Orlando

After we checked into our Orlando hotel and dropped Brian off at the conference center the kids and I explored International Boulevard.  Most of Orlando was pretty quite since we beat the spring break rush, which was great!  We found a super cute miniature golf place and had a great time.  Grant beat us all.  Who knew he has mad golf skills?

The next day, Brian went to give his presentation, and the rest of us went to Universal Islands of Adventure.  Haley was so, so, so excited for Harry Potter world.

We rushed in as they opened, ran over to Harry Potter world, and literally had the first roller coaster all to ourselves.  Not another single person on with us.  Then we went on the big ride in the castle and although it was an amazing ride unlike anything else, we all left a little woozy.  We headed over to Dr. Suess land to bring it down a notch and enjoyed the kiddie rides for a while.

Haley had fun with her interactive wand throughout Harry Potter world.  You wave it how it says to in certain spots and then books open, or balls move etc.  We bought a butter beer to share and, come to find out, the kids hated it.  More butter beer for me, I guess.  It's kinda like frothy cream soda.  

Although Harry Potter was the main reason we went to Universal, I will say the main highlight was the two water rides.  They have a big log jammer type one and then a raging waters one.  I came prepared with ponchos for us and although Grant opted to not wear his - I am so, so, so glad I brought them for me.  The only thing wet on me was my shoes.  No soggie undies for me!  We must have ridden these two rides for at least a couple of hours.  Finally, Haley and I had gotten our fill, so we sat out and let Grant ride with strangers over and over.  Here he is below with a group of new "friends" he made.  He often didn't even have to get off - they would just let him ride over and over.  Too bad the big jurasic park water ride was closed.

They had a big comic book hero land, but it was not really our thing.  Loud rock music, loud motor cycles,  and creepy super hero people.  Plus, the hulk ride was down.  We did love eating their yummy chicken nuggets here and feeding a sea gull our extra fries.  Plus, this is the place where I realized Grant isn't 4 anymore.  He and Haley rode one of those terrifying towers that drop you out of the stratosphere.  I watched and realized he must be getting older if he survived, and enjoyed that ride.  Not to mention the 5 loops on the Harry Potter roller coaster he went on too!  

In our family we rate things by if you would do/eat something again.  Some dinners I make are not 'make again' meals, and Universal for us was not a 'go again' type of amusement park for us.  We are glad we went.  We had fun, but it is a one and done for our family.

I'm just realizing I should have started a new blog post here because this is getting really long....but too late now.  The following day, Brian didn't have meetings to attend so he joined us for a trip to the Magic Kingdom.  We got there before they opened and rode the monorail over and watched mickey mouse and everyone ride in on the steam train to open the park.  Disney is more than an amusement park - it is a production and shared experience from start to finish.  

Although I went 3 times as a kid - that was over 20 years ago!  And it was the kid's first time.  I was super giddy.  It was like a walk down memory lane.  

I swear the building above looks like Woodburn Hall where my dad worked on WVU campus.  I think Disney mooched some design ideas from them since Woodburn Hall is much older than Disney!

This might be one of my favorite pictures.  She was so happy!

Brian's parents drove over and met us at Disney.  We had fun going on the haunted mansion and other rides together and catching up to eat lunch and dole whips and the parades.  I'm so glad they were able to come.  

Mountain passes make Grant woozy and amusement parks make Brian woozy.  So by the end of the day we caught the ferry back to our car and watched the fireworks from the boat.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.  Disney is definitely a 'do again' park for the kids and I.  I don't think any amusement park is a 'do again' for Brian, but he was a good sport!

After 2 days of back-to-back amusement parks we were excited to just chill by the pool all day.  Brian headed back to his conference and the kids and I enjoyed the epic Hilton Orlando pool.  

Here is the view from our hotel room of the pool.  So dreamy.

Grant spent a lot of time playing basketball and was very polite when he missed and the ball went rolling under some sun bather's chair.  Haha.  We were some of the only kids around, but the pool was packed full of adults from the conference.  There was an adult only pool not far away, so I didn't feel too badly if his ball missed.  At least he didn't hit anyone by accident!

We spent a lot of time on the lazy river.  It was so beautiful!

There is something about a loooooong hallway that just beacons to be run down.  Every.Single.Time.  As hard as I tried to get the kids to walk and keep quiet on the walk to our room it just never happened.  They would run to the end and back to our room before I had even walked to our room.  

While we waited for dad to finish up for the day we found a kiddie go kart track.

Then we came back to the bigger, faster ones.

Orlando was perfect.  Not too hot, not too many people!  I'm so glad we tagged along.  We finally headed out and made our way to Atlanta to visit the World of Coca Cola.  Atlanta is a mess.  The highways are packed and awful.  But this little tour was a fun pit stop.  

To be honest...we went for only one reason.  Brian went years ago and he knew that at the end they have sodas that Coke makes from all over the world.  We just wanted to drink the sodas!  My favorite was Bibo from Africa.  It's like a fruity hi-c type drink.  We all agreed that the Japanese sodas are the worst.  Some were so gross.  Some were so good.  Some we've had before.  It's like a huge 7-11 full of fountain sodas where you can drink whatever and however much you want.  I promise you by the end, the thought of drinking the free bottled coke they give you is enough to push you over the edge.  

We stayed the night about an hour north of Atlanta in one of the cutest Hampton Inns ever.  It was just remodeled and only 10K points (instead of the usual 30K points).  You know I love a free Hampton Inn, especially one that saves me points!  

It really was a magical week and everything I was hoping it would be for our family.  I feel like we hit the reset button and are back to our usual level of busy.  As with any job, working in academia has it's ups and downs, but one major perk is being able to tag along with Brian on his travels.  I have so many happy memories tagging along with my dad when he traveled for work in academia and I'm so happy my kids will have similar happy memories.  Next stop - conference in Boston - in June!