Florida trip- 11/30/07-12/7/07

Yes, Florida was fabulous; warm and sunny almost every day. Some days it even got too hot. But we had fun...for the most part!

One thing that really wasn't fun was the TOLLWAY~! Having to pay to use the freeway was frustrating, because you never knew how much it was going to be. Of course, the only way from/to the airport was taking the tollway so we planned for that one ahead. We got on the tollway once by accident; after that we made sure we had a map and plenty of change handy!

We also had tickets to view the space shuttle Atlantis take off on Thursday 12/6, but unfortunately it got scrubbed. Since we were leaving the next day, there was no chance to view it at the new day/time, and unfortunately the tickets were non-refundable, but we figured it was a chance worth taking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Here's a breakdown of our activities:

• Fri. 11/30- Fly into Orlando. Get lost trying leaving the airport en route to WDW. Make a stop at Shades of Green (military resort) to purchase WDW tickets for later use. Head to hotel to unwind and relax. Girls and I hit the pool. Nice resort. (brother's time share)
• Sat. 12/1-Head off to Sea World. Walk around to all the exhibits. Saved the best for last; the Shamu performance. Little did we know that we would get soaked by Shamu. Oh well. It was fun. At first the killer whales started jumping and splashing a little; I thought they were big. But then Shamu came out; and he is HUGE!
• Sun. 12/2-Went to the pool at 10:00 a.m. This is rough... Made a trip to the nearby mall. Too hot to be outside! Went to see a movie, called Enchanted. Also went to a big outlet mall, fun to look around. The main parts of that mall were outdoors, although some areas were covered by awnings. All the stores were indoors. It was kind of neat.
• Mon. 12/3-Went to the Magic Kingdom. Very busy, even though its a Monday. Fun rides but again, almost too hot for us Minnesotans. We got Amanda to ride all the "big girl" roller coasters, including Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain. After we got off we asked her if it was scary, and she said no, it was totally cool! LOTS of walking around, though!
• Tues. 12/4-Relaxing time. Hot and sunny again. Girls and I went to Wet-N-Wild water park for the afternoon. David burns super easy, so he stayed back to read and relax. Lots of fun water slides, and the wave pool was cool! Very strange, walking around in my swim suit in December, while they're playing Christmas music....this is rough!
• Wed. 12/5-The day we were on the tollway when we didn't want to be. I had David pull over and we asked for directions. Once we got our bearings again, we went to spend the day at Epcot. In my opinion (and David's) this was sooooo much cooler than Disney World. More interactive rides, and more for all of us to do. We got to ride and see everything, including the "countries" in the world showcase. I think every one's favorite ride was Test Track. You climb into a 6-person convertible "car". It's made to simulate what tests a car goes through before it goes to the dealer. Bumps, hairpin turns, and going 70 mph. Very fun! Left after dark we were having so much fun.
• Thurs. 12/6-Off to Kennedy Space Center. Found out once there no space shuttle launch, but stay to look around. Lots of neat exhibits, and a learning experience as well. Got lots of neat pictures there, will post soon!
• Fri. 12/7-Time to go home. Leave Florida (where it was going to be 80 that day) and come home to MN, where it's 6 degrees without the wind chill. We found out while gone we also missed the first 2 snowstorms of the season, so we come home to about 8" of snow. This, in a word, sucks. But, we're happy to be home and look forward to getting back on a normal schedule (work, school, etc.) on Monday.

I'll have to finish downloading the photos from the camera and then I will post. Stay tuned!

I almost forgot the most unforgettable part; once we returned home. I went to unlock the car using the remote and nothing happened. So I tried it again. Nothing. So then I proceeded to unlock the van using the key (don't remember ever doing that way) and David and I discovered the battery was DEAD. The light switch was switched off, so then we realized that the cell phone charger was left plugged in, and the little LED light on it (over a week) drained the battery. This has never happened to me with this car. No biggie, he jumped it with his car and we were all set. Just feel a little silly, is all!