Our Trip - Discovery Cove in Orlando

Discovery Cove is like being at an all inclusive resort for a day. You pay one price & everything is included - breakfast, lunch, snacks, even beer (Budweiser of course), and all snorkel items. You do have to pay extra for a dolphin experience. We all ended up doing this & it was fun. Problem is you can't take any water cameras with you. Fortunately (haha) they have a professional photographer taking photos you can buy. We did buy one of each kid with our dolphin (Tyler) that I'll try to scan & post later.

I'm sure we didn't get the Kate plus 8 Discovery Cove experience but it was fun and almost worth the money. Darn close!

They have this cool aviary & give you cups of food. We did this late in the day & the birds weren't too hungry. But these Parrots liked Bruce & Ryan but who wouldn't, right?
They have this awsome (and cold) salt water pool where you can actually get in the water with stingrays. This was fun & the kids did it over & over again.

Bruce liked to grab the stingrays & hold them so they couldn't swim away. You can imagine how much they liked this. The kids were more gentle but kept egging Bruce on.

Notice how we are all wearing the Discovery Cove vest. They make you wear this or a full wet suit. It's something about safety & they have tons of lifeguards. You can't throw a rock in this place & not hit a lifeguard - seriously. And, it was super clean too. Definitely not your normal amusement park kind of place.

There's this winding river you can swim that is warm fresh water. The kids & I are posing in it below. Notice my glowing left arm. Yes, I needed a tan but they also provide sunscreen for you since it's environmentally safe for the fish. It's super thick & I got a little too much on my arms.

Again the kids acting like they like each other during our swim in the winding river.

Photo regret #2 - They have a cold salt water area where you can snorkel with tons of fish & stingrays. I wish I'd taken the water camera in there for a photo. You'd be amazed how many fish they had in the pool. They had Eagle Stingrays that swam at you like alien spaceships too. There were more fish than you'd see snorkeling in the ocean. I still prefer to snorkel in the ocean though.

It was a fun day at Discovery Cove & the free lunch was really good too. They limit the number of people (it's pre-registration only) & we felt safe letting the kids roam. They are really customer focused too. When our hotel was late picking us up, they put us in a Discovery Cove van and drove us back - no charge!

Next up - starting the cruise.

Our Trip - Orlando at Sea World

I finally downloaded all the vacation photos last night & organized them by place. I'll do my best to logically track through our trip with photos. As always, I wish I'd taken more photos but I did end up with some good ones.

The new banner photo is of the kids on our first dress-up night on the cruise. This is the hallway outside our cabin. Thanks to Amy M. for fixing the banner for me!

Now - on to the trip. Orlando was great. We had fun there as it was a mini vacation before we went on the cruise. We flew in on Friday morning & headed over to Sea World.

Kids & Bruce on a water ride - I decided not to go. Glad I did too cause they got drenched with smelly water - at least the kids did; not Bruce so much.

Bruce was the only one looking happy after the ride :)


The kids loved the stingray tank at Sea World. Of course, they want you to buy the over-priced stingray food (aka shrimp) to feed them. We got one container only but kept petting them as they swam by. It was fun & they feel slimy & rubbery at the same time.

We didn't get a chance to feed the dolphins since that part was closed but watched them from the underwater observation area. If you look past Bruce's shoulder, you can see the dolphins tails - click on the picture & it will pull up larger.

We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel across the street from Sea World. I highly recommend this place. It was great to have the flexibility to go back & forth from the hotel. And, it was a really nice too. Our travel agent got us a great rate so all was good!

Bruce at the hotel's pool bar relaxing and rockin' those shades :)

The kids acting like they like each other as we grabbed some food at the hotel to avoid any food at Sea World - also a perk of being just across the parking lot! The pool area was really nice. We decided to change into suits and cool off but a big storm blew in and they made us leave the area. Here's a photo to give you an idea of the pool area.
The storm forced us back to our room where the green-eyed family members (Bruce & Megan) promptly took naps. Ryan & I (aka the brown-eyed ones) decided to go back to Sea World & catch the Shamu show & other areas we did not get to see earlier.

