After spending a lovely time in Canada, it was over all too soon and we were headed back to Orlando. But wait, we picked up a "plus one" coming back much to our delight!!! Kaylie was able to come spend a month with us to celebrate her 16th birthday. The excitement for the Z-clan was high as we started to plan all of the fun things that we'd do with her!
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| Continuing the card game tradition on the plane |
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| Addison was super excited to have a "big sister" with her! |
We decided to try and cram in as much fun activities as possible when she was here. We went to all 4 Disney theme parks, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, the beach, boating multiple times, the movies, various restaurants, Jeremiah's Ice Cream and more. It was a whirlwind for sure, but we had a great time and enjoyed having four kids immensely - Karis was right so many years ago, we should have had a fourth!!
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| Animal Kingdom |
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| Hollywood Studios and the Tower of Terror |
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| Hollywood Studios and the Star Wars area |
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| Magic Kingdom - just the girls went on this particular outing |
During our theme park visitation, we discovered by starting off slowly with Mt. Everest (a junior level rollercoaster) that Addison absolutely loves roller coasters. We started with Mt. Everest, then went to Rocking Roller Coaster and ended up with a few of the big ones at SeaWorld including Kraken, Mako and the new Surfrider (the only one she didn't do at SeaWorld was Manta!).
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| Our final destination ---- Mt Everest in the distance |
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| Addison started with Mt Everest, and held on to Mom's hand for dear life! |
After the Rockin' roller coaster we looked at the picture afterwards and it was so hilarious - each face was completely different - Kaleb was just laughing, Amy is screaming her head off (even though Amy loves them, she also likes to scream to make it even more dramatic), Addison has her eyes closed as if that will make this whole thing stop and Kaylie's face is one of shock and dismay (even though she too loved the ride!). We laughed until we almost cried with this picture! What a great memory!
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| Prior to getting onto the Rockin Roller Coaster - all smiles, ready to be "jet propelled" from the starting gate |
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| We did it!! After the Rockin roller coaster |
When we were riding Mt. Everest the first time when we first got to the park, it was so hot and humid we thought we may die. But after a long wait (probably 40 minutes in), a thunderstorm came along which shut down the ride (boo) but thankfully we were inside and were able to wait it out in air conditioning safe from the lightning. Afterwards, it was MUCH cooler! It started to rain again at the very end of our day, and cleared a lot of people out so we rode the Everest ride about 5 times in a row, with only about a 5 minute wait each time - it was perfect!
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| It was so hot that leaves could independently stick to her face |
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| Sitting inside while we waited |
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| Ride number ??? 3? 4? Who knows but it was awesome! |
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| Ride #5... |
Of course while we were at Animal Kingdom we took the opportunity to do the other rides as well and saw TONS of animals on the safari!
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| Kaylie enjoyed flamingos, so we took the chance to catch a picture with a flock |
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| Enjoying the fireworks at Magic Kingdom |
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| This was one very tired girl, but she powered through all of our adventures! |
One Sabbath afternoon we decided to head out to the Apopka Wildlife drive in order to show Kaylie some live alligators. We saw probably 8-10 of them, with one close and personal on the side of the road so it made for a perfect picture! Kaleb has his drivers permit, so that gave us lots of time for him to drive on the one-way slow roads!
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| Good job Mister! |
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| While Addison took a nap in the backseat! |
While Kaylie was there we took her to several of our favorite restaurants, and ice cream such as Jeremiah's Ice
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| And to Thai and Kobe's & Cheesecake factory (No picture of that one) |
Kaylie's birthday is the same as Harry Potter's, so her one special request was to go to Islands of Adventure for her actual birthday, so the whole family went (even Zach as he isn't a huge theme park lover, but for family....he went....and had a good time). It rained, so we had a late lunch and then we were able to get in almost every single ride that was on her must do list. We also did some souvenir shopping. All in all, we were able to get in all of the "must" rides at the various parks which was a small feat!
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| Waiting the rain out inside -- at least we were dry! |
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| Waiting in line...Karis' head felt wonky after one of the roller coasters so he decided to sit out the next one. |
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| Happy Sweet 16th Birthday! |
While Kaylie was here, we went out boating quite a few times - tubing was lots of fun.
And one sabbath we headed out to the beach for a short time - it rain after about an hour, so it wasn't a super long time but at least we checked it off the list of Floridian activities!
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| Mr Zachary was not going in the water, but at least he came out with us |
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| Erik and Addison enjoyed digging in the sand |
We were super sad when our time with Kaylie came to an end - and we are hoping that we can convince her to come down again next summer! Addison loved having a big sister around, and it added such a sparkle to our summer - thank you Kaylie for sharing your sunshine with us!
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| Love you girls! |
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| Imagining a horse drawn sleigh |
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| The Siracha stuffy and her shirt match! |
