Memorial Day Weekend

Where do you go over Memorial Day weekend when you live in Jacksonville, Florida?? Well, you head about 2 hours to the south-west and hang out with dolphins and other sea creatures, ofcourse!!

We decided to take full advantage of having a 3-day weekend, as the past month or so has been nothing short of NUTS (busy that is). A story for other blog posts, I have just started a new job -- still with Fidelity, but a big promotion that comes with quite a bit more travel and responsibility! We packed up the truck and headed to Orlando to spend 1 day at Discovery Cove, 1 day at Sea World, and 1 day doing nothing but relaxing by the pool at the hotel. It was WONDERFUL! See the attached link to kodak gallery, so you can see all the pics. -- http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?sourceID=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

Our first day at Discovery Cove was amazing! This was our first visit to the park, and we will most certianly go again. The day was "all inclusive", so all drinks, food, scuba gear, sunblock, and wetsuits, towels, etc. were included! We simply brought our camera and swimsuits. We checked-in for the day at about 8:30, and headed right to the breakfast buffet; eggs, bacon, breakfast breads, pancakes, hash browns, juice, milk, were all on the menu. After a good breakfast, we headed to the lockers to put on our wetsuits and sunblock, and quickly found the lazy river that paths all the way around the park (was HUGE!). We played in that for a while, and then headed to the salt-water "observation" pool where we put on our snorkels and were able to swim with mantarays and all kinds of tropicial fish in a natural reef. Chad and Tylar liked this best... Caitlynn didn't much like that half the fish in there were as big (or bigger than her). Before we knew it, it was lunch-time so we headed back to the cafe for a good meal. Then... the centerpiece of the day -- we were able to spend 45 minutes with a dolphin trainer and got to play, swim and ride a dolpin! See pics below...

Our second day of vacation was spent at Sea World. While we have been to Sea World before, the park seems to continue to grow and the shows get better and better! Check out the link to the other photos to see that day in great detail.

Kenny & CJ the dolphin

Caitlynn kissing CJ the dolphin

Tylar talking to CJ the dolphin

We all got to pose for a family pic

At the begining of of our family vacation -- Memorial Day 2011