Florida--Day 1

Day one of our two week Florida vacation was great! We packed a lot into such a short amount of time. 

We woke up at 4:15 a.m., piled into the car and George drove us to the Richmond airport about an hour away for us to catch our 7:10 a.m. The boys were fantastic on the flight!

We landed right on time in the Orlando airport. Laura was flying in about an hour and a half later so we took our time and had fun riding the tram to a different part of the airport, looking at the Disney store, and playing around this huge fountain in the middle of the hotel that was located in the airport. It brought back a lot of fun memories for me when I was about Lance's age and flew with my family to Florida. The Orlando airport seemed to big and special to me, almost magical. I hope Lance will have fun memories of our time there as well.

I know Jude is on the nasty ground, but he'd been sitting all day and wanted to stretch his little legs. 

Lance in the fountain trying not to get wet.

We had a good time walking on the moving sidewalks

The boys were so good! Lance was a trooper, carrying his heavy backpack and walking the whole time. We did a lot of walking that morning.

It was tiring. This is what it looked like when Aunt Cherryl came to get all of us after Laura landed. 

We drove to Grandma and Grandpa Brewer's house to say "Hello" and then Aunt Cherryl took us to her hotel room so we could play in the pool while she picked up my cousin Heidi and her two girls, Ashley and Bethany.

Lance and Jude had a great time. The water was almost warm, but still refreshing after being in the Florida heat and humidity.

After the pool, we went inside the hotel and tried to take a nap while we waited. It didn't work, so we went and got a late lunch with Laura and did a little grocery shopping. 

When Heidi, Ashley and Bethany arrived around 5 p.m. (after Grandma got a flat tire on the way home from the airport) we all got our swimsuits on and walked to the beach!

This was Jude's first time at the beach and I think he liked it. 

He kept crawling toward the water and even when waves would come and wash around him, he took it in stride and kept crawling.

Lance had a blast as always--totally fearless. I had to go in a get him a couple times so he would go out too far. The rip current was pretty strong and kept washing him up the beach.

Jude kept eating the sand. And by "kept" I mean he did it the whole hour we played at the beach. He wouldn't cry about it, either, just took handfuls and tasted it. Maybe he thought it would taste different the second time?

The kids built sand castles and covered their legs with sand with Heidi while Jude continued to crawl into the water.

There were a few good waves that washed over Jude and covered his face and head. It scared him but he didn't really cry until it happened the third or fourth time and then he was done.

So he joined the other kids playing in the sand.

After the beach, they all took a bath and then had a dinner of Cheezits and fruit. Yum!

Then game time with Aunt Cherryl, Heidi and her girls.

And then story time! 

Grandma came over with Uncle Tubby and Aunt Dawn and visited for a little bit before the kids went to bed. It was a long, great day! I can't believe Lance lasted from 4:30 a.m. until 9 p.m and was happy and going going going all day long. I stayed with the sleeping kids while the other adults went shopping for food. Bed was a very welcome thing that night!