I apologize that the last post was KYLE'S Birthday in FEBRUARY! Ugh! Where does my computer time go? Well, we've had some memories since then we've already forgotten...and have some more that we don't want to forget, so I want to blog this so no more gets forgotten!! We thought we would go to Disney when all of the boys would remember it...but we were enticed by our friends, and joined them on our "magical" vacation this year!! We joined two sets of friends (both whom were stationed in Italy & did a few European vacations with us...although we were 6 adults - 5 kids then...and now we are 6 adults 10 kids (8 boys)!) They live in Maine & Ohio now, so it's SUCH a blessing to get to vacation together!! I have posted some pics here that I did not post on Facebook, just b/c I have SOOOO many, and want to share some other good ones!!!
Our adventure began with Kyle's first plane trip! I knew the trip was going to be a good one when we got off the elevator in the airport & Andrew said, "THAT was fun! Can we do that again?" (I guess we need to get out more!! I was thinking...wow, an elevator? Just wait 'til Disney kiddo!)Day 1: Arrive at condo & do some pool time with friends.
Day 2: Hollywood Studios with everyone. Here is our one group pic. (minus Mike who took this one)! We loved the car stunt show...although Kyle's fav. was the Mickey Mouse Playhouse (I don't think he had seen such a big puppet before)...Henry laughed REALLY hard at the Muppet 3D show but I think the Jedi Training Academy trumped everything. I enjoyed a little b-day celebration dessert that they surprised me with at our lunch stop!
The Jedi Training Academy was beyond our boys' wildest dreams. We posted the video on Facebook. Just a small disclaimer, we did not sign up our 3 1/2 yr. old originally (b/c you're supposed to be 4-12 yrs. to train) BUT when one of our friends' kids changed his mind after seeing the 7 foot Darth Vader, Andrew happily took his place in the 4:00 show. Sorry Hollywood Studios, we see from the video that 3 1/2 yr. olds do not follow instructions as well as 4+ yr. olds (hence you're rule), however you did make a little man's dream come true...and we might not be back while he is still a jedi-loving-wanna-be-padawan. 
We also really enjoyed the Animator's Studio where after a real Disney artist taught us how to draw Pluto (on lightboards), she approached Henry (who was in the front row) & complemented him on his drawing. (In case I haven't said it on here before he is an EXCELLENT drawer...and follows directions VERY well!) Henry's response was, "Thanks. I'm an artist too!" We LOVE it!!
Day 3: Downtown Disney with friends. Henry REALLY enjoyed making his "own" lightsaber for $22 instead of buying the $7 one off the rack...but my good little Andrew bought the $7 Mickey one that I suggested. (Why am I such a cheapskate?!)
We also enjoyed a Gospel Jazz brunch with our friends at the House of Blues. I WILL post the video in a new post, b/c it makes me CRACK up to watch the kids get so into the dancing...
We also enjoyed a Gospel Jazz brunch with our friends at the House of Blues. I WILL post the video in a new post, b/c it makes me CRACK up to watch the kids get so into the dancing...We had lots of stroller time on this trip. Here are the two older boys sharing one seat of our double.
Downtown Disney also had a fountain that the kids enjoyed running through. Here are the wet results.
I love watching these kids share a bed! :)
Day 4: So we had a pool/mini golf day on Monday, but Henry had awakened that morning with a half swollen eye (from a bug bite), so we got some Benadryl and Henry slept through the afternoon -- including the resort's scavenger hunt which our family WON! :) Had pizza & then my parents showed up because we were supposed to head to Magic Kingdom the next morning. When they came we aroused Henry whose eye looked worse (swollen shut), so we started driving to an Urgent Care. It was "only" a four hour wait (which would have him seen after midnight), so we decided to just come back in the a.m. after a few more Benadryl doses.
Day 5: Was out of Urgent Care by 11am with some prescriptions, but that was too late to hit Magic Kingdom, so we had an extra "pool day" and would just have to drive back to my parents (2 hrs.) AFTER Magic Kingdom on Wed. Here is Kyle snuggling my mom. :)
Mike likes this picture because he thinks that they could have this same picture together in 20 years. :)
Day 6: Magic Kingdom....magical. :) I had only been once when I was six and Mike had never been, so it was pretty fun for us to experience it too. Ask Mike what he thought about Space Mountain! :) Henry & I loved it! Andrew & my mom drove the cars at the Speedway while we did Space Mountain.
Here is one magical pic.
We had some tired kids by the end of the evening...and were thankful for my dad who drove us back to their place arriving around 2 am!!
Day 7: Sarasota has a Mote Aquarium, where our one "napper" enjoyed seeing ALL the fish making his "oooh" face at every tank. (Yeah I'm making it here too...) The other boys slept in the stroller.
When we went outside to check out the Shark tank, they woke up though.
Mote Aquarium has all kinds of awesome tanks...huge sea turtles, manatees, dolphins, it used to be/still is(?) a rescue refuge. They have some touch tanks too. So there we were, holding the boys while they reached in the "sting ray touch tank"...where the sting rays apparently came up to everyone else's hands but were avoiding our little boys' hands. So we keep holding, holding, holding and they keep leaning, leaning, leaning and then, SPLASH!, yep, you guessed it, our boys were IN the sting ray tank. Oops. :)
We then enjoyed swimming/shoveling/sand castleing at the beach. 
