As I sit here to write and look at the forecasted low on Lake Vermilion tonight (-37F), it seems hard to believe it was 121 degrees warmer in Florida during our stay there last week. This was our first family vacation in four years and it was truly wonderful.
A big thank you to my brother Brian and his wife Patti, my parents and my grandfather – there is no way we could have gone on this trip without their generous gifts. Brian and Patti work for Disney and also hosted our stay at their house in Orlando. A shout out to my sister Lynn too for driving some of our stuff down and back so we could avoid extra bag fees (she works at Disney during January break).
Transportation went smoothly and Brian took a few days off to visit with us, which was great. We spent the first day at Hollywood Studios, followed by the Magic Kingdom on Friday and Epcot on Saturday. Brian and I went to the marathon expo that first night and ran the race on Sunday (my carbo load dinner featured pasta in Italy at Via Napoli with our vacation crasher Megan).
Kid two’s big day was Saturday – a very special golden birthday spent in the Florida sun. Speaking of which, the weather was perfect winter vacation weather the whole time (not so great for running, but that was fine). Both kids really enjoyed our day trip to Daytona Beach, where they swam in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time and visited a cool lighthouse.
Brian took the girls to Animal Kingdom and mini golfing on Monday, while I golfed the full-size courses at Streamsong. Our last day was laid back, as the flight home left late in the day. We checked out the hoagies at Wawa and looked at the clearance items in the Disney outlet mall shop before heading back to the airport.
I forgot how great vacations can be for your mental well being – need to start saving now so I don’t wait another four years to do this again…
