Florida Trip, Part V

Its been rainy and unseasonably cold here the last few days, so its been nice going through these sunny, warm photos.  I have every confidence it will be like that here very soon (right?!?)....and I'm looking forward to it!

Day 6 & 7

The girls were great sleeping together, with all their friends, of course.  They do it about half the time at home in a twin bed, so it wasn't surprising.  Their pj's were always stripped off in the morning because they got too hot.

 Aiden's spot.

 We spent a fun day here:

 Amanda was so sweet.  Everytime she went around, she would smile and energetically wave to the ride attendant, then she would blow me a kiss.  I hope she never grows out of waving.

 My roller coaster junkie, at it again.

Then we said goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma Diane who were going back home and spent the remainder of the day in the kiddie section of the zoo, just the five of us.

 This is such a classic picture...Amanda has gotten wet many times over and Avery and Aiden stand in the wings, weighing the situation.

 Later, we met back up with Nana at a fun, kid-friendly restaurant.

The next day was low key.  We got in some more swimming, lizard hunting, ball throwing, and solitaire playing. 

 After a nice dinner, we were off to the airport, which is a fun adventure of its own.

 One last beautiful Florida sunset.

And this was one of my very favorite parts of the trip...the flight home.  Once it got underway, we put the kids in one row with a movie (and all the snacks and drinks they kept asking the flight attendant for) and Shaun and I sat together in our own row and held hands and talked.  Delightful.

Another favorite part of the trip was only seen in retrospect.  Most days we ate out for both breakfast and dinner and between the two girls, mostly Amanda, I spent quite a bit of time in the public restrooms.  Without even knowing she was doing it, as soon as she got in the stall, she'd start singing a random song, and not quietly.  She sings wholeheartedly and gets the words all mixed up and it was always amusing to hear the song du jour.  Then she'd go skipping back to our table.  Though I wasn't as patient and gracious about getting my meal interrupted every. single. time, multiple times, it ended up being one of my favorite memories.  I thought of the song You're Gonna Miss This

You're going to miss this
You're going to want this back
You're going to wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're going to miss this

We are so very grateful to Nana and Grandpa John for being such gracious hosts.  Our family is a lot to take in and they are able to take it all in stride.  I love that the kids are gathering up precious memories and building a relationship with them.  What a privilege!