Weekend Wrap-Up, Spring Break Edition

Helloooo from the other side of Spring Break! We had an awesome getaway to Florida and here are  all the pictures and stories!

We were up early and at the airport which was surprisingly empty.  Kase and Kylee ended up doing cartwheels down the hallway because there was almost no one else around.  We grabbed some breakfast and boarded our flight! We had a short layover in Chicago then landed in Orlando in the early afternoon.  There was a bit of confusion getting on the shuttle to the Hard Rock Hotel so we ended up taking a Lyft which worked out fine.

The hotel was really cool! We were disappointed to find out our room wasn't ready when we arrived even though it was after the stated check-in time...

Oh well, they credited our account  for our troubles and we hit the pool, grabbed smoothies for the kids and some poolside chips, salsa and guac!

Our room was ready in enough time for us to get cleaned up before dinner.  Our hotel was super close to Universal and the CityWalk area where all the restaurants were so we were able to walk everywhere.  Kase loved taking a shortcut through this butterfly garden. 

Kael looks SO grown up here.  These next two pictures were on the path on our walk to dinner.

The famous photo op!

We had dinner at this cool place. 

The food and service were great and we let the kids splurge and share a couple desserts.  It was the Chocolate Emporium, after all!

Oh, Kael.  He's so funny.  Air guitaring in front of the Hard Rock.

The CityWalk was so pretty!

We had fun walking around.  

Then back to the hotel for a night swim! Is there anything better?

We got up super early the next day because we had early park access since we were staying at a Universal hotel.  It was SO worth it.  We also had express passes for all the rides which was so amazing.  Saved us so much time and we were able to fit so much in.

We got on the water taxi then got to Islands of Adventure before 7:00 and we headed straight to Hagrid's ride.  The Harry Potter area was so cool! It was really fun seeing it at sunrise and just the energy at park opening was awesome.

There was a little confusion as to what the ride actually was.  I had researched and planned for this trip over a year ago (since we had to postpone) and all the ride descriptions kind of ran together in my mind.  I was thinking this was a Virtual Reality ride (which Kase likes) but it turned out to not be that.  As we got closer to the front of the line, Kase pointed at a rollercoaster and was like, "Is that what we are in line for?" I accidentally told him no because I truly thought it was something else but then we got up there and it did turn out to be a roller coaster.  Kase looks at me with big eyes and I knew he didn't want to go but there literally was no turning back as a huge line had formed behind us at this point.  I was so proud of him when he hopped right on and even admitted to enjoying the ride afterwards!!!

Kent and the bigs did a couple other rides while Kase and I scouted out some food options.  They did convince him to go on another Harry Potter ride after swearing up and down that this was actually WAS a Virtual Reality and not, in fact, a roller coaster. 

The castle was amazing!

We spent the rest of the morning hitting all the big rides.  A few highlights were The Hulk, SpiderMan, and Kong Skull Island.  I also let Kase pick out a wand while Kent, Kael and Kylee did the roller coasters.  Kase had so much fun casting spells all around the park- it was really neat how they had things in window displays that would actually move when Kase waved his wand at them! 

We left the park for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and were so thankful we had made all our meal reservations before we left home because most places were totally full and not taking anyone without reservations! Love the guitar plates the kids meals were served on. 

After lunch we walked back to the hotel. The running joke on our trip was how many times Kase dropped his wand.  It had to have been nearly 100 times. 

Back at our hotel everyone wanted to swim. Kael met a group of boys and they played football and Kylee and Kase enjoyed the water slide.  

We grabbed some ice cream then headed back to Islands of Adventure for a few rides before dinner.

This picture doesn't do it justice but it was a super cool restaurant.  I guess it has been voted Best Theme Park Restaurant in the world several years in a row! We had such a great table with an amazing view of the park.

After dinner we decided to do the water rides.  I had heard you could get pretty soaked and wow was that true!

It was one of the funniest memories of our trip.  We were laughing the whole way home with our squeaky tennis shoes and drenched clothes.

The next morning we woke up early again to be at Universal when it opened.  

The Harry Potter area was seriously unbelievable.  We aren't super Harry Potter fans but we have seen a couple of the movies and when we walked in, Kase was in awe and said, "This is exactly like the movie!" Fun fact too- that dragon breathed actual fire every 15 minutes.  I caught it on video once and it was so cool!

We rode Escape to Gringott's right after a quick stop at the hilarious Minion Mayhem 3D.  Kase loved this ride and I thought it was pretty awesome too!

