Although the sickness of '11 kept me from the original Florida trip I had planned, my Mom came up with the great idea of taking another trip; this time to surprise my sister.
Of course, leave it to my family to meet up with my California residing sister by waiting until she was in Florida and then flying in from Ohio.
We decided to add Baby Girl to the fun, and take her to Sea World. I have very fond memories of Sea World as a child. When it was still located in Aurora, Ohio, we were able to go at least once a summer, sometimes more than that.
To keep things in order, here was the plan:
1. We would be staying with my Mom's childhood friend who lives in Orlando and was willing to put up with our antics for the 4 days we would be there.
2. My sister's in laws were going to be in Florida and had a fantastic resort room that they were happy to entertain in, and were right across from Sea World.
3. My sister and her husband were coming in to Orlando from California to see the 8 family members that had come down to Florida and go to Disney.
4. I could not blog/facebook/email or talk to her about the trip, (which was killing me) because if she saw any of my posts the gig would be up.
5. We would be spending 2 days at Sea World and the rest of the time trying not to impose on various people when we needed to drive around Orlando and eat (seriously, these were some incredibly generous people!).
For a day or so we were convinced my sister had figured out what we were doing. We tried throwing her off the case by making phone calls and talking about how bad the weather was (while we were sitting by the pool) and putting Baby Girl on the phone who turned out to be an excellent story-teller (makes me worry about the future though, ha).
The look on her face when she walked in the room Saturday night and saw us standing there was well worth the whole trip! We had a great time.
The trip to Sea World was so fantastic. We really did need two days to get through the whole park. The shows were great, especially the dolphin show, which inspired us to do a behind the scenes tour with the dolphins. But that's another post...
The weather was perfect, and several times I had to remind myself it was still January and not the summer! Of course, I had no trouble remembering the month with the ice storm that hit Ohio immediately after we got home.
Our friends and family went above and beyond to make this a great trip
This is my Mom and her friend...it was so fun to hear them talk about their childhood together. I could really see why they were friends. A special thanks to her husband for putting up with the endless chatter of Baby Girl, who never misses an opportunity to entertain a captive audience.
Some of us were even able to go swimming...
I can't even begin to tell you the level of bribery and coaxing that went into getting Baby Girl on this water slide.
We were so happy to see my sister and brother in law...we had so much fun and it was so hard to leave.
I'm so lucky to have my family. Thanks Mom! Thanks Family! Happy Birthday Sis! Love You!
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