Florida Family Vacation

Because I am busy catching up on blogs, I decided it was a must to do a short blog (with tons of pictures) on our vacation to Daytona Beach, FL.  We planned this vacation for about 8-10 months before we went and met my mom, stepdad, stepsister and her family, and my stepbrother in Daytona for a week long, carefree vacation.

It was by far one of the best vacation we've had to date.  The flights went smoothly.  The kids behaved, planes were on time and the biggest hiccup we had was when the rental car place tried to give us this tiny little puddle jumper of a rental car when we had a larger one reserved.  I'm telling you, it could only fit the stroller in the "trunk."  Big problem when we were travelling with not only a sit n' stand stroller but two pieces of luggage, two smaller carry-ons, and two car seats!  After a series of musical rental cars, we got settled in the correct car which was still on the small side but we made it work.

The first must on our list on our way from Orlando airport to Daytona was absolutely finding a Zaxby's.  Can you believe Daytona doesn't have a Zaxby's?  That meant I had to plan ahead of time and find a location along our route from Orlando to Daytona that I could get my Zaxby's fix.  I ordered a meal for that day and for lunch the next day. 

There was no agenda for the week other than plenty of beach time and a trip to SeaWorld to pet and train the dolphins in their "Up-close Dolphin Tour."  As you can see, we had a blast.  The kids were like fish and Matt and I even got to try our hand at paddle boarding and surfing.  I was able to get the hang of paddle boarding almost immediately but it took Matt just a little longer.  He made a valiant effort of trying surfing but we didn't really have the best waves for it.

Matt once he got the hang of it

 

Truly amazing... I could do this every. single. day.

Grant and I paddle boarding

Check out the dolphin in the background!!

As I mentioned, we thought a trip to SeaWorld would be a good way to break the week up.  We headed towards Orlando and got into the park where we had to wait for more information on our dolphin encounter when the most AWESOME thing happened.  A woman dressed in the crazy rainbow outfit walked up to Matt and said he was in the right place at the right time.  SeaWorld is celebrating their 50th birthday and he won a prize.  At this point, I am thinking yeah right!  What's the catch?  What do we have to buy? 

She handed him an envelope and told him to open it to see what he won.  Well low and behold, there was no catch!  Matt won our entire family (all 12 of us) VIP tickets which included personally guided tour, VIP seating at all animal shows, additional animal encounters, front of the line passes for all rides, and free food all day long!  It was amazing! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a wonderful and exhausting day at SeaWorld complete with Grant finally getting to see and touch a real dolphin we headed back to the condo.  Lucky me we had to drive past Zaxby's again!

We rounded the week off with more beach time and a trip to the boardwalk. 

Nothing beats ice cream on the beach!

Looks like she was born to be a beach bum

Flying a kit on the beach

We left Florida feeling refreshed and renewed but wishing it could've lasted longer.  It was so nice seeing family that we don't get to see often enough and cousins playing together that unfortunately don't know each other very well.