Vacation 2015

The Parker Four recently returned from a fun-filled and much needed vacation to Orlando. When you have young children vacations are pretty much centered around them, so when they started talking about where they wanted to go we listened and took note. They both wanted a water park, Ev specifically asked for Florida, and Ry requested Hawaii and China! Well, a trip abroad is on the horizon, but it's not quite time so we had to make other plans. I started researching and found the Nickelodeon Suites Resort. It definitely wasn't Hawaii or China, but they had Ry's beloved Ninja Turtles so I figured he would love it all the same! Even though I hadn't planned on going to Florida anytime soon, I bit the bullet and planned the trip. There was one catch---The Peas had no idea where we were going. We wanted it to be a surprise right up until we pulled up to the funky orange and green colored Nick Hotel!

We planned on hanging out at our resort mostly since there was so much to do--a water park, mini-golf course, shows, an arcade, a laser maze, and a 4D movie theater. But since we were in Orlando we had to do Disney, right? We went to the Magic Kingdom, which was an underwhelming experience for Ryan and Evan, to our surprise. They literally asked, "Why did you bring us here?" Excuse me?? This is Disney World...ya know, every kids' dream? Maybe since we just went to Disneyland last year they weren't in the Disney mood! We also went to Animal Kingdom, which was our favorite! We went on an safari through "Africa" and saw so many cool exotic animals up close and personal. In any case, we had an entire week of relaxing, playing, sleeping late, and just enjoying each other's company. Who knows where we'll end up next year!

 On our first full day at the resort we had a character breakfast with Sponge Bob, Dora, and Boots. if you've been to this blog before you know my Ryan will not appear in these photos. Ryan don't play that! LOL

 They had a daily "slim-ing" Ryan and Evan did it three times!

 We were really sold on this place because they offered a dinner with the TMNTs. Our boys LOVE the turtles, and since we recently had a turtle-themed party how could we pass this up? The place was packed with turtle loving kids and adults! We saw a show, ate yummy Italian food, and each turtle came around to each table for photos. They didn't give signatures, but we were able to get each one's stamp. We used our autograph books from last year's Disney trip.

 Okay, now see Ryan LOVES Donatello. I mean sometimes he won't answer us unless we call him Donatello. He has every Donatello toy, about four bo staffs, (and he's begging for the latest one!) he wears TMNT pjs nearly every night, he has countless shirts...I could go on and on. I knew he would be all in for this experience, but I had no idea he would bust this karate kid move! OMG look at that totally serious face! This is our Ryan!

 Next year the puddle jumpers will be all gone! Swimming lessons are in a couple weeks, but thanks to Daddy P the boys already have a great head start. He even taught me to swim--a little!

 I was relaxing by the pool while this one was taking selfies!

 They weren't that into Disney World, but they loved the parade!

 The Lion King show at Animal Kingdom is ah-maze-ing! We used a Fast Pass so we had great seats. Ryan and Evan are still singing the songs.

 We stood in a long line to have this picture taken. Our boys were so happy, so it was totally worth it!