Daytona Beach

This year our vacation to visit the Smiths landed us in Daytona Beach, Florida. We have been looking forward to this trip with major excitement for months and it was honestly the best vacation!

We played in the sand nearly everyday. I think that was one of the kid's favorite things. Especially the boys, they dug and dug, buried each other, poured sand all over everyone and of course Daniel tried to eat as much as he could. Ellie and Thomas even got to fly their kites.

The weather was perfect. I don't think we could have asked for a better week.

One day we drove to Saint Augustine to check out the old fort that was there. It was pretty cool. It was amazing the things that they had, and how they existed at the time.

Thomas was fascinated with the cannons, and to everyone's surprise they actually shot a large cannon off the top of the fort. Thomas's response after all the smoke and the loud boom was, "Do it again!"

One morning all the boys went fishing. They charted out on the open seas with high hopes and they were not let down. I have to say I was surprised at their success. They caught sea bass, grouper, bonita, a sea turtle and other types of fish. I guess for them to catch four grouper was a big deal! That just doesn't happen. There was a lady there that also took pictures to send into the newspaper.

Don't they look happy. They all had a great time!

"before"...

"after"

The place they went fishing at was right next to this restaurant and the fishing guide cut up the fish on the dock and took it right into the kitchen to be prepared for our lunch. Now that's FRESH! It was delicious and certainly the best grouper I've ever eaten.

While the boys were fishing, the women and children went to a local chocolate factory. We took the tour at Angell & Phelps Chocolate Factory and enjoyed some yummy chocolate treats, including chocolate covered chips. They take Ruffles potato chips and cover them in milk chocolate. Yeah, I know it sound weird, but actually tasted pretty good.

We also spent one day at the 'happiest place on earth'...Disney World! We had a fantastic time and the kids were ecstatic. They were so excited to see Mickey and all the princesses. There were a few rides however that Ellie was not to happy to be on, namely Pirates of the Caribbean. All the time, of course, Thomas was loving it!

Ellie was elated that she was able to see Rapunzel, her FAVORITE princess. When we first arrived we watched a little show at the Castle with Mickey and Minnie and the princesses and their prince charming's all dancing around and singing about the 'Magic in your Heart' or something like that. The kids were transfixed - it was hillarious. They didn't move, talk or nearly blink for the entire length of the show...they were truly amazed!

We indulged in yummy Mickey-ears ice cream!

And rode rides to our hearts content. This was Ellie's favorite, Aladdin's Magic Carpet.

This was probably Thomas's favorite. He had been asking Heath about it for a while, so Heath bravely jumped in with Thomas in the driver's seat. He said it was quite the ride!

Mom and Dad graciously watched the kids for a while so Heath and I could ride some of the things we wanted to. We all had a blast and we were all amazed that we had no major melt downs or tantrums from the children. The vacation was wonderful and definitely what we all needed.