Giggles + The Grump: Summer Vacation 2014

With the start of July came the start of summer vacation season. We decided to be brave and drive the kids up to Pennsylvania to spend some time with Jessica's family. We spent some additional time in North Carolina to help break up the driving, and even got a bonus mini-vacation in Tampa. All in all, the vacations were a huge success and the entire family had a great time. It was incredible watching the kids spend time with their extended family, play, laugh, and grow right in front of our eyes.

Tampa
Upon realizing we had no plans for the 4th of July, and that most of our friends were out of town, we decided to pack up the kids and head down to Tampa for a mini-vacation. We figured it would be a good place for them with all of the activities for kids, plus it would give us a chance to start getting them used to long car rides.

We were off to a good start, capturing this bit of love at Chic-fil-A on the way down

Our Tampa mini-vacation was great for everyone. We stayed in a hotel with a one bedroom suite, and the kids enjoyed sleeping in the same room together. LC loved sleeping in a big girl bed for the first time, while LT tolerated the Pac-N-Play. Mom and Dad did not love having to sleep on a hotel pull-out couch. Tampa has a bunch of fun places for kids, so we split our time between the Glazer Children's Museum, The Florida Aquarium, and our hotel pool.

The Glazer Museum was right across the street from our hotel, so we walked the kids over and let them go nuts. It was funny watching them in a new place as they both ran around crazily bouncing from exhibit to exhibit. Both kids enjoyed playing firefighter and watching themselves dance on the big screen, while LT later found an indoor "beach" and spent the rest of his afternoon playing there.

The Florida Aquarium was our next stop, and we were lucky to be joined by Mimi and Aunt Ashley. It was great getting to see so many cool animals up close, but eventually the novelty wore off for the kids. Fortunately, the aquarium also has a large splash park for children, so we spent the rest of the afternoon watching the kids splash around. The splash park was the highlight of their trip, so much so we had to bribe them with ice cream to get them to leave peacefully.

LC: Daddy, I like otters. Otters are friendly, right?
Daddy: Uh...yeah, baby...otters are super friendly.

Trying his hardest to get in with the rays

Certainly not the last time he's going to be told off by a woman

LT's interesting slide technique. He kept going like this, despite the dip at the bottom causing his face to slap the slide

Trying to get Dad to drink the water...after giving some to his hat

North Carolina
On the heels of our Tampa trip, we packed up the kids and headed up north for our yearly family vacation. Our ultimate destination was Jessica's brothers house in Pennsylvania, but for everyone's sanity, we decided to split the drive and spend a couple of days in Rocky Mount.

The kids were unexpectedly good in the van on the ride up, and with favorable traffic, we made it to NC without issue. Apparently the key to a good car trip is Chic-fil-a and "Finding Nemo" on repeat. It was a little unfortunate for Trevor having to listen to the movie over and over without actually being able to see it. By the third viewing, he couldn't have cared less about Nemo's adventures.

We were only in town for two days, but the highlight was definitely taking the kids to the Rocky Mount Children's Museum & Science Center. The kids were able to run around and experience the various exhibits, followed by a bonus planetarium show featuring Elmo and his Chinese counterpart.

Learning about burps with Grandma & Grandpa

Afternoon drinks for the ladies

Pennsylvania
After a great few days in Rocky Mount, we packed again with Grandma & Grandpa and headed to Lancaster, PA to visit my brother and his family. My sister and her daughters were also meeting us there from Arizona. The kids had spent time recently with Uncle John and Aunt Megan while they were in Florida, and LC was super excited to see them again. Upon arrival, and checking out all of John David & Vivian's toys, and a new house to explore, LC declared "I love vacation!" And this was before we even told her about all of the fun we had planned for the week.

The first day, we headed to Sesame Place. Elmo was a big favorite of both our kids for awhile, and they still enjoy Sesame Street, so this was a great treat for them. We even booked lunch with Elmo and his crew, which was a big hit. As soon as we walked into the park, LC spotted a roller coaster, and started asking to go on it. She met the height requirement, but I was worried that she would be too scared. She insisted, so Trevor took LC on her first roller coaster ride. She loved it! We must have ridden it 10 times, and it turns out we have a little daredevil on our hands. She wanted to go on every ride she saw, and complained that some of them weren't fast enough. Dad was terrified riding the coaster with her as she seemed a little loose in the restraints; we got off and she complained that "Daddy was holding me too tight." The look of sheer joy on her face going around the turns and hearing a scream of absolute excitement, made all of the nerves worth it.

Not going to lie...a little creepy in person

Mad love for Cookie Monster. We had to pry LT away from his snuggle.

30+ pictures of this, couldn't get one with everyone looking at the same time

Is this like wearing the band's shirt to the concert??

Not the healthiest lunch at Elmo's world

To come down from our Sesame high and recover before our next big adventure, we spent some time playing at the Lancaster Children's museum. There were lots of exhibits for the kids, but the grocery store and Post Office were by far the coolest. LC spent a good hour sorting, delivering and collecting mail; it was pretty funny watching her.

While in PA, we were able to enjoy the Amish countryside with a ride on a steam engine. We started the day by visiting the American Train Museum. We thought our little train lovers would be excited about this, but the museum is more for the serious train enthusiasts (the stereotypes were amazing), not just those who want to climb on everything. Thankfully we were able to get in for free, so it wasn't a huge waste. The kids enjoyed plying with the model trains, but were disappointed they weren't actually able to drive one of the real trains...tough explaining why to a three year old. After the trains, we headed to lunch and then over to the Strasburg Railroad and had a very pleasant ride though Amish country. The kids enjoyed it, although LT didn't love the loud train whistle. After the train ride, we entered in to LC's dreamland - a store entirely devoted to Thomas. We were shocked that were so many Thomas items that we hadn't seen, considering the level of obsession in our house for the past year, but we picked a few new fun things, and both kids loved playing in the Thomas store.

Lego, Chuggington, Thomas...what's not to love

Glorious

LC's general reaction to the Thomas store. Squeezing the Tommy pillow she already has

A few days later we went to Hershey Park, which has adult size roller coasters, and LC kept asking how big she had to be ride those. It is hard to believe that our little girl who needed to hold our hand to climb stairs at the park now wants to tackle roller coasters. The whole family really enjoyed Hershey. LT's favorites were getting to 'drive' trucks, the Chocolate World tour with singing cows, and a sea lion show. LC was bored by the first few kiddie rides we encountered, but we were finally able to find some exciting roller coasters (and ice cream) to keep her entertained.

Grandma was the most terrified of all on the swing ride

The gentlemen cousins rollin' together

Enjoyed the swing, but was sad it didn't go as high as the adult version

Greatest thing he saw all day was a picture of a "digger"

Despite all the fun places we got to visit while in PA, the highlight of the trip for all of us was getting to spend time with family. LC and LT absolutely loved playing with their cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents. They stayed up way past their bed time every night, ate ice cream cones outside, saw fireflies for the first time, played at the park until dark, and pretty much loved every minute of vacation. This vacation will certainly be remembered for LC's late night "tea parties" (AKA dinner for adults) and the kids realization that you can have ice cream multiple times a day. Everyone had a wonderful time and the kids got exactly the vacation we were hoping for.