Thankful Tuesday - June 21st

I am thankful for VACATIONS! Even the mini ones.

Our weekend trip to Orlando was a blast. It was also hot and sticky and ohmigod HOT, but it was a great time. I expected that we would take a bazillion or so pictures, but I was so wrong. On the first day I was actually worried because I forgot to bring the camera charger, but that worry was for nothing (as usual) since we took probably less than twenty pictures over the three day trip. I blame the heat. It was just too hot (have I mentioned how hot it was?! Hotter than hot!) to stand out in the sun long enough to pose for pictures or to even bother with taking the camera in and out of my backpack. That was precious energy that I need to keep myself from passing out from the heat. Also, those pictures probably wouldn’t have been pretty anyway. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a window and, uh, you guys don’t need to see what I saw anyway!

We arrived in Orlando Saturday afternoon and after a delicious lunch of fresh, sliced mozzarella with tomatoes and roasted red peppers and NY style pizza decided to partake in a game of miniature golf. It’s kind of a tradition for us when we visit Orlando. The Hubs decided that since it was only $2 more, it would be a great idea to buy two games instead of just one (they had two different courses). I knew that it was a terrible idea, but since I kicked everyone’s bootay in the second game, I won’t complain now… except to lament that I got a serious sunburn on the back of my neck. I am usually really good about applying sunscreen, but I didn’t think we’d be out that long so I didn't bother. Husband blamed and lesson learned. Once we checked into the fabulous resort hotel (I feel classy just typing that!), we took a boat over to City Walk and had dinner at Margaritaville. The food was good, but that is definitely not my scene. I can safely say that I am way too cool for that place/ music. ha! We tried to hit up the pool when we got back to the (resort) hotel, but no less than 5 minutes into it, we had to get out due to the bad weather that was quickly approaching. That was no biggie though. We go swimming all the time anyway, and I had something more important to tend to... underwear. Yeah, I totally forgot to pack underwear. This is what happens when you're in Mom Mode and you have to worry about everyone else and whether or not they've packed underwear. I wasn't happy about the fact that I couldn't wash it first, but I made sure to buy the pre-packaged brand because I figured it had to be somewhat safer and wouldn't you know that they, of course, didn't have my size? I had to go a size up, which meant that I had a wedgie for the remainder of the trip. Awesome.

We spent Sunday at Islands of Adventure. We got up extra early to take advantage of the early access to the Harry Potter area. That and the fast pass are perks your receive when you stay at one of the on-site resorts. Worth every penny. The thing about getting there an hour before the general public is let in and then also having a fast pass for all of the rides is that you're basically done with the park in just a few hours. We had done and seen everything we had wanted by 1pm. Being that I had a headache from the heat and the boys wanted to cool off at the pool, we decided to head back. I elected to take a nap while everyone else went swimming. A NAP, you guys. It was glorious. Later we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe followed by a tour of the restaurant/ VIP area. Did you know they did that? We didn't. It was so cool! I would venture to say it was actually the highlight of the entire trip. Their "VIP" room is a replica of John Lennon's living room and they even have his favorite couch!!! If you ever go, you really should ask about it. It's free, but you'll definitely want to tip your guide. Ours spent an hour showing us around. He was amazing.

Okay, this is getting long and my attention span isn't that long today considering I am having to squint to see the computer screen at this point. It is still smokey as hell here in Jax and my head is starting to feel like a balloon. I'll be back tomorrow with the rest of the story...