Florida Vacation, Part 1

We just came back on Sunday from an 8-day trip to Florida, and I'm currently starring in a new reality show called When Laundry Attacks!
 
Actually, Mike had a conference in Orlando, and it seemed like an optimum time to visit family as well, so we thought we'd squeeze it all in to one glorious whirlwind 
we like to call: Family Togetherness on Steroids.

We kicked things off with a 4:00 am wake-up call on Saturday morning and a trip through the McDonald's Drive-Thru/Social Hour With Your Homies and Make Us Almost Miss Our Flight.  After a leisurely trip through security, we sprinted to the gate with approximately 17 seconds to spare, plopping down in our last-row seats with a collective sigh of relief. 

Let me tell you, air travel is a whole different ball game when your peeps can walk and you're not hauling bottles and diapers.  Up until now, flying with the kids has been an event to which I counted down with all of the glee of the Doomsday Clock.  This time, instead of worrying about explosive poop and roaming gnomes toddlers, my biggest consideration was how many versions of Angry Birds to download.  

Somehow, Mike finagled a seat by himself on the way down there, while I was sandwiched between my sidekicks for two hours.  No biggie, because they were AWESOME.  Seriously, nobody even asked to go to the potty or tried to smack a sibling.  Shoot, we didn't even drop a crayon.  

I brought some of those Lincoln Log popscicle sticks along, and we built ninja traps and leprechaun houses for awhile.  

But they soon tired of that, and so it was on to Angry Birds.

Upon arrival,we totally could have tricked the kids into thinking that the Orlando airport was Disney World because of the "monorail" (train between terminals) 
and the Disney schwag. 
 
But we didn't.  

 After we landed, we borrowed a car and headed over to Daytona to give my Miami-bred beach boy a much-needed transfusion of sand and sea. 

 Good-natured relatives joined in the hole-digging, castle-building, and wave-jumping.

And we wore those kids out.  

The whole family celebrated Sarah's birthday (which was a little tough for Will) and splashed and played in Uncle Jami's grotto-esque pool.  Of course, we feasted and most of the grownups/older cousins capped off the night with the Brown Family Traditional Risk Tournament.  I have never actually played Risk with the fam because I am Old, Tired, and notoriously bad at board games, but it seems like it would be fun.  
If I liked really long games.  

Plus, I'm always passing out 
with the kids I'm attempting to put to bed.  

After a super-cool weekend in Daytona/Ormond, it was time to head back into Disney territory.  Hold me, I'm scared.