The Virginian Times: Thanksgiving in Florida

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Thanksgiving in Florida

Part of Mark's deployment involves me staying very busy - too busy to dwell on the fact that he's gone. Another part is to change situations where I would miss him. Like holidays. So - we went to Florida and had Thanksgiving with Marcus! Here is our route. 15 hours. The boys were super troopers! Jordan was a big help in driving!

Our hotel was great. This is the tub in my bedroom.

We had a 2 bedroom and full kitchen overlooking a lake. Best part - a WalMart 1/2 a mile away!

Arrival dinner!

The first day Jordan and Ben and I went to Universal Studios.

Marcus had school, and had already been here.

Monster Cafe for lunch. :)

Joe Cool.

He's used to the little monsters (behind him).

Fear Factor!

I wanted to go to a live show. The boys weren't so interested. Then they called for participants...

Jordan, "I'm not interested in facing my fears."

Ben, "Me either."

Me, "Come on! It'll be fun!"

I won. :)

Only I got to "Face my Fears."

Ben got to spin the wheel to choose my fate. He was NOT happy with this. He didn't want to "cause me pain". So sweet. I had to pull his arm to get him to participate! Jordan was to do the filming.

They gave me goggles, a mask and earplugs to prevent critters from going into my head.

And here is the video. If you can't tell, Ben spun scorpions. I'm glad. I prefer that to snakes, spiders and cockroaches!

The Minion 3D ride was awesome! All day long it had an hour+ wait. Even 10 minutes before park closing!

My minions. :)

Benjamin finds joy in all things, even the parking lot.

And pillowcases.

Our hotel had a mini-golf course right outside our room. The kids and noise wasn't too bad. The leaf-blower at 7am was though. :$

Om nom nom!

A little too much energy.

This was an awesome museum! We decided that Ben needed to match the building. The people on the street enjoyed the spectacle too. :)

Jordan can relax anywhere. It's nice to have attentive brothers.

Space Cadets:

Marcus

Benjamin

Jordan

Mom

Marcus took us to his favorite pizza shop. It was so yummy! If two people could eat this pizza in under an hour it was free. Marcus tried this with a friend. He blames the salty pepperoni for his undoing. :)

To give you a better perspective on how big this thing was. It's gigantic!

We dined at the Three Broomsticks twice. It was really good food!

Butterbeer rocks! So does pumpkin juice.

In line for the Hogwarts tour, the Sorting Hat gave us safety instructions! Way, way cool.

We totally mastered The Hulk. We must have ridden it at least 10 times the last day. It helps that we discovered the single rider line, and the shortcut!