Florida

As I sit on the couch looking out my living room window, I see piles of white snow. The sky is gray and it’s cold outside. Yesterday morning I shoveled the deck and driveway; it’s definitely winter in Michigan. Just over a week ago I was enjoying sunshine and blue sky while wearing capris, short sleeves, and sandals in Orlando, Florida. What a difference a week … and a location can make!

I had a wonderful time in Florida. We actually spent the entire time on Disney property and I loved seeing all the beautiful landscaping - the colorful flowers, the green grass and bushes, the palm tress. I think I can now get through this Michigan winter after glimpsing a taste of the spring to come. I also enjoyed the Disney theme parks and the resort we stayed at. But the best part for me was spending time with my family.

It was fun to reconnect with my college-aged nephew and his friend. Although we were often on different schedules (they were usually heading out for a night on the town while the rest of us were getting ready for bed), we spent most evenings playing games together which was really fun. We also rode on “Expedition Everest” - a roller coaster which often went backwards through dark tunnels - together.

I also was able to spend some time with my younger niece and nephew. My niece and I spent an afternoon together at Hollywood Studios. We experienced the “Tower of Terror” for the first time together and then took a backlot tour where we had the adventure of being in a flooding canyon and learned the technology involved in staging movie special effects. We also had fun on the "Mad Teacup Ride" at Magic Kingdom, although she got a little carried away on the turns!

My 6 year old nephew loves animals, so he and I got up early one morning and spent a few hours at the Animal Kingdom. It was quite cold, so we were bundled up. Even so, when we arrived we needed some hot cocoa to warm up before we went searching for any animals that weren’t too cold to be outside. We saw several tigers and gorillas as well as kangaroos. We also took a train ride to the petting zoo.

It was also nice to spend time with my sister and brother-in-law and my parents. We stayed all together in a 2-bedroom condo at Disney’s Old Key West resort which was very nice. Disney certainly has a good thing going. I can’t believe how much land they own! There are numerous resorts to stay at besides four theme parks and two water parks. And the bus transportation system was very helpful as we drove right past long lines of cars. Although we picked the busiest week of the year, all the “cast members” (Disney’s name for their employees) were friendly and we were treated very well. I actually was able to visit all four theme parks during the five days we were there. More on each theme park during later blog postings. I’m so thankful to my sister and brother-in-law for inviting us to be part of their vacation.