Florida Vacation, Part 1

“Home is going to be so boring,” she moaned, first as we made our way down Main Street USA in the rain, then later while we packed our suitcases, then again as we trudged through the Orlando airport the next day. “I wish we could stay here forever.”

I know how she feels; it was an incredible week of pinching ourselves and looking around in awe, trying to soak it all in: We’re really here.

But I also know how big and beautiful the world is, not to mention, how beautiful home is…how beautiful and restful our routine is. And after walking (according to Ryan’s iPhone app) 30 miles in five days, my body was aching for some home.

We don’t take vacations often. We go to see our family in different states, yes, but we don’t go on destination vacations nearly as much as we would like. So when we came into some insurance money last fall, we felt the ticking clock of our daughter’s passing childhood, and we decided to invest in some memories.

It had been six years since our last family visit to Florida, so in typical Ryan fashion, he researched the heck out of every nook and cranny of our vacation. We found good deals on airfare and lodging, planned to meet his brother and stepmom, planned for my parents to join us, and researched which days of the week have lowest attendance at each theme park. With our plan in place, Ryley and I did our own research, catching up on our Disney movies and searching the library and Netflix for “Beauty and the Beast,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “Finding Nemo,” and “Dumbo,” since Ryley could not remember watching any of them when she was younger. That was a great decision that I highly recommend!

The countdown was on…

And finally the day arrived!

Oh, whoops! That was last time.

Here we go…

We arrived in Orlando a little before midnight, but then our luggage took another hour to arrive at the carousel, and we experienced some issues with the car rental company not having a car in the spot they directed us to. When all was resolved, we still had to go pick up Ryan’s brother at the Greyhound Bus Station (during which we didn’t have any change for tolls and had to run the tollgate…stupid Florida), so by the time we checked in to our condo, explored it a bit, and got to sleep, it was 2:30 a.m.

No rest for the weary. Five hours later, we were up and on our way to spend the day at the gulf.

We drove past orange groves and interesting countryside, and we even stopped to take a few pics…

My very own “Ryley of Green Meadows.”

This was such a unique place:

We finally arrived in Weeki Wachi Springs where we met up with Ryan’s stepmom Linda. Ryan has some treasured childhood memories at Weeki Wachi, and he has always wanted to take Ryley to the impressive mermaid shows they’ve been doing there for decades.

Ryley felt like this mermaid statue was immodest, so she draped my sweater around her:

Ryley liked riding Grandma’s rented cart around!!

With Uncle Derrick and Grandma…

It was so good to see them!!!

Ryley could not stop laughing at her Uncle Derrick’s and Daddy’s interactions. She thought they were hilarious!

When it was finally time for the mermaid show, we learned that the mermaids’ air compressors were down, and they had canceled our show! We were so disappointed. So we headed for the closest beach:

Ryley’s only been to the ocean once and to the gulf two times before. So for our landlocked family, any oceanic experience is a treat!

We searched for seashells but only found a handful. After awhile, Ryley decided she wanted to build a sandcastle, and despite the 70-degree temps, she was feeling brave enough to put her swimming suit on to make the task a little easier.

After a couple hours, it was time to head back to Orlando to drop Derrick off at his bus station and pick up my parents at the airport. We hugged Linda good-bye, and after a wonderful, relaxing day on the gulf, we were on our way.

Vacation Day 1 was in the books. :-)