Staycation seems to be going pretty well. In case you missed my last blog, Asa is on a stretch of only having to work one out of eight days. It's been super awesome to have him around this much, and while we didn't do much of anything today, we have been out and about the last couple enjoying everything Florida, because, well, we're lucky enough to live here. Nine years later, I still drive around looking at the palm trees and the water, and think it's pretty awesome I get to call this place home.
Tuesday we were mostly around the house, we did have a park trip, though. But, we couldn't plan a whole day, because Asa was off to his 'last day of school', sort of. He went to take his very last test, and passed of course. All he has left now is his final project, then he'll be a college graduate! Yay!
Tuesday was also free cone day, so most of us (Peyton isn't an ice cream fan), went out to Citrus Park for our free cone.
Wednesday we were off to Disney, it was the last four on the crowd calendar until September, so we had to go! I had a pretty mabitious day planned. We hit the animal kingdom first. Hayden and I watched Nemo, while the other boys went on Everest and Dinosaur.
We also had fast passes for Kilimanjaro Safaris.
There were lots of animals out and about.
And they were really close to the jeep this time!
But the Animal Kingdom was HOT. (Not complaining, remember, I promised I wouldn't!) We did decide after this visit we would stick to our summer Disney regimen. That's basically a water park, Diseny Quest, and one park at night, once the sun is nearly down. Doing a park in the afternoon now just isn't too pleasant.
After we had been at the Animal Kingdom awhile, we decided to head over to Blizzard Beach.
We did some slides, and the whole length of the lazy river.
Calib was upset he's too tall for the ice burgs, but Hayden happily crossed them a few times.
And there was a mid-afternoon ice cream bucket break.
The water parks are still only open until 5 (summer hours have them open till 6), so we stayed until close.
After our packed lunch in the car, we headed on over to the Magic Kingdom.
It's the first time we'd been there since the walls came down for the new fireworks and parade viewing. I wasn't so sure I was going to like it, but it's actually really, really nice. It's much more green than I had pictured.
While Calib, Peyton, and Asa hit Space Mountain Hayden and I took a spin on the people mover.
We had so much room, just the two of us.
We wandered around and waited for them for a bit.
There wasn't long lines, but there did seem to be people everywhere. We went over to Dumbo's playground and met back up with everyone else.
I love the Magic Kingdom, I never ever, ever get sick of it.
We split a cinnamon roll at Gaston's,
And rode a few more rides before heading out.
Oh, and Calib hit Galatic Hero status on Space Ranger Spin, but he refused to collect since the ride was temporarily stopped and he just racked in the 100,000 target.
We missed the electrical light parade, but the boys were pretty tired, we'll catch it again another night.
Thursday, Asa and I had date day. We decided we'd head over to Saint Pete for the day and enjoy the sights. Our first stop was John's pass.
Where apparently you can play the claw game for lobsters. (We didn't, but we COULD have).
We got some lunch.
Something about eating seafood outside is so awesome, and vacation-ey.
Then we just walked around and window shopped.
We decided we'd spend a little time at the beach on Treasure Island, we didn't swim, but we did stick our feet in the gulf.
And we did boring adult stuff like reading. You know, since we were without kids for the day. (Sad note: I finished my Kennedy book AND Killing Lincoln in the last two days, I am TOTALLY bummed I have to find a new book now.)
Continuing on our 'things to do without kids' tour, we stopped by Haslam's book store. It's pretty much the best bookstore ever. They had a first edition copy of Thomas Jefferson's memoirs!
Then it was off to the waterfront.
So we could finally go to the Dali Museum!
Asa has wanted to go for awhile, and on Thursday evenings you can get in for a reduced admission. Since this was his last Thursday off in awhile, it seemed like something we should take advantage of.
I'm not a huge art museum fan, but I actually really liked the headsets. It gave me a lot more context for the art.
I thought about getting the Dali and Da Vinci finger puppets, but I just wasn't sure when I would use them.
My favorite part of the museum was outside though. Look at Asa's Dali mustache!
Even the bird has one.
And everyone ties their wristbands to this tree, it's got quite the chain going.
We headed back across the bay for dinner at LeeRoy Selmon's. (Mmmmmm Corn Pudding & Bread Pudding!)
But in true Floirda fashion, our pretty blue skies had turned into this. Afternoon thunderstorm time is upon us everyone!
We've also been tracking the youngest Fenderson brother this week: Casey in Africa! He likes walking places, puzzles, national parks, and animals. He dislikes big cities, vehicles, and being north of the equator.
The boys got some things found at the tent Casey was believed to be hiding.
They've also gotten puzzle pieces each day. Calib's been really into putting this thing together. (Once it was assembled there was a star in the general vicinity of where Casey is hiding.)
After two mail days the puzzle was coming along nicely.
But today he was able to finish it.
Peyton's gotten various clues, and they've determined that Casey has not left the country where the crime was committed. Peyton was pretty sure he's hiding in the Serengeti. Hayden, meanwhile, has been working on a file about giraffes. He's sending it back to the home office tonight, and he should be getting something in return tomorrow.
However, today Calib got top secret mail. (He's been giving a proposal by Casey himself to try and throw Peyton and Hayden off his trail. He's making an effort, so we'll see how that turns out.)
And, now I bring you the Dipper demanding treats sequence of pictures. (Those might have been dog treats, but Dipper doesn't care, he'll eat anything.)
That's it from here. I am tried and groggy today, as I didn't sleep too well last night. (Maybe it was all the season finales last night! I wasn't thrilled with Scandal, but holy Blacklist, that was awesome!) We're contemplating a trip to the pool after dinner (which is an Africian dish the Home Office sent us).
Next Up: One work day, then THREE MORE DAYS OFF!
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