Orlando Vacay...

no photoshop done on these pictures

....ahhhh V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!

It seemed like something lost that I desperately needed but it would never be found again. Then my amazing husband got a promotion and was sent to Orlando for a conference. So our whole vacation wasn't free but our hotel was....so that was nice. We did get bumped from the beautiful Orlando Hilton to the Rosen Plaza. Not as nice but it was still free and fun!

We drove down on Saturday and the ride was fairly easy considering we were expecting the worst attempting an 8 hour drive with a 2 1/2 year old. It also helped that Chris has a new Ipod touch and I got to play "Angry Birds" most of the way. If you don't have that app I highly suggest it. So for me it seemed like a smooth ride...Chris may say something different since he actually did the driving. We only stopped twice, once for lunch at Chick-fil-a to let Ivy run around on the playground and once in St. Augustine at the outlets to do a little shopping. She really did great but when we finally pulled into the hotel parking lot Ivy said "Mommy, lets go home!" We kinda laughed and said "No honey we're going to a hotel." She didn't like that answer but was soon over it when she saw the huge water fountain in the front of the hotel.

We got checked in and unpacked and Ivy slept so hard that night. We laid her down in her bed with pillows all around her and we didn't hear a peep all night. The next morning when we woke up there were no pillows anywhere on her bed and she had flipped completely around. She also did not want to get up, she was very groggy. We finally got her up and took her to the bathroom to pee and much to our surprise she was dry. We were so excited which got her excited and she quickly peed and remembered that we were going to see the dolphins! She kept yelling "Yay! Dolphins!" and she ran to the window in the room and stared out of it. It was one of her favorite places throughout the week. And I should also mention that she remained dry all day! No accidents! She did this several times on our vacation...it seems to have been a turning point for her in the potty training! Hooray!

We got ready, rushed downstairs to eat breakfast talked to the customer service desk only to discover that the shuttle from the hotel to Sea World left in 20 minutes. We ran back up stairs to brush our teeth and pack a bag and get the stroller and ran back downstairs at exactly 8:20 and barely made the hotel shuttle in time. We were literally the last people on the bus! We got to Sea World right before they opened and Ivy wasn't quite so sure what to think. She could see a roller coaster running before we got in the main gate but she didn't seem overly excited until we got a little closer to it. Then everytime that roller coaster was in her sight she would yell "Here it comes!" When we walked in the first thing that she saw was the flamingos. She didn't get too excited but she talked about them a little bit with her Daddy (yes we had to take Jesse because that's her favorite).

We walked around a bit and got to pet some sting rays and Ivy was very intrigued but we didn't stay there too long because we wanted to make it to the first dolphin show "Blue Horizons". When we finally made it over there Ivy wasn't so excited about waiting for the gate to open. We let her out of her stroller and she saw a squirrel...apparently the squirrels at Sea World are not scared of people. It just looked at Ivy and another little girl as they ran towards it. At the very last minute it decided that maybe it shouldn't stand it's ground (smart choice). It darted off and so did Ivy around a bush and out of sight...don't worry though, Chris ran after her.

When we got in the stadium Ivy couldn't believe her eyes! A big blue tank of water...she was amazed! Then she realized there were no dolphins in it. I tried to explain that they were resting and getting ready to do their show, she was as patient as you can expect any 2 year old to be but once the show started she was in awe for the entire 20 minutes.

When we got to the dolphin show it was cloudy and overcast but about halfway through the show the sun decided to come out and we nearly melted. We immediately headed over to the "Elmo and Abby's Treasure Hunt". It was fun and in the AC which is nice. We sang and clapped along to the songs and shouted out the answers to the questions.

Ivy was tired and hot so we ate a quick bite and then went to look at the penguins because that's what she wanted to see. It was too dark to take any pictures of them but Ivy was perfectly content to just stand there and watch them jump and swim. And I have to admit some of them were quite entertaining swimming and showing off. Then while we were standing in there Ivy asked for ice cream...and she's too cute to say "no" too. So we went outside and got some ice cream...and we all enjoyed it!

Later we made our way over to see "Shamu's believe". We weren't able to get any really good pictures of the show but we did get to go down and meet one of the trainers at the end. Ivy was a little bit unsure but she reluctantly posed for a picture.

Then we went back over to the sting rays to feed them. This was my favorite part! I love petting sting rays...they fascinate me. We were given some shrimp to feed them and believe me these things were hungry! One just about took my finger off, while I know that they can't sting me they still have really strong jaws. I fed a couple of more of them but they were pretty aggressive and one time one of them actually jumped out of the water trying to get the shrimp. It was a little scary for Ivy but I eventually got her to at least touch the water to try and pet them but I don't think she ever actually touched one.

Then it was off to the underground dolphin viewing. We were there a long time. Dolphins are officially Ivy's favorite! Anytime one or a group would swim by Ivy's mouth would drop open and she would gasp. If I can ever take the time to figure out how to upload video on the blog I'll have to post the dolphin video because it's classic!

When we finally convinced Ivy to leave the Dolphins we went over to the Mantee viewing. Chris had never seen a manatee before and was excited about...I tried to explain that manatee's are very cool but not to expect much because they are basically big floating blobs with a tail and a little beard. Luckily we got a little more than that, they actually decided to swim around some for us and there was even a Mama and a little baby.

We told Ivy that she could go and pick out a prize from the shop and she picked out a tube that she could put little sea animals in and she picked out a stuffed dolphin. She was very proud of both of them and sleeps with her dolphin every night and plays with her little sea animals in the bathtub every night. We rode the bus back to the hotel and Ivy was very excited about that. She kept saying "I ride the bus!" And through out the week she kept asking me if we were going to ride the bus again and would even make up songs about riding buses. She's a trip!

We went back to Sea World a second time but we didn't take the camera or video camera because we just wanted to relax and take our time and enjoy it. We went back to see the penguins and watched the dolphin show again and spent lots of time in the underground viewings for the dolphins and for the manatees. We went to see "Clyde and Seamore" which was a very funny show. They basically just made fun of all the other shows at Sea World...it was quite entertaining!

While we were in Orlando we also took Ivy to the craziest McDonald's ever! I seriously wish I had taken the camera with us. I didn't think to do it because I figured we would go in she would eat some chicken nuggets and then play on the playground. I was wrong there was a full blown arcade in this place and the biggest playground I have ever seen. I couldn't let her play in the playground (which didn't go over well with her) because there were very large 14 year olds running around like wild animals. I secretly was hoping one of them would get stuck...seriously why would you want to play on a toddler playground and not have the respect to not run over them! But we bought one of the arcade cards and let Ivy play a few games and then Chris played some basketball and I played some skee ball so we could win her some tickets and get some prizes. She picked out the funniest stuff and she was very proud of it, especially the tatoo but the tatoo didn't last very long.

Every night Ivy was so tired that she would ask for her Daddy to lay with her and this is how she fell asleep...Chris loved it and it was just too adorable not to take a picture.

On Wednesday it was Chris's last day of class at the conferance and Ivy and I slept in. When we got up we walked downstairs and decided to treat ourselves to some donuts and I got myself a Starbucks. I don't drink coffee often but Starbucks is yummy! So we took our time eating our donuts and after we finished I turned on the TV for Ivy and I went to fix my hair. But a couple of minutes later I heard her sweet little voice call me "Mommy...lay down with me please?" So of course I did. Please excuse my hair, I was getting ready to straighten it. Then we just laid down together while I had my coffee and Ivy watched Sesame Street on my laptop. It was great!

Part 2 - Magic Kingdom coming soon