Downtown Disney also had a fountain that the kids enjoyed running through. Here are the wet results.
I love watching these kids share a bed! :)
Day 4: So we had a pool/mini golf day on Monday, but Henry had awakened that morning with a half swollen eye (from a bug bite), so we got some Benadryl and Henry slept through the afternoon -- including the resort's scavenger hunt which our family WON! :) Had pizza & then my parents showed up because we were supposed to head to Magic Kingdom the next morning. When they came we aroused Henry whose eye looked worse (swollen shut), so we started driving to an Urgent Care. It was "only" a four hour wait (which would have him seen after midnight), so we decided to just come back in the a.m. after a few more Benadryl doses.
Day 5: Was out of Urgent Care by 11am with some prescriptions, but that was too late to hit Magic Kingdom, so we had an extra "pool day" and would just have to drive back to my parents (2 hrs.) AFTER Magic Kingdom on Wed. Here is Kyle snuggling my mom. :)
Mike likes this picture because he thinks that they could have this same picture together in 20 years. :) 
Day 6: Magic Kingdom....magical. :) I had only been once when I was six and Mike had never been, so it was pretty fun for us to experience it too. Ask Mike what he thought about Space Mountain! :) Henry & I loved it! Andrew & my mom drove the cars at the Speedway while we did Space Mountain.
Here is one magical pic.
We did Dumbo, the Teacups, Jungle Cruise, Swiss Family Treehouse, Monsters Inc., Toy Story ride, some Bear show (which we thought was dumb, but Kyle LOVED!!!!), Tom Sawyer's Island, It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight (A's fav.), the thunder mountain railroad, and a lot of others I'm forgetting. There are a ton of pics, but we'll skip to the end...the light parade, where Kyle again, went crazy loco.
We had some tired kids by the end of the evening...and were thankful for my dad who drove us back to their place arriving around 2 am!!
Day 7: Sarasota has a Mote Aquarium, where our one "napper" enjoyed seeing ALL the fish making his "oooh" face at every tank. (Yeah I'm making it here too...) The other boys slept in the stroller.
When we went outside to check out the Shark tank, they woke up though.
Mote Aquarium has all kinds of awesome tanks...huge sea turtles, manatees, dolphins, it used to be/still is(?) a rescue refuge. They have some touch tanks too. So there we were, holding the boys while they reached in the "sting ray touch tank"...where the sting rays apparently came up to everyone else's hands but were avoiding our little boys' hands. So we keep holding, holding, holding and they keep leaning, leaning, leaning and then, SPLASH!, yep, you guessed it, our boys were IN the sting ray tank. Oops. :)
We then enjoyed swimming/shoveling/sand castleing at the beach. 
Day 8: Myakka State Park/Sun N Fun - On Fri. we brought a picnic to Myakka State Park where we also enjoyed an airboat ride on which we saw A LOT of alligators. We also dragged the kids on a .2 mile hike where we saw an alligator VERY close to the dock we were standing on. My parent's house is on a lake and they have alligators too. We saw one a couple of times while we were eating...here is the view from their sunroom.
After the State Park we went to the Sun N Fun resort that my parents belong to...it has a GIGANTIC (3 story?) hippo slide that M, H, & A went down. (A who went on M's lap said "two times is enough!") I had fun playing freeze tag in the baby pool with them!
We ate at a HUGE seafood/chinese buffet that night and can't wait to go back!!
Day 9: On Sat. we attended an egg hunt/carnival at my parent's church. This is no ordinary egg hunt...something like 10,000 eggs...and you get a paper and you have to find THOSE eggs...like purple top/blue bottom, pink top/green bottom...etc. 3 and under have just solid colored eggs on their papers. :) The boys got bunny faces painted on after the hunt at the carnival.
We swam at my parent's neighborhood pool, where Andrew learned to swim!! He can now put his head under and push off the wall to you!! (Video to come in video post!) Kyle basically dives into the water...and LOVES putting his head in...it is like you are wrestling him to keep him above water. Henry told the kids he met at the pool that he was named after his Great-Grandfathers. It was definitely an Ardmore moment (i.e. becoming fast friends with strangers and telling them your life history). :)
We finished the day at one of the"Five Weirdest Restaurants in the World" (Linger Lodge) and ate some yummy alligator!
Day 10: Easter!! After a nice church service we went to a Water skiing show and then finished up our trip with one more beach trip. I built a sand turtle with the boys. We got into the car just as the first rain of our vacation began to fall! Perfect timing!
Day 11: One last swim in the parent's pool before we went to the airport. We had a layover in Atlanta, which was extended due to thunderstorms, and ended up getting to our car at 12:17am. Realized we had a flat tire when leaving the parking lot and drove to a couple of gas stations to get a working tire air compressor thingy. Didn't get home until just before 2am, but that just helped us get back to our "normal" Central time zone, as the boys did sleep in a little more. :)
We had a blast. If you're still reading, you're probably family or a close enough friend to come with us next time!! :) Thanks to the Woods, Allens, & my parents for all the fun!! :)
