Monday, March 18, 2013

Florida Flamm Reunion: Days 1-3

The Flamm reunion was in Orlando Florida over Spring Break.  We had an amazing time at Disney World, Islands of Adventure, and Florida State Parks.  It was exciting to have all the family together and the kids loved playing with their cousins.  It was a great break and wonderful memories were made.
Warning the next few posts are quite lengthy and contain a lot of pictures, but enjoy all 10 days of our vacation!


Day 1
The Drive Out

This was the view I had for 11 hours on Thursday.  How lucky!!

 We left home at 4am.  Our first stop was at a Meaher State Park outside of Mobile Alabama.  We ate breakfast, played a little bit, and changed out of our pajamas.





Our second stop on the long drive was at Falling Waters State Park outside of Tallahassee Florida.  We ate lunch, went on a nature hike and saw the waterfalls.  It has the tallest waterfall in Florida, a whopping 73ft.  The cool thing is that it falls into a sink hole.  We all loved the break and the nature walk we went on was a lot of fun.  We then got back in the car for 5 more hours of driving until we made it to Orlando.  It was a long day, but the kids overall were very good in the car.  Below is a video of Eric describing how he found a little (1 ft) waterfall on our nature walk.


Day 2
Animal Kingdom
Standing in line for our first ride, The Kilimanjaro Safari
We saw a lot of animals including: Giraffes, Hippos, Elephants, Nile Crocodiles, Lots of colorful birds, Flamingos, Lions, Lots of types of Antelope, and Tigers.  These were seen on the safari, a walk through Asia, and an Aviary. 
 The boys went on Kali River Rapids.  They had fun and got wet.  We also spent time at Dinoland where both Hyrum and Wendy were able to go on rides as well.



Day 3
Magic Kingdom

We started out the day watching the Dream Along with Mickey show.  It was a great way to start Magic Kingdom and get excited about all that was to come.  Here are the kids watching and some stills of what they saw.
 We went on numerous rides, of course most were not conducive to pictures.  The boys loved the fast roller coaster type rides.  On Thunder Mountain I rode with Eric.  As we were going up I said, "If we go up..." and Eric answered, "We will go down!" with a big grin.  That phrase became part of the experience for the other rides throughout the week.  Wendy just loved being tall enough to go on a ride.  When she met the height requirement she would jump up and down and exclaim "I'm big enough!"


Here is the entire Flammily on Pirates of the Caribbean ride and Eric, Wendy, and Zachary on the Merry-Go-Round.


This was the day that we wore our matching Neon Green T-Shirts.  I made them with my new serger.  There were definitely some mistakes, but overall I think they turned out well.  Most importantly they did what they were designed to do.  Once Hyrum got separated for a brief moment  (talk about a scary moment).  Multiple people helped direct him back to us because of our matching shirts.  







Florida Flamm Reunion: Days 4-6

Day 4
Church, Swimming, Relaxing
I did not take any pictures on Sunday, but it was a very relaxing day.  We went to a very welcoming ward, and the kids all enjoyed their primary classes.  Wendy even got a flower and was excited about it for the rest of the trip.  After church we enjoyed the pool with the cousins. The home where we were staying had a heated pool, nice.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing and refueling for the busy week ahead. 

Day 5
Hollywood Studios

This was a day filled with a few rides and lots of shows.  We all loved it.  We rode Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, and Eric and Zachary went on Tower of Terror.  We saw Muppet Vision 3D, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Disney Jr. Live on Stage, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, and the Jedi Training Academy. 

Zachary and Eric participated in the Jedi Training Academy.  They learned about how to weild a light saber, fought Darth Vader, and had a grand time.  We had a great time watching them.  Here is a picture and videos showing the excitement.

Fighting Darth Vader


Here are some pictures from the rest of the day!





Day 6
Universal's Islands of Adventure

It was a rainy morning when we went to Islands of Adventure.  This worked to our advantage as the crowds were not present.  We were able to go on multiple rides, and some of them multiple times.  After lunch it even cleared up a bit and we could take off our jackets.  We loved the Spider-man ride (especially Eric).  Dr. Seuss land was fun because all the kids could go on the rides. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was magnificent.  We ate at Three Broomsticks and tried Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice.  We also went through the Hogwarts castle and Wendy was able to rider her only roller coaster, Flight of the Hippogriff.  Jurassic Park a huge playground area where we were able to rest and play.  The final 'land' we went to was Looney Toon Land.  We went on two rides that got us wet.  When we left we were tired but pleased with all we got out of the park.  It was a great day!

RIDES
MORE FUN! 


















Florida Flamm Reunion: Days 7-8

Day 7
Magic Kingdom
Eating at Tony's
We had a relaxing morning and then spent the afternoon at Magic Kingdom.  We started with lunch at Tony's (like in Lady and the Tramp). The park was super crowded, so we did not go on many rides, but rather saw the shows: Mickey's Philharmagic, and the Enchanted Tiki Room.  The kids were enthralled with both.  We also visited with Mickey and the Princesses; Arora, Cinderella, and Rapunzel.


 Eric with Mr. Penguin from Mary Poppins.
 I love Hyrum's face, he was not the happy prince.

Day 8
Magic Kingdom
We got reservations at a character meeting restaurant for lunch.  Because of the opportunity we had the previous day we decided to meet a few more characters as well.  We went early in the morning and the lines were short for rides and meeting characters.  It was a great last day at the Parks.
We went on my favorite ride Winnie the Pooh, the Race Track, and Barnstormer Roller-coaster.

  Zachary and Eric were thrilled with being able to drive.  At first we did not think Hyrum was tall enough and were very excited when he was. It was a very fun ride.  Wendy was super excited to go on another roller-coaster  we all had a good time on it.


Meeting Goofy, Donald, Daisy, and Mini


The restaurant was Winnie the Pooh based the day we went.  We met Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, and Pooh.