The next phase of the day was to make our way north to Riley and Taylor’s house for Mother’s Day and Uncle Manata’s birthday cookout. We instantly jumped in to cousin-playtime mode and we all over the house and back yard all afternoon. The adults couldn’t figure out what we were doing, but we had a very specific and carefully scripted scene to play out. Speaking of cousins, we saw Mitchell for a second day in a row and he worked right in to all of the kid fun. He even got his own marshmallow gun from Gigi and, with a little coaching, got the hang of it!

I hope Uncle Manata got everything he wanted for his 48th birthday and the Mommies & Grandmommies know how much we love them and everything they do for us!

After many hours at the beach, we said goodbye and went back to the hotel for a last dip in our super awesome pool. Momma could see that Parks had had enough fun in the sun, so they headed back to the hotel room while Daddy and I took in all the pool fun we could!

Since tonight was our last night, we had to find one last super fun place to eat. The restaurant of choice was Coconuts on the Beach. Parker and I shared a fancy drink with our chicken fingers and pretzel sticks. We capped off the evening with some ice cream from Ice Cream Junction before heading back to the hotel to start packing for our LONG drive home. Thanks, Florida, for another awesome spring break!

Spring Break – Day 5

After cleaning ourselves up, we headed to historic downtown Cocoa Village, Florida. This part of town reminded us a little of St. Augustine, FL with all the little shops and boutiques. But most importantly, we were able to get Daddy the ice cream he hadn’t stopped talking about since we started our spring break!

On our way back over to Cocoa Beach, we stopped at a dinosaur shop/museum for Little Buddy. It was a huge store full of fossils, sharks’ teeth, dinosaur stuff, and dino silly putty. That’s what Buddy bought. Dinoputty. I even spotted him the money for it!!

We finished off our evening with a visit to the famous Cocoa Beach Pier to check out the local hot spot. Momma read somewhere that the waves were bigger there and she was right! We watched some boys surf for a little bit and some others try to boogie board. We ate some grub at Marlin’s and then back to our hotel to get some rest and be ready for another day of adventure!

Spring Break – Day 3

Then, up bright an early at 6:30 to start getting ready for our trip to Animal Kingdom! We hit the doors just as they opened and scrambled straight back for the Kilimanjaro Safari expedition. We heard that this line gets really, really long throughout the day and that the animals are more active first thing in the morning, so we were determined to make it our first stop. We boarded a super long Jeep and started rumbling across the African grasslands to see birds, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, and more. We even got to hear the huge lion roar at the top of his mountain (I think he was asking for more breakfast).

Next we circled through Rafiki’s Conservation Station before moving towards the big one…Expedition Everest. I talked a big game, but when it was time to jump on the rickety train on the broken tracks, I chickened out! Daddy took advantage of the single rider line and was on, through, and back before we could really even get too settled in our shady spot.

Next, we tried to take in the Flights of Wonder bird show, but there were some technical difficulties. About 2 or 3 birds in, the owl they where showing flew up in to the trees surrounding the stage and wouldn’t come down for anything! The hosts vamped for a good 15 minutes before putting themselves out of misery and dismissing the show. If you hear us mention “JJ is in the tree”, it is an inside joke for something that isn’t quite going according to plan.

Next on our plan, though, was to finish out Africa and Asia on the Jungle Trek, then head to Dinoland! Again, Daddy flew solo on the scary Dinosaur ride, but he and I went together on the roller coaster in the kids area while Momma and Parks played games, then we pulled those wimps on to the Flying Triceratops ride before lunch. We rounded out the dino area with a spin through the Boneyard dig & playground before heading over to Nemo. It was a huge musical version of everyone’s favorite fish movie with puppets, actors, big sets, lights, and music.

Another spin through the park (during the parade, packing the streets end to end! JJ is in the tree) to round out the trip before packing back in the car to head back to the hotel and round the night out poolside & have pizza delivered to the room. 91. Sunny. Disney. Swimming. Snacks. Try to top that, tomorrow!

Spring Break – Day 1

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