We escaped the COLD weather in sweet home Alabama to go visit family and have a little fun in warm and sunny Florida. On the way daddy came up with the idea to surprise our princesses with a day at The Magic Kingdom it just so happened to be valentine – big valentine surprise for our princesses (previous post). Due to exhaustion and excitement to get to Gigi’s we ended up leaving Disney earlier than we’d planned but that let us get to Gigi’s before cousins Adrian and Alicia went to bed and see Gigi, aunt Kelly, tio Diego, Titi, uncle Winnie, Taylor, and aunt Bobbi a few minutes that evening :).

 

Saturday morning Adrian, Alicia, and Kelly headed to meet Kathy, Jonah, and Brian on a fishing boat. Leia made me smile telling me she needed Gigi snuggles. Of course, Ivy repeated exactly what Leia said. When we excitably told our girls it was time to go see Isla, Kellan and Dawn at a park they quickly told us they only wanted to go if Gigi went and verified we were not going on a long trip before they got in the car; they were not dumb they had been locked up in the car approximately 9 hours one day and 4 hours another. The girls had a blast at the park though! One of mommy’s favorite parks we’ve been too. Nice shade with plenty of fun for the kids. We were able to enjoy lunch with Dawn and the kids before we headed back for much needed naps. Leia, Adrian, and aunt Kelly went for a swim while a Ivy rested. The water was cold but the water lovers got in ;). Leia did fabulous swimming especially for not being in the pool since last September; it probably helped that Adrian swam a fish. That evening we headed to Ricky and Dawn’s for a cookout and family time. We have not seen a couple of our family members in over 3 years so we were excited to see uncle John and uncle David; they got to meet princess Ivy too. Before leaving home we were reviewing who we would see and had told Leia that cousin Isla was turning 5 on Tuesday so she thought we would be going to her party however we told her it was the next weekend so Leia told us before we left we’d ‘picked the wrong weekend to go visit’. No fear, we got to have a little family birthday celebration for Isla with a cookie cake and song (that satisfied Leia’s need to celebrate with Isla since we had cake and sang– love a 4 year olds logic). It was fabulous getting to catch up and spend time with family we do not get to see as much as we would like too for the evening.

Fun at the park with Dawn, Isla, and Kellan
    

Sweet girl enjoyed her lunch

Thank you aunt Kelly for swimming with Leia
 
Ivy and Alicia cheered them on from the side of the pool

Fun at Gigi’s

Playing at Isla and Kellan’s
         
Uncle Brian cooked the fish that Adrian and Jonah caught that morning

We got to celebrate Isla’s birthday that evening too
   

Sweet baby girl was exhausted after the fun day

Argh, to the pirate ship we go first thing Sunday morning. Lisa attempted to get a picture of all 7 kiddos looking at the camera dressed up as pirate and princesses proved to be challenging but the best two are shown below. This was a great boat trip for the kids and parents; great job finding it Dawn! Entertainment started before boarding, the kids could get their face painted (of course our little princess chose her hand). All the kids lined up to walk to the boat and got to sit in the front of the boat to hear about the pirate ways intermixed with activities throughout the ride. Ivy was still a little tired (or plain out irritable) so she switched between joining the kids for fun and resting in the kangaroo pouch on Lisa. The kids had fun looking for coconuts with red rope tied on them (the way pirates use to communicate), learning how to shoot the cannons in case we got into a fight or needed to defend the ship, doing the limbo, being sworn in as pirates, settling a dispute between the mean pirate who stole our treasure key the pirate way (shooting him with water cannons), then after his defeat he threw the key to the bottom of the ocean so in order to get into the treasure chest the kids had to come up with how to retrieve it from the bottom of the ocean, and then after the key was recovered everyone got some gold-a-blooms, a diamond, and certificate for helping sail the seas. All the hard work, worked up an appetite so keeping with the theme we headed to a Pirate bar for yummy food before all the littles headed back to rest from the long morning. Rest time was short and sweet though before Leia was asking to get in the cold pool with Adrian (Diego and Chris was ready to jump in if she needed them). She swam longer than anyone and loved it! (We so need to join a gym or somewhere she can swim year round.) When everyone woke up the little sisters ran around the pool and played dress up until it was time to head to Dawn and Ricky’s house for more play time with their FL cousins. Dawn and Kathy fixed appetizers then we ordered pizza for a low stress night in. We also celebrated March birthdays that evening since several cousins have them that month. Later that evening cousins Adrian, Alicia, and Jonah had to head home so we said our goodbyes then went back to Gigi’s to rest up for our trip home the next day.

Attempted getting a picture of our 6 pirates and princesses
 

Leia got her hand painted instead of her face 🙂

Lined up and ready to get on the ship
 

Our captain swore everyone in as pirates
 

Fun on the ship
      

Isla and Leia got to help raise the flag on the boat
 

Practicing shooting the cannons incase we need to defined the ship
     

Limbo on the ship
 
 

Looking for coconuts
  

The kids had to help defined the ship from another pirate and get our treasure key back
    
The key went to the bottom of the ocean so the kids had to come up with ideas of how to get it back
 

Our sweet girls
 

Lunch with the pirates

Keeping with the pirate theme …. lunch
     

Kathy even brought Kona a pirate outfit

 As soon as Leia woke up she requested to get back in the pool
   

Leia noticed Gigi crocheting and was interested in learning … she is a smart one to get a great teacher
  

Celebrating March birthdays Sunday night
    

It is a travel day but first we enjoyed breakfast with Gigi, Dawn, Isla, and Kellan at Dandee Donuts. The weekend in FL flew by and the time seemed to come too soon to hop in the car to start the ride home but mid-morning we put the address in to go home. It was a little of a shocker when the GPS said 13 hours and 2 minutes till we were at our house (breaking the trip up on the way down did not make it seem like we were in the car that long) but we drove straight thru. The girls did great for most the trip. Ivy does not like to sleep in the car! In fact, she is not a big fan of her sister sleeping either and would try to wake her up too (what a sweet little sister). When she finally did fall asleep we were stopping for lunch, the 5 minute power nap gave her enough energy to stay up to past her normal bed time. We got home in a little over 14 hours, girls went straight to bed followed by mommy and daddy for much needed rest. Of course, Chris left for work the next day at 6 and Leia was in her bed screaming about 6:15 for mommy so no one really slept in but the time we got to spend with our family was simply fabulous!

Breakfast … all the kids wanted to sit together with Gigi

Thank you Gigi for letting us stay with you, we enjoyed our visit!

On the way home