Florida February: February 15, 2020

(click here for today's pictures)


I guess that we needed a vacation from our vacation because that is sure what we did today! My girls did all pretty much jump up at 6:50 this morning to walk out on the beach. They grabbed their blankets while I brushed my teeth before we headed out.

We could tell as soon as we opened the door that there would be no sunrise. It as cloudy, misty and windy. We still walked towards the beach. If I thought that I could have convinced Campbell to turn around and go back to bed, I would have tried. I knew though she was dead set on this so I decided to just grin and bear it.

The wind was crazy, but it wasn't that cold out there. I do wish that we could have seen a pretty sunrise, but Campbell and Keaton were able to collect quite a few shells this morning. After we walked a little bit each way, we did go back to the room. 

The girls worked on washing their shells while Reagan and I climbed back in our beds. Soon Keaton joined me in my bed while Campbell laid on the other side of us. Reagan and Keaton were soon sound asleep. I was able to rest and Campbell was so anxious to get back to the beach that she could hardly sit still.

It was almost 9:30 when we finally did go to the pool. I thought that it might be warmer there. Graham joined us for a little bit but Campbell and Keaton did most of the swimming. They sat in the hot tub for a long while first and then spent at least 30 minutes swimming. I spent my time covered in a blanket in a lounge chair up next to the building trying to avoid the wind. 

Whitman and Robby came out as we were heading to the beach. The four of the kids had a blast playing in the sand and the waves. The red flags were our so they didn't get in past their knees. Of course Graham and Campbell so wanted to go deeper, but that wasn't going to happen today. Robby walked a ways on the beach while sat huddled under the blanket sitting on a towel.

A man had given the girls two beach buckets since they were about to fly out. They used these to make sculptures, carry water and collect more seashells. They had lots of fun on this beach day even though the weather was less than ideal.

By 11:30, the beach goers had all showered, and we were loading up the car. It didn't take long to load up and is nice that we can do it without a cart. Graham found the Donut King on my phone and put it on the maps trying to convince us to go there. He had no idea that we were actually heading to the Donut King.

Around Disney World, they have Joffery's Donuts. The donuts are big and are everywhere here. They are made by a local donut place called Donut King. So of course we had to visit it. And visit it we did! 6 glazed, 12 specialty, 2 twists, 1 cinnamon roll, 50 doughnut holes and 6 castle mini burgers. We may have gone a bit overboard, but we made some memories for sure.

The place was tiny and we filled it to the brim. While Robby was waiting on the doughnuts, the rest of us just went to the car. When we were back on the road, we passed those doughnuts out. Now, the regular doughnuts aren't as big as the ones at Disney, but the specialty ones that we bought (twists and cinnamon roll) are huge. We have plenty to eat tomorrow for breakfast.

This stop was about 30 minutes out of our way, so it took us some time to get back home. When we did we throw clothes in the wash and unloaded the car. Soon we were all back in the car headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Everyday at 4:15 they have a tour of the Boma and Jinko restaurants. 

First we toured Jinko-the person was from Zimbabwe and explained things in the restaurant and told how it tied to his home country. It was all very interesting. The kids really did great listening because both leaders were a bit difficult to understand with their accents.

We had heard that you were given samples of some bread so that was going to be fun. However, at the end of the Jinko tour, they had 3 trays each full of a type of flat bread, crispy tortilla, olives, hummus and some other spread. There was only us and 4 other people on the tour with us. 

Next we walked around the Boma restaurant (where we are eating next week). This tour ended with a sample of carrot soup which I thought was corn. Robby and I hurriedly licked our bowls clean. Then we were all given a sample of the zebra dome cake that the restaurant is known for. They had one extra so the lady gave it to Graham. This made his day!

We then walked around the Animal Kingdom Lodge for a bit before running back to the house to drop the boys off. The girls were the only ones who wanted to come with us tonight. Our adventure tonight took us to Epcot. We parked at Hollywood and rode the Skyliner.

As we were walking to the Skyliner, I wondered aloud if the lines ever got long waiting for it. On our next stop, we got out and quickly saw that yes indeed the lines to get long, very long. This leg of the Skyliner was running very slowly so we took off walking. We walked through one resort to get to the next boarding area. There was a line there, but it was moving quicker.

We were soon in Epcot walking to the United Kingdom area. We needed some supper and fish and chips sounded like a super great idea. We ordered two, sat on the curb under a street lamp and ate our yummies. Then we walked all the way around the countries-this will be Robby and my exercise when we are old and retired at Disney World. 

We did explore the Italy pavilion for a little bit and went into the Mexican pavilion. It was fairly crowded there. I will say that quite a few people seemed to have taken the challenge to drink around the world-have an alcoholic drink in each of the Epcot countries. It was a lively place!

When we made it back to the Sky Liners, there was no line at all. And we got on just as the fireworks started going off. We were able to see most of them from the sky. It was perfect timing. We had a perfect evening and the fireworks just topped it off.

We were soon home ushering everyone to their beds. Whitman has already run in here-he legitamatly seems to be scared. Graham tries to convince him that he is fine and even walked him to our room. I did lay him back down and let him have my blanket so he thinks he has something special.

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