Orlando Magic

We stayed at one of my favorite hotels of all time in Orlando and highly suggest it to anyone visiting there.  The JW Marriott in Grande Lakes.  Its grounds are shared with the Ritz Carlton and it has an amazing pool, lazy River, amenities and activities for the kids every 2 hours.  It's a resort and totally caters to the children.  The kids enjoyed tie dying their own T-shirts, S'more's at night, there are movies outside, crafts, and Ashley even got her sparse hair put in a little hair wrap!  I thought when they tied the thread around her hair, that this little thin shock of hair was going to pop right out the top of her head.  But, it's still in there!  There are even beads at the bottom.  She hated it the first day, but since she can't pull it out she's gotten used to it.  

The kids have a ball putting the room key in, pressing the buttons on the elevators, eating at Denny's and Cracker Barrel every morning and visiting the kid arcade.  When the kids are happy, the adults are happy.  The busier they are, the more enjoyable vacation is for mommy and daddy.  We had a ball together.  One of the highlights for me is getting matching shirts for the kids from the Universal Dr. Seuss theme.  I'd seen it the year before, and regretted not buying them then.  But this year, we bought Austin a "Thing 1" shirt and Ashley has a matching "Thing 2" shirt.  Very fitting for my little munchkins!  

Ashley had to carry her Sleeping Beauty "purse" with her everywhere we went.  She was actually really good and carried it all by herself and never pawned it off.  Austin however, brought his big backpack and loaded it up with all of his goods from home and it weighed about 20 lbs.  As soon as we hit the airport, he started complaining of how heavy  it was.  But the kids love carrying their own "luggage" with them.  We allow it, why not?  It's vacation.

We were sad to go to the airport on Wednesday night.  Duane being a 1k member with United, we all enjoyed the Red Carpet Club privileges.  The poor businessmen.  Our flight was delayed 4 hours and so we were in the lounge for 6 hours.  The kids loved the free drinks, treats, and snacks.  So did Mom.  Relaxing in the Red Carpet lounge before a flight is old hat to Duane, but I loved taking advantage of some of his travelling perks!  It also took care of our hotel and flights out to Orlando.  We got back to Washington Dulles and we were so sad.  It's always nice to come home, but what a wonderful time.