Our New Florida, Disney Trip Begins!

We are so excited! We get to go back to Florida, visit with family (Aunt Judy and Uncle Jerry (Tim's bro and sis in law) and do Disney once again. I feel very lucky and blessed and do not take a moment of this special time for granted.
Our dream is to have a Disney Vacation Club so that we can go every year. We are both addicted. Ty has caught the bug as well :)
~~~~ So let's start this, shall we?!
Off we go!
Our countdown is complete, and it is time to begin our journey to the sunshine state. Beautiful Florida.

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We got off to a rough start... I forgot the cooler (I made special for Ty...fruits and healthy stuff), and we stopped to get him a new travel tray too... by the time we were on our way, it was almost noon. Oh well. We drove and drove, and Ty wanted Alvin and the Chipmunks...and the taped version we had didn't work too well. We ended up stopping again and Tim bought Alvin and the Chipmunks and Kung Fu Panda. We have watched Alvin and the Chipmunks close to 527 times. Really, a chipmunk accent is not the kind I want to catch... Australian, English, what have you...but squeaky... not uh. We made it to Georgia at our Holiday Inn place and quickly feel asleep. I had to work a little bit, but I guess that is a good thing :) We woke up around 8 or 9 and got ready and headed out to St. Augustine, Florida. While we were getting ready, the room service people kept knocking. It was so annoying. It was like 9am! We drove to Florida at the rest stop... got us our little OJ samples

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and a few pictures

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We met this nice fella, please keep him in your best thoughts and prayers.

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We didn't forget for a second how lucky and blessed we are.

So now, its off to St. Augustine.

Uncle Jerry and Aunt Judy were waiting for us and greeted us in the driveway. It was so wonderful to see them again. We always have such a fantastic time. We settled in a bit... Uncle Jerry and Aunt Judy gave Ty a sweet little car track set and matchbox cars that he LOVED and played with the whole time. We settled in, had some of Jerry's fabulous burgers, and headed off to the holiday festivities at the St. Augustine Lighthouse. We got some hot cider, listened to christmas music, enjoyed the chill in the air and Ty met Santa!!!

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He was a great Santa..he took his time with each child. Very sweet. We found out that Ty wants a BIG BIG BIG Race Track. haha Tim and Jerry climbed the 219 steps up the lighthouse. Tim didn't see any ghosts. We were all tired and decided to head back home. I put Ty to bed and he was fast asleep. We bought the Ghosthunters DVD and watched the episode when they were at The Lighthouse. Talk about chillls!
Off to bed... when we woke up, Jerry and Judy were making us breakfast and coffee. Spoiled we were! We relaxed, ate breakfast and we talked about what to do, and decided to do the Trolly tour around St. Augustine. When we got to the Trolly place, we saw a pirate store with a real pirate (in total character) but like stoner surfer pirate... and he was such a super nice pirate. We bought some things there... He gave Ty a little pirate set with a plastic knife, eye patch and telescope.
Avast! Here he is protecting his Aunt Judy!

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We got on the trolly and we were off.
Here are some of the sights that were saw... haha (Note: Pictures taken on a moving trolly)

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We stopped along the way at A1A brew pub restaurant. It was very yum. We went here last time and loved it. After dinner, we got back on the trolly and headed back to Jerry and Judy's... we got to video chat with Jennifer (Tim's cousin :) ) and her little ones Teddy and Grace. They were precious. Ty finally got to meet his cousins. Ahhh the technology. Jennifer looked fantastic and we cannot wait to see them again (in person this time. )
Tim and Jerry went out to shoot some pool and have some brother bonding time together. They rode in Jerry and Judy's electric car. It is SUPER CUTE!




Ty played sweetly with his cars and Judy and I had a lovely time talking, and relaxing... Tim and Jerry returned with pizza and Tim was not feeling, ahem, so, ahem, well... In his defense, I think he had a stomach bug... because it lasted for a few days... He didn't drink THAT much to warrant a 3 day hangover. haha He did however tell everyone that he beat his big brother at pool... something he has never done, so he was feeling good about that. Jerry wanted to go back out with Tim, but Timmy was sacked out. Till next time. :) I am happy they had such a great time.


Then next morning, Tim didn't feel 100% but a lot better. We went to Marineland... I love it there. I always wanted to be a dolphin trainer. I live it vicariously through watching the dolphin trainers at work. I would love to swim with them one day. They are beautiful creatures. I bought myself a christmas ornament that was painted by a dolphin. How could I resist! haha
We took some pictures, then headed back to Jerry and Judy's home.










We hung out for a bit, then got ready for dinner. Jerry wanted to take us to this place called Pizzalley's or something like that. It was super yum. Yumbo, cause we all ate so very much. haha Atkins, what Atkins... We had little bits of everything. It was so good, especially the crème brule! Tim has me hooked on that YUMster-ness. Dangerous, dangerous dessert. After dinner, Jerry and Judy took Ty and I on the Holly Jolly Trolley. We wore 3-D glasses and watched all of the lights around St. Augustine dance... and there was christmas music and even better... christmas music that we sang along to at the TOP of our lungs! No Bah-Humbug here!

We had so much fun. I am sad Tim had to miss it. We got back to the house and put Ty to bed. We packed up and got ready because the next day we were headed to Disneyworld.
We woke up the next morning, got everything together and packed up. Said our goodbyes. We just have the best time with Jerry and Judy and appreciate their hospitality. I wish we all didn't live so far away. We were blessed to be able to visit again.