You can't see it in the picture but there was a shrunken head inside this bus, and you could talk to the bus driver then the head would talk with you too. The shrunken head even teased Kase about dropping his wand.  So funny!

We all rode Transformers which was a good one. Then Kent and the bigs went to do a few crazier rides- Rip Ride Rocket (Kylee's favorite ride of the whole trip) and Revenge of the Mummy so I spent some time just wandering around with Kase. I let him play a couple carnival games and he told me I was the best mom in the whole world for not making him go on roller coasters and letting him do games.  He even won a basketball and had the best time dribbling it around all morning! 

Then we found these giant donuts and just had to get a couple to share. Hilariously awesome.

We did the Simpsons ride which had some funny jokes then watched the Shrek 4D which was fine but no one's favorite then headed to lunch at NBC sports bar. After that, back to the hotel to swim AND our friends who were staying at a nearby hotel came to join us! So fun!

Kael had found his buddies again and had fun hanging with them.  Kase hadn't eaten much at lunch so he got to have his cheeseburger in paradise. 

We had reservations at a Mexican restaurant in the City Walk and Kase barely stayed awake long enough for the waiter to bring us our drinks- ha! 

Little buddy crashed HARD.

I carried him back to Universal (Kent and Kael had run back to the hotel to grab Kase's wand that we forgot). 

While we waited for Kent and Kael to meet us, he fell asleep again and then Kylee nearly did too! Ha!

We had a funny time waiting in line for the Hogwart's Express.  I think we were all a little loopy at this point as you can see by Kase's face in the next photo.  We were all just laughing and joking around and Kent made some comment about feeling "pudgy" after dinner but Kael heard "punch me" and socked Kent right in the gut.  The surprised look on Kent's face, then Kael's when he realized what Kent had actually said was priceless.  Oh my gosh we laughed so hard. 

The next morning everyone slept in a bit since Sea World didn't open until 9:00.  We still got there plenty early and were the second group in line!

Kent, Kylee and Kase rode the Manta right away.  That was Kent's favorite of the whole trip! Then we had fun exploring the aquarium and also finding the area where you could touch the mantas!

We checked out the dolphins and also the sharks.  Kase really enjoyed that part. We also saw some giant sea turtles.

Kent and the bigs rode the Mako several times which was Kael's favorite of the whole trip! They also rode the Kraken and then I did Atlantis with Kylee and Kael- that was super fun and Kent and Kase had bought tokens to squirt us with a water cannon as we were coming in!  Then we watched the Sea Lion show.  It was so funny! After that we tried to find lunch but everything had a super long wait so we just grabbed ice cream and did one more big water ride before leaving.  I was happy Kase was willing to go on it because it was kind of intense! 

While waiting for our Lyft, Kase had fun spotting geckos.

We went back to the hotel to swim then got cleaned up and headed back to the CityWalk one last time. 

Of course Kase had to touch the water.

A few more fun photo ops.

Then we caught a little live music before dinner at an Italian restaurant that was really good.

It had sprinkled a tiny bit (the only rain of our whole trip!) while we were inside at dinner and when we came out the sky was so cool. 

We headed back to Universal to do a few more rides.  Kylee was disappointed the Rip Ride Rocket was closed due to high winds but we still had fun.  Kase LOVED the Jimmy Fallon ride- it was pretty funny.  I also did Revenge of the Mummy with the bigs since I hadn't gotten a chance to do it yet. Then we all rode Escape from Gringott's one last time.  A great end to our trip!

The next morning we had time to grab breakfast at our hotel before going to the airport. Kase had fun running around the fountain soaking up every last bit of sunshine.

Our flights home were smooth and we were back to Ankeny by mid afternoon.  It felt great to be home at a good time so we could get all unpacked and laundry done (the wet clothes from the water rides did NOT smell very good by this point).  Kase found his best buddy to play with and they spent the whole afternoon hanging out. My parents had brought some food for us which was so nice to come home to.  Kael went to a sleepover at his friend's house that night.  The next night Kylee had a friend spend the night here and we went to our friends' house to watch the Iowa game. 

Sunday Kase played with buddies, Kael went to the gym, Kent and I went for a walk and then just got ready for the week. Kael had a class at church, Kase and Kent played some baseball then Kylee had volleyball practice. I worked on organizing photos from the trip and prepping some meals for the week. It felt good to get everything back in order after being gone!