Photo regret #1 - I didn't get any photos of the Shamu show. Ryan took some with his phone so maybe I'll try to download some later on. I will say the Shamu show has been really watered down (no pun intended) since the trainer was killed earlier this year. The trainers don't get in the water with the whales for any tricks. The culprit is in the photo below with Ryan.

That's Tilikum in the observation tank behind Ryan. He's enormous. I think they said 12,000 pounds. Can that be right? Anyway, he's only in the observation area now since he mistook his trainer's pony-tail as a toy. Sad story!

Can you tell Ryan was thrilled to pose with the Flamingos? I thought they were pretty & wanted someone in the picture.

We always enjoy Sea World. Bruce, Ryan, & I walked over at night too for the fireworks but I didn't get any photos. Megan was sleeping.

The next day was our Discovery Cove adventure.

Finally....a new post from us!

Sorry it's been so long since we posted anything on the blog. Seems like May is always super busy with the end of the school year, Ryan's baseball, & Megan's birthday.

Happy 16th to Megan - She wanted cupcakes & the flowers are from her former boyfriend. He brought these to her & they decided to break-up the next day.

Making a wish...

A tower of gifts from Mom & Dad - most have items in them she had already worn at least once.

Ryan's official last day of 7th Grade photo - notice I had to take it on the deck where the bus stop kids couldn't see us.

Megan's last day of Sophomore year photo looks a lot like her first day of the year photo - ready to jump in the car & drive to school. Only difference is her hair is longer than the beginning of the year photo.

After all the May craziness, we took our vacation. I tried really hard to take lots of photos since the camera is usually stuck in my bag & not used. I've set it up to cover our trip's event with a blog per day - similar to how Amy M. does it. But my photos are not as good as hers!!

Keep checking for new photos each day - at least for a while until I run out of vacation photos.

Megan's High School Cheer Squad 2010 - 2011

Megan has already started cheer for the new school year - yes, her junior year. She finished her sophomore cheer year on April 3oth with a final performance & started her junior cheer year with try-outs on May 1st. I tell ya - cheer never ends!

This is her varsity squad for next year. She's happy all of her friends made varsity this year. That's Jessica sitting right behind her & Lauren is right next to her. Abbie (who's next to Lauren) was on varsity last year too.

One big surprise is that Megan was named one of the 3 captains for next year's cheer squad. It's an honor to be picked as captain as a junior & a lot of work. Right now we kind of consider it a mixed blessing cause it's more work for me (mother of the cheer captain). It will be fun & very busy as I'm sure will be the case for her junior year. Seems like her sophomore year has gone really fast.

This is a silly shot of the girls. Seems like teenagers always want a goofy photo after you've taken a serious one. They are all pretending to laugh in this one. Silly, silly girls :)

Kind of looks like a really bad JC Penney's ad for white t-shirts!

Pre-Prom Preparation

We love it when Amy comes over & turns Megan's hair into a fabulous creation. Megan wanted a curly messy bun for Prom. This was a good choice since it was so rainy & humid.

Side view...
Back view...Amy helped Megan pick out a hair circle to add to the volume of the hairdo. It matched perfectly and is almost impossible to tell from her real hair.

Thanks so much Amy!!! You did a great job on not only her hair but nails too!

Prom #1 - Pre-date Prom Pictures

Megan is all dressed up & ready to go - hair (check), nails (check), & dress (check).

We used Bruce to practice different photo poses, lighting, etc.


I've always thought Megan looks like Bruce.

I'm trying my best to pose like Megan - it comes naturally for her; me not so much!

Megan checked out the photos (the beauty of digital cameras) and we decided how to make the photos work inside. We had hoped to take pictures outside but it rained all day.

Prom #2 - Pictures with Ethan

After we finished the family photo practice, it was time for Ethan and his mom to come over.

The mandatory flower picture.

Ethan matched his vest to Megan's dress. They both looked very nice.

We snuck outside for a quick photo before it started to rain again.

Then it was off to Ethan's friend's house to meet up with the group. They went with a group of 8 couples.