Florida Trip Part I - Disneyworld

We headed down to Florida for a trip to both Disneyworld and the beaches in Clearwater near Tampa.  Grandma Woods (Colleen's mom) came down from New Hampshire to join us as well!  Before we headed out Colleen got a mani and pedi, and of course Avery wanted one too.  So she got her nails painted red like Mickey!  Here's daddy helping out:

 Avery liked letting her nails dry with momma:

 The next day we flew down to Tampa and headed right for the beach since we had 5 hours until Grandma's plane landed.  Avery showed daddy how to make a sand castle:

 Then Avery and momma enjoyed the sunset before we headed over to the airport:

 We picked up Grandma from the airport and went right to the hotel between Tampa and Disney.  The next day we got up early and headed right for Disney, Avery had fun with Grandma in the back of the car: 

It was a pretty quick drive until we reached the gates of Disney World:

We spent our entire Disney time at Magic Kingdom since it is more kid-friendly than Epcot or the other parks.  However, it is quite a process to get into the park.  First you pay to enter, then drive into a huge lot, then take a shuttle tram:

Then that drops you at the monorail, then you take the monorail.  After the monorail you go through security.  Then you go through the ticket line, and finally you are in!  We were going to stay on the resort to eliminate all that hassle, especially if Avery needed a nap during the day, etc.  However, the on-property hotels were running $400 a night, ouch!  Finally we were in.  We went to the castle first to get the iconic pictures:

Avery first saw the Dumbo statue and was so excited (she had just watched the movie a few nights before!)

 Then we went to meet some characters...first we met Goofy:

 Grandma did too:

 Then we met Donald:

 And Minnie.  Avery was very excited about that since she was dressed up as Minnie herself:

Avery loved trying on the Mickey ears and white gloves before a show at the castle:

 Then we went to the It's a Small World ride, and Avery was mesmerized by the all the singing kids:

 We did some other ride and attractions like the Jungle Cruise, and we liked going under the waterfall:

 We did other rides and attractions like the Swiss Family Tree House, a couple shows, tea cups, etc.  Then came a highlight of the trip.  During one of the parades, when everybody was focused on that, we went in to see Mickey.  There was no line at all, and Avery had 5 full minutes with Mickey to herself.  (Usually there is a line for the characters and they make you take a quick picture and move on).  When she saw Mickey she ran at full speed over to him and give him a huge hug.

Then Mickey showed Avery one of his magic tricks, a disappearing bird trick:

 Then we left and went to get dinner at Downtown Disney.  After dinner we went to a dance party out by the lake, and Avery and momma danced for awhile:

 Unfortunately Colleen got her groove on a little too much, because she went down in pain during Gangnam Style with a badly twisted ankle.  It swelled up badly, and was a direct result of a sprained ankle she got on Christmas day during a run.  Luckily it only set her back a few days in her training and seemed to heal up.  The next morning we went to have breakfast at Cape May Cafe.  The Disney characters come around to your table during breakfast!  If you are going you'll need to make reservations way in advanced since it fills up.  Also neat was that they had Mickey waffles:

 The food was actually not too bad for a buffet (but of course never as good as ordering individually).  Avery got to meet Donald:

 And Minnie:

 And even got a high five from Minnie:

And goofy:

Then went to the park and Avery got to meet more characters.  She got to meet Tinkerbell:

 And Periwinkle:

 We went back to our hotel for awhile since Avery needed a break.  We swam in the pool, and Avery thought it was hilarious to dump water on daddy's head:

We ate a late lunch/ early dinner at a place called T-Rex Cafe, which was sort of gimmicky but the fish tacos were really good!  Our table was in the ice cave:

Yes, your eyes will hurt after eating in that section.  Back at Disney, we were excited for nightfall.  While we staked out a place on the Main Street to wait for the Electric Parade and fireworks, Avery enjoyed a cool ice cream cone:

It was neat seeing the park all lit up:

Once the parade started, Avery kept saying "it's magical!!!"

Then the fireworks started, and we were wondering if Avery would be scared...she flinched a few times but really seemed to like it!

She liked the shooting stars the best:

Then we wandered around some more.  We rode the Dumbo ride.  She wanted to ride it again, but the second time we were in line she took advantage of a neat area.  While you wait in line they give you a buzzer, like a restaurant.  However, it's a huge kids play area with things to climb on, tunnels, etc.  All in a circus tent theme like the movie.  Avery didn't want to ride the ride again, she was having too much fun in there!

We left and were sad to go.  We were going to bed and waking up to drive to the beach in Clearwater, near Tampa, the next morning.  On our way out we got one last picture, and thought this one was good, it covered up the letters of "Begin" so it read "Let the Memories Be".  Sometimes an accidental thing like that works out perfect:

(Here's how it normally looks)

And with that we were on our way, so long Disney!  We'll try and get Tampa and beach pictures up on the blog soon!