Our family vacation to Orlando, Florida is fast approaching and it got me thinking. I have had many trips to Florida throughout my life. I have counted 7 times that I've been to Florida for vacation.
Trip #1 to Orlando, FL was when I was approximately 14 months old. This was not a very memorable trip for me as I was so young and simply don't remember the trip at all. However, my mother has one memory from that trip that she will never forget. We were traveling with a family friend and their daughter and we all went to The Magic Kingdom at Disney World. During the noon time parade my mother discovered that I had managed to escape the stroller and she started to panic. Then she noticed many of the parade spectators laughing and pointing at a little girl chasing Winnie the Pooh in the parade calling, "Ninnie, Ninnie!" Yep, that little girl was me!
Trip #2 to North Reddington Beach, FL was when I was 7 years old. My parents decided to take an extended family vacation to Florida for a total of 6 weeks. We did drive to Florida for this trip so I suppose we were actually there for about 5 weeks in total. I still remember when we arrived at our condo and all I wanted to do was go swimming. Unfortunately, at 2pm it was completely dark outside due to a tornado watch and I had to wait until the next day to check out the pool! I learned to swim during this trip and went to Disney World twice, if I remember correctly. It was definitely a fun trip and I still have the journal, pictures included, that I wrote while I was there...with some help from my mom of course.
Trip #3 to Saint Petersburg, FL was when I was 8 years old. Dad couldn't go on this trip so Mom and I drove to Florida along with a couple of family friends. I was in Florida for 2 weeks for this trip. I spent hours in the pool and got to go to Disney World again. I actually went with family friends to Disney this time and we stayed at a Disney Resort (I can't remember which one). I remember loving The Magic Kingdom but being bored out of my mind at Epcot.
Trip #4 to Saint Petersburg, FL was when I was 13 years old. Once again, we drove to Florida and this trip my cousin Joey also came with us. We stayed in Florida for a month and we were joined for a couple of weeks by my aunt Marian and cousin Krista, as well. There were hours spent by the pool, a lot of shopping, and one rainy day spent at The Magic Kingdom...I still remember the sea of yellow Mickey Mouse ponchos everywhere you looked.
Trip #5 to Saint Petersburg, FL was when I was 14 years old. This trip was for a month as well and we drove. I was also allowed to take a friend with me for this trip, Natasha. We had a few visitors stay with us throughout the month as well, including Marian and Krista. It was a really fun trip, even if we had lots of school work to do while we were there. My dad was the brave one who took 4 kids to Disney for one day this trip!
Trip #6 to Punta Gorda, FL was when I was 16 years old. My parents decided we would go to Florida for Christmas this year. We stayed at my grandfather's house for this trip, although he wasn't in Florida while we were there. It was definitely different to be away at Christmas but we had a fun trip. We drove up to Daytona Beach and stayed for one night before driving up to Atlantic City, which is where we stayed for 2 nights including New Year's Eve. Of course, because I was only 16, I really didn't find Atlantic City too exciting!
Trip #7 to Orlando, FL was when I was 27 years old. Cory and I decided it would be fun to go to FL for our honeymoon, which is exactly what we did. We were there for one week and went to the 4 Disney parks, including The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, and Animal Kingdom. We also spent 1 day at Sea World. We went shopping for 1 day and just relaxed by the pool our last day there. We had a great trip.
Trip #8 to Orlando, FL will begin in just 5 days! This will be Cameron's first trip to Florida. We are so excited to be going with 2 other great couples as well, Stephanie & Matt and Chantel & Pernell. We have rented a house which I think will be much more comfortable for our 2 week vacation. We have already purchased our tickets to many things including 7 day Park Hopper passes to Disney, 2 day passes to Sea World and Aquatica, 2 day passes to Universal, and tickets to see Cirque du Soliel's La Nouba. It is going to be a fun-filled vacation and we've been keeping an eye on the Orlando weather and it has been beautiful and HOT.
It's pretty crazy that I've had so many trips to Florida but I guess it's safe to say that it is my favorite vacation spot. I'm sure there will be more trips to Florida over the coming years but there are many other places that we hope to travel to as well. This trip will be our last vacation for a while which is also why we're going all out for it. I can't wait to blog and share pictures about our family vacation upon our return.
No comments:
Post a Comment