Florida Vacation

Last week we spent a fun and relaxing week in Florida.  My mother and I took the two kids down to stay at my aunt and uncles home in Davenport.  My Aunt Ann flew down as well from Pennsylvania and we had a great time enjoying the Florida sunshine.

We tried to have an activity planned each day and the day after we arrived we spent the afternoon at Downtown Disney.  Ava enjoyed the rides and the highlight for me was having a mother and daughter silhouette done.  I had one done with my mother at Disney when I was close to Ava's age so when I saw the stand I had to have one done.

Two days later we went to the Grand Floridian for a character breakfast.  Ava was in awe of Pooh and Tigger and her little head was on a swivel the entire time looking around and watching for them.  I dressed her up in her Princess Elsa dress and from the moment that we arrived until we left, all of the staff was addressing her as Princess Elsa and was bowing to her.  She even walked around singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman, " it was so sweet!

Going  to Disney is a long day, especially with a two year old, so we decided to only spend one day at the park.  We decided to go to Animal Kingdom since we went to Magic Kingdom in the Fall and with 100 degree temperatures, it was nice to be in a more shaded park.  We spent about six hours there and Ava even skipped her nap and she was such a trooper.  We rented a stroller in the park and went from one side to the other and she was so happy and loved every minute of it.  I planned out the rides that we would go on and were able to Fast Pass most of them so we did not have to worry about standing in line.  I was not sure about taking her to a Bug's Life and it turned out to be a mistake as parts of it scared her and she spent the last part of it with her little head buried in my chest.  I felt like a horrible mom for taking her to it but afterwards she kept asking to go back to see the scary bugs.  The highlight of her day was meeting Minnie and Mickey and that alone make the trip to Florida worth it.  My mother had never been to Animal Kingdom so it was fun getting to watch her experience and the three of us had a great day together!

The rest of the vacation was spent in the pool and enjoying family time.  Ava is a little water bug and enjoyed spending time at the pool every day.  We had a great week and I am happy that we were able to take this trip before I go back to work.