Two Wheels, Tulips, Tea Parties, and Tonka Trucks!!: Big Weekend.....BIG BLOG!!!

Sit back and relax, because this might take a bit - I might have just set a record for the number of pictures in a single blog! Darren, Brooklyn, and I went on our first official family vacation by ourselves this weekend. We flew out Thursday evening together, bound for Orlando, FL. Brooklyn and I flew back today, but Darren had to stay to go to a conference and will be home on Wednesday. Let's start from the beginning.....

Security at the airport is getting pretty tight these days...shoes, laptops, babies..

Brooke was such a trooper that night. She was awake for half the flight and then slept for the second half. After we landed we had to pick up the rental car. Despite the long evening she was still in good spirits.

Finally, we got to the hotel a little before midnight. TaaDaa!!

The next morning, our little bright-eyed, bushy-tailed alarm clock went off at about 8:30am.

This was the view out of our window. Darren was able to get this hotel through Priceline for $42 a night!! Awesome!!

We drug our feet that morning, but eventually made it to the Magic Kingdom at Disneyworld that afternoon.

Eventually, all of the activity caught up with her, and Brooklyn ended up sleeping through her visit with the #1 mouse couple!! She fell asleep in line, slept through the pictures, and continued to sleep for about another half hour. Too much excitement!!

Finally, she woke up to have dinner and then finish with the beautiful fireworks over Cinderella's castle. It truly was a magical day!

The next day we went to a really nice outdoor outlet mall in the morning and strolled around from store to store in the beautiful weather. It was nice to not be in a hurry to go anywhere. That afternoon we went to Cocoa Beach and took a few pictures of Brooklyn and her first experience in the sand. This was her second trip to the Atlantic ocean - she dipped her toes in the ocean the first time when she was only 11 weeks old in Savannah, GA, at her Aunt Katie's graduation. I think these are some of my absolute favorite pictures of her.

And at end the day, we went to have dinner at the Blue Zoo at the Dolphin Hotel on the Disneyworld grounds. Dinner was amazing!! Our friends, Kerry and Matt, recommended it because Matt's brother is the General Manager there. We had giant scallops for an appetizer, I had the grouper, Darren had the swordfish - and I just can't tell you in words how great the food, the atmosphere, and the service was! They brought Brooklyn some cookies - and even those were beautiful! If you ever get the chance to go - we highly recommend it!! Thanks for everything, Doug!!