra and Tamia had another girl their age to hang with too. Jayden really enjoyed Brenna being there too. The two of them had a great time teasing, tickling and poking each other. They used their time waiting in lines wisely and it helped the time pass by.
We kicked off the vacation with a day at the beach. We rented surf boards and everyone had a really good time. We went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that evening and it was such a disaster, I could write 4 pages on everything that went wrong…from having to ask for chips…to having to pay $2.50 for an additional basket of chips (they gave us 4 small baskets)…to the service being horrible and the food not all that great. We were glad to get out of there. The best thing was the mariachi band singing Lady Gaga songs and I don’t even like Lady Gaga!!
Monday we headed to Magic Kingdom. I couldn’t wait to see the look on Taryns face when she saw the castle for the first time. Her face lit up like fireworks in the sky. She wanted nothing to do with the tea cups but I did get her to ride the flying carpets with me. She did so great for only being 4 years old. I figured we’d need to carry her and have everyone take turns carrying her but she held up great…Mom and I on the other hand were not doing as well…I guess that is what we get for going against doctors orders and leaving town when they told us not too! We were going to take our kids back to the resort to chill each day for a few hours and head back for fireworks at night but my brother offered to keep the older ones there with them so we just took Taryn. Mom and I both needed to get off our feet and out of the heat for a while so it was a nice rest. We headed back to the park that evening to enjoy the electric parade and fireworks. The electric parade was awesome! We took a few family pictures in front of the castle and called it a night!
Tuesday, Teige and his crew headed to Bush Gardens while we stayed back to chill out, swim and shop. Makenzie hung with us all day which was great. Her Dad left that morning to go home so we took her in like our very own! I love that girl! It stormed off and on so I’m glad we didn’t go to one of the Disney parks this day. We found this awesome little pizzeria, Flippers, which we ended up going to again later in the week. We spend a few hours at the pool and as always the kids tried to wrestle Jeff down. At one time my Mom even got into it. It was hilarious…and for the record, they were not successful.
Wednesday we decided to go to Epcot. We got there an hour before the gates opened and had prime parking and didn’t have to wait in line for the first several things we did. Soarin was AWESOME!!! We did most of the attractions at Epcot, Test Track was a blast, Spaceship Earth was pretty cool, Tayn loved the Nemo and Friends one. Jeff had the older kids while Mom and I hung with Taryn to do the little kid things. We figured if it was ok for her to do, it was ok for us too. I was not a happy camper when I was told not to go on roller coasters or get in water but seeing her face light up with all the cool things in Disney made it all worth it! Epcot was where we got to see all the characters and take pictures with several of them. We didn’t do much of the World Showcase. I think Teige and his crew may have walked around that area but we opted to head out and go back to our place and cook up some good ol Macaroni and Cheese and hot dogs (thanks Makenzie for the great suggestion and saving us $100+).
Thursday was our longest day! We went to Hollywood Studios and were there from open to close! We got there and realized our dear friend Penny was there so we found her at the gates, got a big hug and had a quick chat. When the gates opened we bolted for Toy Story and I’m glad we did. The line was soon an 80-90 minute wait and the Fast Pass was backed up to late in the afternoon! From there we went to Narnia which was really cool at first and when we thought it was going to get better it was over. A little disappointed but we were not going to let that ruin our day. Jeff and I took our 3 older kids and Makenzie to Tower of Terror and Rocking Roller Coaster where we met up with Teige and his crew while Mom stayed with Taryn and took her to the Mermaid show and the Muppet show. I think we did everything there was to do at this place. We unintentionally met up with Penny and her family for the Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show and I’m so glad we did. It was great to see her again and have time to catch up while waiting for the show to start. I’m so glad we didn’t miss this show, it was awesome. I am amazed at how great all of our kids held up. Even Taryn was still trucking along at 10pm. She cried getting off Tower of Terror, not because she was scared, but because she wanted to do it again but couldn’t because it was closed! We loved Rockin Roller Coaster (I even rode it…twice!) Fantasmic was phenomenal and I highly recommend anyone going to Disney spend a day here at Hollywood Studios and enjoy this laser show. The best part about getting there an hour before the park opens is that you get to park really close. No waiting for a tram or busses, we just walked to the car and headed right back to our place.

Friday we chilled in the morning and went to Typhoon Lagoon in the afternoon. Teige and his peeps went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Not only would Taryn, Mom and I not be able to do much at either place, we were all pretty tired from the day before (or the whole week) and Jeff was exhausted. He’d picked up quite a load with me trying to take it easy and not overdo it just to be there…Not to mention all of our feet were killing us. Makenzie hung with us again and we all had a great time at the water park. They swam with the sharks, rode the big slides and had a blast in the huge wave pool. It was a great way to wind down the vacation. All 16 of us met back up and went to dinner at Flippers Pizzeria. It was hard to believe that the week we spent a year planning was over and we’d be checking out the next morning.
All in all we had a really great time. I loved spending time with my brother and his wife and my nephews and niece and my new extended family the Gochenours. We are already talking about a joint vacation again next year… We’ll see…I don’t know if I can hang with them in the mountains!!!

Quotes from my kids when I asked them about the week…
Tamia – “Soarin was the best ride in Epcot. I had a lot of fun watching the electric parade at Magic Kingdom and really liked the Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios”.
Kiarra – “My two favorite things in Disney were the Fantasmic light show at Hollywood Studios and Soarin at Epcot. I really loved the blue water beach and surfing was pretty cool too. Rockin Roller Coaster was a Rockin Roller Coaster”.
Jayden – “My two favorites were Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster. I also loved the light show the last night, it was so cool”.
Taryn - “Tower of Terror was my favorite thing, and watching movies and seeing the princesses and taking pictures with Minnie Mouse and swimming in the big pool”.
Trina – “Disney was amazing. Being there with my husband, children and family was truly a blessing”.
Jeff – “Enjoying Disney with my family was the best thing ever!!”

On a health note, I am recovering really well. My incision is almost entirely healed. My nurse said it will probably be completely closed in a few more days! YAY!!
Mom is headed back to work tomorrow. The majority of her vision is back (with her glasses of course) but the eye doctor yesterday said that something with her left eye is still not right and is not sure she will get complete vision back in that eye. Praying for complete healing is all we can do!