Vacation Part I

I see a pattern developing in our summer trips! 

Here we are yet again stopping in for a Slurpee before hitting the road.

But that's because it was 7/11/2013 a.k.a. Free Slurpee Day!

See that line behind my kiddos.

It stretches to the door.

We beat this crowd, there was only a dad and his two littles in front of us.

We lucked out big time, cause they had run out of the small Freebie size at this location so we were bumped up to the next size! 

Oh, Yeah!!

Load the kids up with sugar before a 3 hour drive to Orlando,

 sounds good to me!

We were off to my parents villa for the weekend at Marriott's Cypress Harbour. 

More affectionately referred to as "Mimi and Poppy's Hotel".

My parents have been getting a villa for a week or two every summer for the past 5 years.
It's the highlight of the summer!

We hit the pools  as soon as we get there.
There are 3 pools, plus 2 kiddie pools,  2 hot tubs, and a sanua.

Let the R & R begin!

My sis and I!

The kid's favorite pool is the main pool which my children nicknamed the "Frog Pool"

 because of the four colorful frog fountains

 (see them in the background).

My fish, Makenzie, in the foreground.

That evenings festivities included a Hawaiian Luau.

The show was brought inside instead of poolside as the weather was unpredictable that evening.

Makayla and my sister's two girls kept us entertained while we waited.

Such hams!

My sister and I plan on having them redo these poses 20 years from now.

 When the show began I snuck the girls up front.

 We sat on the floor and had the best seats in the house.

My brother and sister-in-law showed up later that night with a little souvenir from their recent trip to Hersheypark in Pennsylvania.

A 5 lb chocolate bar!

We each took a nice big bite of that Soft Yummy Milk Chocolate!

So glad the rest didn't come home with me.

Poppy brought his their favorite episode of Little House on the Prairie,
The Runaway Caboose.

They all watch it so intently, as if they've never seen it before. 

Truth is they've seen it at least 10 times.
They have the BEST Grandpa in the World!
(And Grandma, too!)

The next day we were back at the pools.

Look at my brother's guilty grin.

He gave Makayla a cold one for her hurt chin.

 After a long day of swimming we headed back to the villa for dinner, but

our personal chef, Mr. Spouse was still on the golf course with my sister-in-law.

You can see a corner of the green to the left in this picture.

With our chef MIA it was each man munchkin for themselves til he returned.

We did finally eat dinner that night but it wasn't until 10 pm.

Then mom and dad called a family meeting where they showed us a map of Disney on the flat screen (that's what we're all looking at).

The big kids (adults) got it right away

but some of the little kids didn't quite understand why Poppy was jumping all around pointing out things on a map.

Mimi thought handing out these shirts would help.

Matchers!

Then we all had to try and get some sleep so we could get up early.

But it's hard to fall asleep when Disney is on your mind!!

It's even harder if your snoring husband falls asleep before you do ;)

Part II: Disney . . .