White House Events: Florida Family Reunion

We had a great time this summer going to Florida with my WHOLE family. That is right. All of us were there--my parents, siblings, nieces nephews, everyone--and I must say that was the best part about our vacation. I loved being with my family. However, there were some other good parts as well:

We left on Wednesday, July 24. Above is Kayden getting ready to board our first flight. He is all set to go with his drink in hand. It was fun to text back and forth to everyone and send pictures letting each other know where we were on our journey to Florida.

On our layover in Dallas, Josh and I did some exploring and sent a picture to everyone with he and his new friends.

Once we finally arrived in Florida (quite late at night), we had a good time visiting parks and hanging out together. On our first day there, Thursday July 25, we went to Gatorland. It was fun being a redneck for a day.

McKay feeding the alligators hotdogs. I thought the gators would go crazy over the hotdogs, but mostly we just binged them in the head with the hotdog and they did nothing....

....except for this guy. He sat there with his mouth gaping open wanting you to land a hotdog in his mouth just right. What a lazy gator!

Here are a few of my nices and nephews with Kayden watching a gator show. A couple of crazy guys were feeding the alligators whole raw chickens. Again, I thought the gators would be more aggressive, but they just kind of ho-hummed around.

The dudes feeding the alligators. Not much action going on.

Aaaahhh! Josh was captured by an alligator!

McKay was captured as well!

And then Kayden also! It was a fun day--minus the huge rainstorm that soaked us completely!

All of the grandkids at Gatorland. Love these kids!

After visiting Gatorland, we decided to grab some lunch/dinner at the World's Largest McDonalds. They had a wide variety of food there, and more fun and games that you can imagine.

Lachlan and Jaxon (with Tyler in the background) dancing their hearts out on Dance, Dance Revolution.

Samantha and Josh hanging out with Ronald McDonald. I think Ronald and Samantha with their red hair make a fine couple--hehe.

Sara with Alexa on her lap and Kayden enjoying a ride simulator.

They had a really cool air-hockey table where four people could play at once. It was a lot of fun to play and a lot of fun to watch!

Kayden made friends with Ronald too. He always was asking to have his picture taken.

The next day, July 26, we went to Universal Studios.

Kayden loved dancing with the Despicable Me minions after riding The Minion Mayhem ride. Check out his dance moves:

We were having a great day until we decided to ride the new Transformers ride that was launched just a couple of weeks before our arrival. We ended up waiting in line for over two and half hours....

....where Jeremy fell asleep on a garbage can. The wait was so ridiculous that we gave up and went and got some lunch so we could enjoy the rest of the park. Most of my family stayed to go on the ride and waited for over three and a half hours!

My sister Caprice and her husband Scott ate lunch with us which was really fun and nice. After lunch, Kayden was in a bad mood and would not cooperate. See him hiding behind the sign? Stinker!

McKay outside of the Monster Cafe where we ate lunch.

Josh ready to be zapped.

McKay was so good to give Kayden piggyback rides around the park. While we were waiting in line for the Shrek 4-D movie, we noticed that Kayden was wearing two shirts! He had put his shirt on over his pajamas that morning. Granted it was very early in the morning when we got ready to leave to Universal, but it was a hot day! I don't know how stood it!

This picture definitely paints a thousand words! This is my favorite picture from the whole trip. It has my whole family in it minus my brother-in-law Scott who was unable to ride with us and my nephew Lachlan who ducked and you can't see him. He is the blank spot on the back row.

On July 27 (my birthday), we went to Universal's Island of Adventure where the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is. It was amazing! We went straight to the Harry Potter ride.

Here we are waiting in line in Professor Sprout's greenhouse. It is a good chunk of my family starting with Shane (closest to the camera) and then Bryan, Lachaln, Jaxon, Grandma, McKay, Marissa, Kayden, Sara, Samantha, Alexa, Becca, Tyler, Debra and Paul.

Entering Hogwarts Castle. It was awesome!

Josh with the Sorting Hat behind him.

The Harry Potter ride was awesome and we loved it. We ended up riding it three times that day. It was my favorite ride by far!

After riding Harry Potter, my mom and I took the younger kids to ride Flight of the Hippogriff, which is a small roller-coaster. I love that Kayden and Alexa were holding hands in line. Kayden loves his cousins.

Getting ready to go! Alexa and Kayden are in the front car, with Josh and Lachlan in the second car.

McKay, Josh, Jaxon and Kayden in front of Hogwarts Castle. Everything looked like it jumped from the pages of a Harry Potter book!

While the big kids went on the big rides and roller-coasters, I went with Kayden, Josh and Jaxon on the more milder rides. I enjoyed the day much more that way. Above is Kayden and Lachlan riding the merry-go-round in Dr. Seuss Land. It was a great birthday!

On Sunday July 28, we spent the whole day at the hotel swimming in the pool, playing cards and hanging out. It was a must needed rest day.

On Monday, July 29, we went to Disney's Magic Kingdom with Grandma and Grandpa. We arrived early and were able to ride everything we wanted before lunch. Sadly, Pirates of the Caribbean was closed as was Thunder Mountain. But we had a great time riding everything else!

I loved this picture of McKay and Kayden riding Space Mountain. Kayden was good to try every ride, but he sure let you know if he didn't like it. He thought Space Mountain was pretty awesome as did everyone else.

Kayden got a drivers license and took McKay for a spin around Tomorrow Land's Speedway.

Josh took his dad for a spin and proved to be a pretty good driver!

Grandma driving along.

Jaxon reminding me of the time he drove the Speedway when he was about three in California. He had the exact same face with the tongue sticking out in concentration.

Jaxon was a good driver and I enjoyed our cruise very much.

Kayden and Buzz Lightyear.

Grandma and Grandpa comparing scores on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

Kayden outside of the Winnie the Pooh ride. They actually have interactive stuff for the kids to do while they wait in line now. It was nice and made the time move quickly.

Josh and Dad on Dumbo.

Kayden and McKay with Jaxon behind them riding Dumbo. My kids have never seen the movie Dumbo, so they couldn't figure out what the flying elephant was all about.

Josh with Jaxon in the background on a little splash pad in the middle of the park.

Jaxon on the left and Kayden on the right. Kayden looks like he was pooped!

Kayden and McKay riding It's a Small World. That ride was much longer than I remembered. It was definitely not one of McKay's favorites!

We love Grandma and Grandpa! (On It's a Small World.)

We met up with Paul and Debra and their family at lunch time and spent the rest of the afternoon with them. We left the park much earlier than they did as we arrived at the park much earlier. But it was fun to be with them at the park for a few hours. We rode Jungle Cruise together:

Kayden, McKay and Jeremy.

Josh, Paul, Lachlan, Jaxon, Marissa and Debra cruisin' along.

The family in front of Cinderella's Castle.

Grandma and Grandpa.

On our last day of vacation, July 30, we went to Coco Beach with everyone and played in the waves and the sand. I didn't take my camera out that day, I was afraid of it getting ruined by the sand. (We ruined one of our old cameras at the beach once.) But it was a fun and it was great to spend our last day all together. We then flew home on July 31.