Weary travelers.

We have had a great couple of weeks.  Christmas was really nice.  Each of us got things we needed, wanted, and some fun extras as well.  It was nice to have some quiet days before we headed off to Florida to get "Uncle KJ" married.

Willa and I embarked on our longest flights yet and B got see how we travel for once.  It's always stressful to fly because you never know what toy, object, or thing she might want.  Ironically, she slept and played so well she barely needed anything.

We arrived in Orlando in the middle of the afternoon and after some slight debacles getting the car and checking into a hotel that was habitable we trekked off to Sea World.  Much to our delight they allow military members and family to enter the park for free!  We checked out the shark exhibit and the "One World" Shamu show before it got too dark to navigate.  It was extremely crowded.  It was a relief that we didn't pay full price for the short time we were there, but we were sad we didn't get to see more.

It was off to Universal Studios the next morning for the sole intent of seeing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Unfortunately for us we were unaware of the fact you needed a return time ticket to get into that part of the park and we dwaddled in Dr. Seuss land for a while.  Willa was very happy to procure a Grinch doll there, but not a fan of riding the carousel.  At 10:00 we had tickets to get back in at 1:40!  Luckily we hit the stand by line at the right time and 45 minutes later entered to find the Hogwarts Express.  Sadly, we were there on the busiest day that week.  B put on his happy face and we stood in line for Butterbeer.  Delish!  It was so hard to move around and besides the roller coasters you can go into the shops.  Lines to get into each of those.  We got into Honeydukes and Zonkos, but were not willing to stand in line for anything else.  We found a little wagon to buy some souvenirs and Willa promptly fell asleep.  As we were walking out of the park we discovered another gift shop that had much of what the gift shop we skipped had in it. Score!  We grabbed some lunch before leaving the Studios and then it was off to Palm Coast.

The next few days were very interesting but needless to say they got hitched after only a few dramatic events.  One New Years Eve we went to St. Augustine so we could go to the Alligator Farm the following day.  It was the greatest success.  Not very many people, Willa could walk around and look and of course all the alligators!  Sharks, dinosaurs, alligators, and snakes might be her favorite things, but if an ant starts crawling on her the world is ending.  Which is exactly what happened during the alligator feeding show.  DRAMA!  We did get to hold a little gator and feed some as well.  She kept saying, "Whoa, that's a big one!"  It was off to the beach before lunch and despite being a really nice day the ocean was still cold.  We got our feet wet, collected some shells and then it was off to eat some gator.  It does not taste like chicken but it was pretty tasty. 

We headed back to Montana the next day and were so glad to be home.  In what turned out to be a blessing, our daycare was also closed on Tuesday so Willa and I got an extra day to unwind, readjust to the time zone and unpack.

It was so nice to take a vacation and do some touristy things, but now I just want to back to the Wizarding World and see all things we missed.