I've been "out of office" as it were for almost a week! My fiancé and I hopped a plane and headed down to the Sunshine State for six days to visit his Mom and we had the best time. I will say though; August in Florida, it's hot. Blazing. Akin to a furnace. Sweltering. Yeah - it's just pretty warm. Granted, in spite of the warmth - we still had the most wonderful time.
After a quick flight to Orlando, we made our way to central Florida and spent the afternoon and evening at Little Lake Weir and Big Lake Weir! Ryan's mother's boyfriend has a house right on the lake with a dock and a pontoon boat and it was a complete joy to ride along the lake in the evening light with a cool breeze coming off the water.
We cruised from Little Lake Weir through a canal that connected to Big Lake Weir, taking in the wildlife and the sunset on the horizon. We didn't see any gators - but we saw plenty of cranes, ospreys and other water fowl... and maybe I'm good with having not seen any gators, ha-ha! We had the most delicious steaks/chicken, potatoes and grilled romaine for dinner and stayed at Doc's (the boyfriend of the MIL) little beach cottage for the night so we'd be closer to Orlando for Thursday morning!
We arrived in Florida on Ryan's Mom's birthday and so part of our evening was celebrating her birthday with cake, some singing and sharing a present with her! It was so much fun to spend time with her and share in doing some of her favorite things on her special day!
Thursday morning we headed out for Orlando and Islands of Adventure for the day and y'all - the sun was 100% high in the sky and pouring out some sunshine all day long. Thank goodness for sunscreen and hats and water bottles, ha-ha! Ryan and Doc headed right for The Hulk as soon as we made our way into the park and after they'd hulked out, we hopped on The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman and Storm Force Acceleration - thrills and spins and drops galore.
My favorite portion of the park is hands down The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and before lunch we headed into Hogwarts Castle to ride Hogwarts: Forbidden Journey. We boarded our enchanted benches and flew all around Hogwarts chasing and being chased by dragons, snitches, dementors and more - the ride was just as fun as I remembered and the attention to detail on all things HP are so spot on!
We grabbed lunch at Jurassic Park and then I had my moment of bravery for the day - I hopped on Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure and raced along at 50 mph around banked turns, seven launches, an inverted spike and one vertical drop - it wasn't a coaster that would strike fear in the heart of a true coaster fan - but it thrilled me for sure, even from my sidecar! I made sure to introduce Ryan to Butterbeer and we rode a few more rides before getting some Cinnabon Lattes, popping into an Under Armour on the ride home and ending the evening eating pizza on the lanai at Ms. Marilyn's house!
Friday was a more relaxed day - we slept in a bit and then after a delicious breakfast of creamed beef on toast and "juicy juice" as Ms. Marilyn calls it (and of course - all the coffee) - we changed into our activity clothes and explored The Villages for the day! Everyone in the Villages rides on golf carts... and these aren't just the kind of carts you see cruising around the golf course - some are tricked out and cost upwards of $30K - its wild! It's also really neat to see all the little carts zipping along to and fro everywhere you go!
I started the day looking cute - but that Florida heat and humidity got to me pretty quick, ha-ha! We played a 9-hole round of Putt & Play; Ryan and I won the game by one stroke, which I considered pretty impressive since golf isn't necessarily my strong suit. After we finished up our golf game, we grabbed some subs at Publix and then headed for the swimming pool for the afternoon - thank goodness for pools!
When an afternoon storm rolled in later in the day, we hopped on our golf carts and scattered back toward the house to change and head out to Doc's for the evening! We played Pictionary and this time, Ryan and I were not quite victorious (but it was very close) - that game is harder than I remember! We had some amazing chicken with brown rice, salad and some seriously divine croissants - it was all so divine! We headed home shortly after 10:15, tired but happy after a full day!
Great pictures!
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