We decided to take a quick family vacation over a long weekend. I was still feeling guilt about Max not getting to spend very much time at the beach
during our last cruise. So we piggybacked onto the front of one of my work trips to Florida. We flew out all together to Orlando on a Friday morning and then on Monday, I dropped Peter and Max off at the airport early in the morning and drove on to my work meetings in Jacksonville.
Oh, the joys of entertaining an almost 2 year old on the plane...
We had to change planes which was fine because it split up the time on the plane. We were lucky enough to have a whole row to ourselves on both legs of the trip.
Words aren't enough to express the way my heart feels seeing this sweetness
Trying to climb over the seat
The headphones worked perfectly!
Not only were we able to spend time together as a family on this vacation but we were also able to spend time with a few of my dear friends! My friend Shannon happened to be in Orlando for work at the exact same time. She had a little extra time to do some fun things which luckily aligned perfectly with our trip so once we landed, we picked up her and a co-worker of hers and headed to do something fun! No, not that major thing in Orlando that everyone does... (Disneyworld) Instead, we went to GATORLAND!!!!
A bunch of gators ready to welcome us
Max enjoyed watching the shows
They had some other "dangerous" animals in this show
Our group
Me, max, Peter, and Shannon
Max checking out the goats in the petting zoo
Isn't dad awesome? He helped Max "volunteer" to go help catch a gator. (Good thing they were looking for someone older!)
We watched this guy wrangle this gator.
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Up close with a HUGE Gator
Notice the sign says "Hungry Gators DO NOT ENTER" and one of the gators has come out of the water to check us out. Man, these things are creepy!
There were some HUGE birds.
The last show, which was just a hokey as the others :)
Max was wiped after a long day traveling, short nap in the car, and then spending a few hours outside in the Florida heat and humidity. He fell asleep watching the last show before we left. We kept giving him water but at one point it must have been too much because when we were almost done for the day he threw up some water and french fries. I felt awful. I was trying to be a good mom and keep him hydrated but I hadn't stopped him from drinking too much. :( He was a good sport and wasn't upset about it once we got him cleaned up.
Leaving Gatorland. It was full a gators and a fun way to spend an afternoon. It was perfect. And I loved how Max would say "alligator", it was sweet.
After dinner, we dropped the ladies off at their hotel and headed to our own, about 45 minutes away right on the ocean. I was hoping to get there early enough that we could go play at the beach but by the time we got there it was dusk. So we still went down to check it out but only for a few minutes.
We took Maxwell's shoes off so he could walk in the sand. He DID NOT like it. The way the sand felt scared him and he started freaking out.
My not happy little boy
He was so upset, we had to pick him up. :(
I thought maybe if I took Max up and we played in the waves that he would be happier, but definitely not! He cried the whole time.
Nothing helped, Max wanted nothing to do with the sand, beach, or ocean. He cried the entire time. As we were walking back to the hotel, Peter and I talked about how we hoped this was just because Max was tired. Hopefully in the morning he'd be more interested. We hadn't really planned on doing much else other than spending time at the beach because we thought he'd like it so much. If he didn't like it, our plans were shot!
A few notes I took about Max today -
He tries to buckle himself in his car seat
He loves helping water the flowers, sweep floors, and put things away
He liked watching planes take off
He talks a lot and we can usually figure out what he's saying
Last night I got some taco bell, I pulled out one of the hot sauce packets for my burrito and he said "hot sauce"! I have no idea he even knew what that was. For a while I was trying to understand what he was saying because I just couldn't figure it out. I finally asked him to point to what he was saying and he pointed to the hot sauce packet and said "hot sauce". He said it clear as day, it was just me who missed it because in my mind those wouldn't be words that he would know. I think this is the problem most of the time - me...not him. He's so smart!
