Drake Family Florida Trip- Part 1: Pools, Beaches & Condo Fun

We just got home from the most amazing family vacation. I am kind of in shock that it's actually over. I spent so many hours planning this trip and now its just over. It was so so so much fun though. 

So here we go- here is my recap. Bare with me, its not going to be short. lol 

On Saturday we made it to Orlando! Yay! We left EARLY EARLY Friday morning and drove to Pensacola. We stayed the night with our dear friends, the Harbors, and it was so fun to see them. Adrian had made dinner for us and we just got to chill and hang out before putting the kids to bed. We watched a movie that night and chatted. 

Saturday morning we woke up to a delicious breakfast and then had to say our goodbyes. We drove from Pensacola to Orlando and arrived around 4 pm. The kids were so happy to have finally arrived  at "the condo" and we were greeted in the parking lot by Nanny, Papa, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Johnny, Max, Hazel and Aunt Laura! It was quite the reception. And then, Uncle Joseph and his family pulled in right behind us. We were almost complete! At that point we were only missing the awesome Uncle David. 

We unloaded the car and got settled and then immediately headed over to the splash pad. 

Marriott's Harbour Lake location has awesome pools and splash pads. We had so much fun. 

The pools were made around a pirate theme and it was so cute. 

These kids ad so much fun!

I attempted to get a picture of all three of my kids but that was impossible, so I settled for one of them all playing together- close enough. 

Then we went back to our rooms for dinner. Mom and Dad had reserved three suites for us all to share and it was awesome. We shared ours with Uncle David. Sarah and Johnny shared theirs with Aunt Laura and then Mom and Dad shared with Joseph and Julieta. So it was pretty great.
We took turns making meals and we tried our best to eat together. It was so fun. So much family time. 

After dinner, Nanny and Papa left for a date- it was their anniversary so as the kid's gift we sent them on a prepaid date. Happy anniversary Nanny and Papa!!!

While they went on their fun date, the rest of us went down to the pool. 

Tanner immediately found the water slide and fell in love! 

I love this one of the victorious champion. 

Later he got even more adventurous and went down head first. He's crazy. 

These goggles were huge but he loved wearing them. 

So much fun times with the Aunts, Uncles and cousins. 

This little man was such a fish. It was crazy. We stuck him in a puddle jumper and basically threw him in the deep end and he loved it. He swam everywhere and was completely fearless. 

We had a blast at the pool and we were just so happy to finally be in Orlando with our family. 

The next day was Sunday. We woke up early and went to church at a local ward.
It's such a relief to see that no matter where you go, the gospel is the same and sacrament meeting is full of crazy toddlers and frantic moms all across the world. lol 

Sunday we all enjoyed a delicious steak dinner and some family time. It was so fun to just hang out together. 

Monday we went over to Cocoa Beach, near Cape Canaveral Florida. 

This was such a great beach. It wasn't very busy. The waves were mild and the sand was soft. We had such a great time. 

 We swam, boogie boarded, built sand castles and just had so much fun. 

I love this one of Tucker!  Just out to find the next great wave.

Facing the waves literally "head on". So funny

We even saw a dolphin while we were swimming. At first I got nervous and made my kids get out but then as we watched it we realized it wasn't a shark and it was an overly friendly dolphin swimming way close to shore. 

There was lot of sand playing. 

Chris tried to help Tucker build a sand castle but Tuck just kept knocking it over.. over and over and over again. He's such a buster. 

Oh and this beach boy. He's so fun at the ocean. He loves the waves. 

Brothers playing together are pretty darling. 

We did snag a family picture before leaving. I love this beach family of mine. 

Oh and we also got a group shot of everyone. Uncle David didn't come- he's not a fan of the beach- but everyone else was there. 

After leaving the beach, we got rinsed off and went over to a local seafood grill for an early dinner.
Oh man, it was so delicious!!! The kids ate really well because they were so hungry after a full day at the beach. The food was amazing and I'm still dreaming about the shrimp poppers. *DROOL*

Then we drove back to our condo and then ran over to Disney Springs. We had to get our military discount tickets validated. We found the customer service desk at Disney Springs and when I pulled out my binder to give the cast member our tickets, she saw my itinerary. She was shocked at how organized and well-planned our trip was. She kept saying "this is awesome" and "You're amazing". It was so funny. Then she said "Because you are this awesome, I want to give you and your family extra fast passes for one ride of your choice". WHAT??? Uh yes please!!  So she gave us fast passes for "Peter Pan's flight" that we could use any time during our first day at Disney world. Isn't that awesome?  We had already reserved our three fast passes for our magic kingdom day, but fast passes are like gold and we were thrilled to get one extra pass to a ride that typically has a long line. So we left Disney Springs very happy. 

Stay tuned for parts 2-5 of this amazing vacation. I have so many pictures and things to write about that I can't fit it all on one post. So I'm breaking up the vacation into 5 parts. Look forward to that.