BIG Family Vacation

On Spring Break, we headed to Florida with both of our families. We rented a house near Disney World for the ten of us to stay in. That's right......ten people. You would think that would be a lot of people in one house. It was, but it was a very spacious six bedroom house, so there was plenty of room.

Everyone had different ideas for what they would like to do all week, so the teacher in me created a chart to indicate where everyone would be going each day. Some of the people loved this plan, while others thought I was insane.....those were the same people who I later saw refer to the chart many times! :)

Of course, Kaitlin and I are Disney World fanatics, so our week was pretty simple to plan. My mom and Melinda ended up joining us at Disney World each day. The guys golfed, fished, and went to Disney World as well. Scott's favorite part of the trip was probably when an alligator stole a fish he was reeling in....very funny video!

On our last day in Florida, nearly all of us loaded up to head to Tarpon Springs and Clearwater Beach. Gary Wayne's girlfriend, Brittany, had never been to the ocean before, and I wanted Kaitlin to get to go back. Kaitlin had not been to the ocean since she was about 18 months old. It took a long time to get into Clearwater because of all the traffic (Spring Break + Florida = Busy).

Once we finally got into the beach area, it took a lot of driving to find a place to park. This was not much fun with a three year old who was ready to be out of the car and on the beach. We finally found a spot and walked to a restaurant for lunch....Crabby Bill's (I think...???). Once there, I realized I left Kaitlin's swimsuit in the car (MANY blocks away). I really didn't think Kaitlin would care much for the ocean's waves and dirty sand anyway, so I decided to just leave it and let her wade in the water in her shorts.

Back to Crabby Bill's...everyone was tired of walking and starving by the time we sat down to eat. My sweet baby decided to pick up her cup of milk by the top, thus dropping the full cup on both of us....mostly me. I tried really hard not to become Crabby Kerri, but the last 30 minutes had contained: long car ride with 3 year old, frustration with lack/price of parking, long walk with 3 year old who wanted to be carried, hunger, outdoor dining in wind, and now a milk bath. That was probably the lowest point of the trip for me.

After lunch, we walked over to the beach. Kaitlin's fascination with the sand and the water were just what I needed. She was a picture of pure glee. The child could care less that her clothes were getting soaked and that she was covered in sand. This was a big shock to all of us as she can't stand for anything dirty to be on her.

Our parents stayed at the beach just a few minutes before continuing on to Tarpon Springs. The rest of us stayed at the beach a couple of hours and then went back to the house.

We stopped in Live Oak, Florida on the way home. This is a small town my Dad lived in when he was a young child. He took us to an old spring that everyone used as the summertime swimming hole. It was very special to get to see this important part of his life.

Overall, it was a very fun trip. I still LOVE Disney World, but I recommend avoiding it during Spring Break. I also prefer staying at one of the Disney resorts as we did in October. The house was nice and saved a lot of money due to the number of people in our party, but it is much more magical and stress-free when you are on Disney property for the entire trip.

Of course, we took a ton of pictures. Here are some of those:

My girl:

She was not a bit afraid of Beast!

She asked Snow White where the dwarfs were.

Mulan was very sweet. She spent a lot of time talking to Kaitlin.

We were so lucky to meet Pinocchio! This was her favorite part of this day.

Isn't she adorable!

It was very hot waiting for the parade. Funny!

Only Melinda and Jody were brave enough to ride the Spinning Tea Cups with Kaitlin.

Kaitlin's favorite ride was Pooh's Honeypot. I don't know what Scott was doing!

Mom and Kaitlin outside Minnie's house:

Waiting....

Scary Dinosaur Ride:

Grandparents were all a big help at Disney World! Kaitlin caught a nap during the Festival of the Lion King Show.

In her happy place:

Loving it:

Water was cold...she didn't notice though!

Spring in Live Oak....water is much lower than normal:

Live Oak:

Love this picture:

No luck!

Mom and Dad at Spring on Suwanee River:

Halloween

Halloween just seems to be more fun each year. For Kaitlin's third Halloween, she dressed as a cute little butterfly. She had so much fun wearing her costume.

We certainly feel like we got our money's worth out of the costume because she wore it four different times. The first Halloween event we attended was at Disney World. We went to a special event called Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. All the characters were dressed up, there were special lights, displays, and parades, and she got to trick or treat in the Magic Kingdom! Way cool.

We also went trick-or-treating with Ella Kate and Amber at our old high school. Ella was a very cute little fairy. The girls enjoyed being together for that.


My school hosts a trick-or-treat event the night before Halloween. Kaitlin's Daddy took her trick-or-treating there while Mommy (Snow White) passed out candy to all the kiddos. We sure did miss Ella Kate being with us for this one (AHEM, Amber!)

Finally, we visited family and close neighbors for our final round of trick-or-treating on Halloween night. We are glad the Halloween hoop-lah is over and the butterfly can go back into its cocoon...I mean back into the closet.

They Finally Met!

So you all know that Kaitlin is obsessed with Mickey Mouse. What does Kaitlin want to do every morning when she wakes up? Watch Mickey. What does Kaitlin like to do during the day? Watch Mickey. What does Kaitlin have to do before she will go to bed? You get the picture. She even wants to have a Mickey party for her next birthday. I'm having a hard time with that one since she had a Mickey party last year. When I told her to consider other kinds of parties she said, "Well, maybe I'll have a Goofy party." It looks like her love for Mickey and friends is not going anywhere fast.

I wanted to share a few pictures from our Disney World trip. These are of just a few of her autograph signings. She had so much fun meeting all the characters.

I love this picture below where she is showing such joy. We saw this smile all day long on the trip.

As you can see, Uncle Jody flew down during our trip to enjoy a couple of days at Disney. Kaitlin loved playing with him in Pooh's play area.

Kaitlin had a blast...Scott and I both admit that we had the time of our lives as well. We can't wait to go back.