We're Back!

We just got home from the best vacation EVER! Every two years my whole family goes to Disney World. We haven't been able to go in a few years, but this year we were able to take Jackson.

 We took two days to get there and drove straight home on the way back. Jackson did AMAZING on the drive. I attribute part of that to my niece Carley who sat in the back seat and entertained him the whole way. 

Jackson is a huge fan of Mickey Mouse. He has watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse from the time he was only a few months old. I couldn't wait to take him to see the real live Mickey. The first thing we did on Sunday was go to a character breakfast. We went to the Ohana restaurant in the Polynesian Hotel. We weren't staying on Disney property, but right across the freeway. 

Jackson and Jordan outside the Polynesian

Jackson and Jordan in the Mickey conga line

J loved Mickey so much!  He just didn't understand why he had to wait to see them. Patience was definitely something we had to start learning on this trip.

After the character breakfast we spent the morning at Animal Kingdom. We rode Expedition Everest a few times each and then went over to meet Mickey again! 

Jackson and Jordan in front of The Tree of Life

We rode the dinosaur ride while Daddy was on a roller coaster!

Jackson imitating Goofy

Oh Minnie

We didn't do the safari because it was just too hot and we weren't sure how Jackson would do. He fell asleep in the car on the way home though :-)

That afternoon Jordan and I went to Hollywood Studios to ride a few roller coasters

On Monday it was time to go to...

It's MICKEY!

He's all ready with his backpack and autograph book

Watching the opening ceremony

We left for lunch and a nap and then came back to watch the light parade.

The next few days we spent at Universal Studios.

He loved playing in Dr. Seuss world

The rest of the week we played at the pool

We also went to the beach.

Jackson loved the water...

and hated the sand...

So mad

We had such a great trip. Jackson was pretty easy going the whole trip. He had so much fun playing with all his cousins. Jordan and I got to go out to eat and do some shopping too. This was the best vacation we've ever been on. I can't wait to take him back in another two years. 

Congrats for making it all the way through this long post with all the pics :-) I'm hoping to get back on track with my WILWs and Fat Off Fridays this week. Stay tuned!

First Family of Three Vacation

This is a little out of order, but the first week of July we went on our first family vacation. We have taken a few small trips since Jackson was born a year ago, but nothing like this.

The plan was to go with Jordan's parents and brother and sister-in-law to Gulf Shores. When the oil spill news came in, we decided to cancel our plans there since we weren't sure if we could get on the beach. The other option was for just me, Jordan and Jackson to go down to my parents condo in Boynton Beach, FL. Keep in mind, they just bought this condo a month before we went down, so it was perfect timing.

Jordan's brother was supposed to get married to his wife on that vacation, so they decided to have the wedding here instead. So it was just me and Jordan driving 19 hours with a 1 year old. Overall the trip down went really well. We drove on Friday night to Oxford, AL and stayed the night. The next day we drove another 12 hours or so on to Boynton Beach.

The vacation was great, we did a lot of shopping and went to Miami. I was able to go to Dash, which if you don't know, is the Kardashian's clothing store in South Beach. It was a little difficult to do a lot in Miami because of Jackson, but we made a day of it and had a good time. The water there was amazing, so clear and blue. We didn't get to spend too much time at the beach because it was so hot and we didn't want Jackson to get sunburned.

The rest of the vacation we spent relaxing and eating good food. It is so different from the Gulf Coast, but I see us going back a lot. It is a different world down there, and we loved it. Since that is where most of the older people go during the winter, there wasn't a whole lot of traffic because most of them are gone in the summer.

Anyway, I was very excited that Jackson did so well. He hated the beach and the sand, and he also screamed everytime we got in the car because of the long car ride. However, he was a trooper and did great being away from the condo as much as we were. It was definitely a different vacation than we were used to, but it was awesome. We both got to do a lot of what we wanted to do (I shopped and Jordan golfed). It was hard to come back, but since we can go down whenever to their condo, it made it a little easier.