Spring Break

For spring break, the whole family headed to Orlando, Florida for a week of fun in the sun at Sea World. This trip was our Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa Jackson...and we had a blast. We left for Orlando on Easter morning and stopped about half-way in Valdosta for the evening. We got up early and headed to Orlando to check in and spend some time enjoying our hotel. Unfortunately, I had a terrible migraine and spent the first night in Orlando laid up in bed while Drew slept. Bo had taken the girls to the pool and by the time they had gotten back, they were exhausted and ready for bed as well. By Tuesday morning everyone was well and ready to hit the park. We got a late start on the morning and got to the park around lunch time. We saw lots of shows that day and took in all the things around us. Wednesday was a day to relax at our hotel. The place we stayed was more of a villages type resort that had 2 bedroom condos for rent with full kitchen, 2 bathrooms and laundry facilities. It was SUPER NICE!! The complex had several pools and this particular day we found the one that had a huge pirate ship with a water slide. The girls had a blast swimming in the freezing cold water. Drew and I hung out on the pool chairs and tried to keep warm in the sun. That night we headed back to Sea World for a special dinner show...the Makahiki Luau. Somehow we scored front row seats. The girls had chairs right next to the stage. We saw all kinds of fun dancing and drumming. The last act was a fire dancer that was amazing. Ally and Kelsey enjoyed him the best for sure. After dinner, we all went on the Sea World Sky Tower which the girls had been DYING to do. It was just turning to dusk, so everything was lit up and you could see the whole city of Orlando in lights. We could see the Shamu show going on and we saw Cinderella's castle off in the distance. After the sky tower, we headed around the big lake to the pavilion area for the nightly fireworks show. We made it about half-way around and then saw this cute little area beside the lake set-up with tables and chairs. So we sat there for the firework display. The wind was really blowing that night and one of the pieces of the firework landed right on Bo's head. Not a big piece, but it was a piece nonetheless. It even smelled of sulfur. Ally thought that was really neat and she took the piece in to her class to show them what had dropped on Bo's head. We got home late that night and headed right to bed. We had a full day at the park the next day for our last day at Sea World. We got up early, got the kids ready and headed to the park for everything we hadn't done yet. Grandma and Grandpa decided to sleep in that morning and meet us at the park later. When we got there it was very quiet and not a lot of people had shown up yet...we think they were worried about the weather because it was quite cloudy. First, we went to the Key West exhibit so the girls could feed and pet the dolphins. It was a huge success and I'm glad we did it. The girls were afraid at first, but then they warmed right up and enjoyed seeing these awesome animals so close up. Then, Kelsey and Bo rode Journey to Atlantis a few times while Ally, Drew and I headed to get seats for the Elmo and Abby show. Ally had ridden the Atlantis ride on Tuesday and had no desire to go again. After the Elmo and Abby beach show, we headed to lunch and then to the Sea Lion and Otter show. That is Bo's favorite show because of the mime who comes out and makes fun of the crowd as they file in to their seats. He really is quite funny. By the end of that show, Grandma and Grandpa had met us at the stroller and we headed to Shamu's Happy Harbor for the kids to play for a few hours while we waited for the dolphin show at 4:00. At this point, it became a free for all for the adults because it was time for Momma Jax, Bo and I to ride some of the big rides...particularly Kraken and Manta. We found a way to get on both rides immediately and then tried to go on Manta one more time. But, the lines had filled up quickly and we ended up missing the dolphin show because of it. The neat thing was that Manta is a roller coaster that you ride laying on your belly so at least the kids got to see us go up the first hill and they waved to us. After we got off the last roller coaster, we started to head towards dinner. We were SUPPOSED to be having dinner with Shamu that night. But, because of the trainer death just a few weeks ago, Dinner with Shamu had been cancelled indefinitely. So, we ended up with reservations at the Sharks Underwater Grill. Again, we had front row seats next to the shark tank and the kids had a blast looking at all the sharks while we ate dinner. For the last event of the night, we headed to the Shamu Rocks show at 8:00. It was a show filled with lights and great music, tons of jumping and flipping and plenty of getting wet!! Bo took the girls down to the splash zone and at the end of all of it, they were DRENCHED FROM HEAD TO TOE. I didn't get the chance to take any pictures of the show because I was video taping it. Hopefully the tape will do it justice. After a long day, we loaded the kids up for the long walk back to the car and headed to the hotel. After the kids got to sleep we all decided to go back the next morning for the dolphin show we had missed. And since the ticket we had were unlimited visits for 7 days, we took full advantage. And we were glad we had...the dolphin show did not disappoint. After the show was over, we loaded in to the car, headed for a quick bite and got up the road to Gainesville. We spent the night there so we could attend the Orange and Blue Game the next day...but again...that's another post entirely.
As always, we send lots of love and thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Jackson for a great trip. Enjoy the few pictures below and visit the Shutterfly site for the full show. I took over 600 pictures, but I only posted about 150 on the site.
http://the realjacksonfive.shutterfly.com