STAYcation!

Steve took vacation days last week and we decided it would be most enjoyable {and relaxing} to stay close to home.  Thus, we had a STAYcation!  It was indeed enjoyable and relaxing {there's just something about sleeping in your own bed on vacation that's wonderful!}  This really was our first vacation as a family of four, although we went on vacation last summer, it was not very relaxing.  So we were excited to have this time together as a family!

Since we live in the "Happiest Place on Earth" and have several friends who work for the wonderful theme parks of Orlando, we were blessed to be given tickets to some great parks.  It was the kids and Jenny's first time at most of these parks, and since Karis is tall enough now, she even got to ride several rides.  We experienced some priceless moments with our kids during these days we spent at the parks and couldn't be more thankful for these generous friends who gave us tickets!

We also had some down days where we didn't do much of anything...which was really nice!  I think it's safe to say we ALL really enjoyed staycation, even Isaac who kept clinging to daddy this morning as he was having to leave for work {guess he just didn't want daddy to leave}. And today at the library, Karis declared to the librarian that "our vacation is over!" Haha, love these kids!

Thankful for a fun week and quality time spent together as a family.  And now, our favorite part, pictures...LOTS and LOTS of pictures!

SATURDAY:

Of course we started off vacation drinking our milk while watching cartoons. Since OUR kids don't sleep in {ever}, they have no sense that on vacation you should sleep in, so Jenny let Steve sleep in so that he would start vacation off feeling rested.

Bubby still likes his morning nap, he has started grabbing his blanket and pacis {prior to us cutting him off from that} to show us he's ready for nap time

We had some fun water table/pool time that evening and our friend's Traci, Luke and Piper came over to join us for dinner

big guy in his lawn chair

 SUNDAY: 

Sunday was a pretty normal day, going to church and relaxed the rest of the day. Of course we had to make a run to the grocery store, balloons are so much fun from the store!

pre bed time ride on daddy's legs

 MONDAY: spent the day at Seaworld, thanks to our friends, Jessyca and David, for giving us passes!

Watching the dolphin show at Seaworld-she loved it!

family pic

Our goofy girl during lunch

cool daddy

So much fun to spend so much time with each other on vacation

Karis and daddy being silly at one of the exhibits

hard to see, but our little 28 pounder doesn't quite measure up to those animals listed on the sign!

FIRST RIDE-Karis was so excited!

FIRST Dippin Dots experience- she was a fan

Last thing Karis wanted to see was the dolphins, she fell asleep as we were walking over there {Isaac was already asleep and had been for a while}. I got a cute pic of their little feet while they slept.

my sweet guys

stayin hydrated-this is when Isaac perfected sucking out of a straw and is now obsessed with sipping out of a straw

Funny story about the end of our time at Seaworld...when Karis woke up from her nap {which was when we left the park and got to the car} she realized we were not at the dolphins but leaving instead. She started crying and saying, I wanted to see the dolphins. I don't think she realized how long she had been sleeping! I asked Steve to take her back in and he did and it was priceless to see her face light up!

TUESDAY: We spent the day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  Thanks to our friend Jeff for passes into the parks!

Karis on her first water slide

Curious George play area...our FAVORITE park...really Steve and Jenny too! We could have spent all day here.  Karis was SOO excited and Isaac really enjoyed it too.  Here's Karis running up to the opening of the play area.

"This is George, he is a good little monkey..."

"and always very curious!"

Family shot

Jeff came over to visit with us for a little bit while he was working.  Jenny plays on the worship team at church with Jeff.  Our kids love Jeff and talk about him often {not kidding, Karis was talking about him today} and it's always so sweet when Isaac wants to go to Jeff to be held and Isaac's picky about who holds him these days.  Jeff you're a wonderful friend, thanks for helping give us a wonderful day with the kids during our staycation!

next up we went to watch a Barney show. I was shocked that Karis enjoyed it and then actually went looking for Barney after the show to take her picture with him. She's afraid of the chick fil a cow, so I wasn't sure how she would do with all the characters! Notice she's holding his hand, it was cute!

She was EXACTLY tall enough to ride the roller coaster!

Karis and daddy on the first row of her very first roller coaster ride!  She LOVED it!

 

silly girl at lunch again

headed over to Islands of Adventure

fell asleep on the walk over

soon after we got through the gates, Karis was asleep too.  This was great because it gave us a chance to talk and take our time walking and taking everything in.

Gotta try the butter beer...it was way too sweet and we {together} didn't finish but half of it

The minute Karis woke up, we got on The Cat in the Hat ride and to my surprise, she enjoyed it. Nothing like waking up and riding a spinning ride to REALLY wake you up!

staying warm after we got soaked on the "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Ride". Jenny bent over to get closer in to Karis for the picture, well apparently she thought it was a pose and followed suit...hilarious!

WEDNESDAY: we had a down day, scheduled to lay low around the house. After two FULL and BUSY days at the parks, we thought it would be good to stay close to home. And it rained in the afternoon, so it was perfect day for family naps!

playing around with daddy

So what do you do on a rainy day?  you catch water in cups and chase ducks.  Isaac was so funny chasing after these ducks!

THURSDAY: Jenny had her ladies Bible study in the morning and after coming home and everyone getting naps again...we headed to the St. Cloud lake front to play in the lake and their splash pad area.
 

Karis off to the water

Isaac diggin

playing at the splash pad area

silly pose in the car as we stopped for dinner

Sonic {one of our fav fast food places that we don't go to very often} was having 50 cent corn dogs all day {which excited some of us, but not all of us}. None the less we were able to have a fun, cheap dinner and Karis enjoyed trying her first corn dog!

 FRIDAY: Thanks to our friend Jarrod and Melanie, we were able to spend the day at a couple of the Disney parks. We originally planned to go to Magic Kingdom, but they had black out dates for cast members {and their guests-us} so we headed over to Hollywood Studios. All of this was a first for Jenny and the kids, so it was fun to take it all in.  We didn't spend long at Hollywood studios because Karis kept saying, "I want to see animals"!  So we headed over to Animal Kingdom...it worked out great that we didn't go to Magic Kingdom because she LOVED the Animal Kingdom and dragged Steve all over the park to each new exhibit and animal to see!
 

Family pic at Hollywood Studios

Isaac and Jenny enjoying Mickey show. Isaac has become obsessed with Mickey {which is so funny because we don't even watch the shows with him} but he says "gickey" and it's the cutest thing. 

Karis was so excited she couldn't hardly sit still for a picture

Since Isaac fell asleep we had some fun time enjoying things with Karis while he napped in the stroller

Since our friend, Jarrod works for Animal Kingdom, he was able to come out and chat with us for a little while during our time there. Jenny also served with Jarrod on our worship team at church. He now leads worship at an area church plant and we miss him at church each week and in lifegroup, but it's neat to see how the Lord has worked in he and Melanie's lives through this experience for them!

konked out-this is how he does Disney!

Again, to our surprise, both kids loved the characters. Isaac especially wanted to "inspect" them

really wish we would have recorded their reactions to meeting Mickey and Minnie, but it's etched in our minds and it was a priceless moment!

one long day and still happy

 SATURDAY: we got the opportunity to pick blueberries on Saturday morning and then we chilled the rest of the day. This was one of the most relaxing, peaceful moments during the week.  The kids loved it and so did we!
 

proud of her pickings

mommy and Karis

Daddy and Isaac

going to pay for our berries

ended our day playing in the water after naps

Our staycation I guess technically ended with Memorial day, but we will have another blog post on that!  Until then, this concludes our staycation adventures! So thankful for time together as a family.