Walt Disney World/Vero Beach

Our big summer vacation this year was to...

SURPRISE!! FLORIDA!!!

You are all shocked, I'm sure! We just can't help ourselves - it feels like a home away from home at this point! We did change it up a bit by bringing along Maggie's BFF, Haley.

the view from our hotel

my cousin, Tammy and her girls - Shelby and Kendall

gross!

waiting to ride the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster - it was hot! - thank heavens for Tim's fan/waterbottle

we were in the summertime line for so long that he made a new friend from Brazil - they will now be penpals (or email pals rather!)

They had just ridden the tower of terror - scaaarryyyyy!

again in a long line for the safari tour at Animal Kingdom. My kids have done it a billion times, and as you can see, Maggie was not happy to wait for Haley to do it! It was over 100 degrees that day

at our hotel, Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary

(our new favorite hotel - scoot over Old Key West and Portofino Bay!)

Maggie spelled out the "I love Justin" part. Tommy came behind her and wrote the rest!

Now - a short drive down the Atlantic side to Vero Beach!!! My Favorite Place!!!

L.O.V.E. the above pic of Tim!!!

Then, like the awful mom that I am, I asked the kids to get out of their swim suits and actually put on something dry and presentable for a few photos. I know - can you believe my nerve?!

I took about 700 pics that evening, so I just randomly chose a few to post.

Yes - I said 700 - you see why they hate me?

this last pic was taken on our "turtle walk". The girls entered into a lottery to get to go - and they won! We met at a sanctuary/beach at 9:00 p.m. and took a short class on sea turtles, then we walked out to find a mama Loggerhead dropping her eggs - about 112 of them! - then we watched her cover her hole (tim got to help her push the sand back in!) and Tim got sand kicked all over him! Then we watched her make her way back out to sea. She was estimated to weigh about 250 pounds! WOW!

It was AMAZING!! I only have that pic of the kids from beforehand because no light is allowed near the turtle. They used tiny red light flashlights. The above pic is about what she would have looked like in the daylight. It was an awesome experience!