Orlando and Daytona Beach

After our week of fun at Disney World, we said goodbye to all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grammy and Papa. But, our family stayed in Florida for a few extra days to visit my grandmother who lives north of Orlando.

We decided to take a detour to visit Orlando Temple on our way to her house. We were so glad that we did. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so it was very quiet and peaceful on the grounds. I'm glad that we were able to walk around the grounds with the girls.

That afternoon was the last time we enjoyed the sunshine of Florida. That evening, the rain started and it literally did not stop raining for the rest of our trip (and for several more days after that). Florida had record rainfall that week. In the 72 hours we were there it rained about 17 inches.

My grandmother has a nice home on the St. Johns River with a swimming pool. Because of all the rain we were not able to enjoy her pool or go for a boat ride. Luckily, we were able to find some other very enjoyable things to entertain us. Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures at her house. The girls enjoyed spending time with her and her cute little dog.

We went to a Children's Museum in Daytona Beach. There were all sorts of fun interactive exhibits. True to their nature - Leland loved the laser harp and Lucy loved the mini Harley Davidson. We also made pizzas in the pizza parlor, put together remote control cars, tested our strength with pulley systems, and much more.

Chuck spent an extremely long time trying to build the perfect roller coaster. We also watched a laser and planetarium show.

We had to return our rental car several hours before our flight, so we had lots of time to kill in the airport. Orlando airport is an okay one to be stuck in a for a while. Chuck found plenty of ways to keep the girls entertained.

Since there was so many rain clouds, we had quite a bit of turbulence on our way out. Luckily, Lucy fell asleep right away and slept the entire plane ride. I was able to read my book for the FIRST time on our vacation during the plane ride home.

I had to include this adorable picture of Lucy. We hung out at the McBride's house before driving home, where Lucy found this sombrero and thought it was pretty cool.

As exhausting as it was, we had such a wonderful trip. We had so much fun with cousins, aunts/uncles, and Grammy and Papa. It was a great way to celebrate finishing 3 years of law school. We can't wait to be able to do another big family trip again soon.

I'm finally done with our big vacation posts and it only took me a month to do it. Whew!