Now for the fun stuff...Our Trip!!

On May 3, 2010 (just 2 days after closing on our house and moving all of our stuff out) we flew to South Florida for a week of sun and relaxation.
First of all, I gotta say I had no idea how much I would miss my girls. The week before we left was horribly stressful and I was so looking forward to escaping all of it, but when it came down to the time for me to say goodbye to them, I started bawling! I almost felt like I didn't have time to prepare for it although we've had this trip planned since Thanksgiving. We told them goodbye when we put them to bed Sunday night because we were leaving at 3:30 am to go to the airport. I think they were both a little confused when I gave them lots of kisses and cried. My girls are my life day in and day out, so it was definitely tough to say goodbye, but I did it. Moving on...

Our first day consisted of a lot of flying and squeezing in cat naps here and there in extremely uncomfortable airplane seats.

Beautiful sunrise though

Leaving all those Utah clouds behind

On the airplane. Doesn't Rob look a little too happy for this early in the morning? We had the same flight as a bunch of missionaries going to Nicaragua, so that was fun. I bet there are a lot of jealous moms/girlfriends out there. ;)
View from our first hotel room. I was missing my girls a lot and very sleepy that first day. We didn't do much at all that was exciting. Just drove around and did a late night Taco Bell run - hey, that's a vacation for me! Our second day we had to go do a "tour" where they tried to sell us a timeshare. That's part of the reason we got such a good deal on the trip. We stuck to our guns though and didn't give in. It really wasn't too bad either, besides that it took awhile. We got to see beautiful places like this and talk with one of the locals.
Later that day we drove to Port of Palm Beach and stepped onboard the Bahamas Celebration Cruise Ship. Bahamas here we come!

Our cabin on the cruise. A little small, but actually better than we were expecting
We're Cruisin!

Eating dinner while cruising away. So fun and yummy

Here we are on the beautiful beach in the Bahamas
Spending time in the ocean
Rob in the ocean. He loved to go swim in the water while I laid on the beach and read my book (and got fried!) In fact, we both got way fried. Our white Utah skin just couldn't handle that hot sun, even with two coats of sunblock.

For our "shore excursion" we went to a resort on the beach and were able to swim in the pools and have lunch there. I loved this pool because it looked like it went right into the ocean. Also, it wasn't as salty as the sea water.

Enjoying some of the entertainment on the cruise

Our little towel dog they made for us on the cruise. It's just not a cruise without em ;)

The day we got off our Cruise we went to do an Airboat Ride on the Everglades and see an Alligator. It was so cool! We loved it.

Rob in front of the Everglades. You can see one of the airboats behind him.

When we got to where the alligator was the tour guide stopped the boat and we just kind of drifted up to where the alligator "supposedly" was. Then all of a sudden, the water started moving right by me! Then this big ol' alligator starts swimming around. It was a little freaky, but also really cool.

He was a big one...10-11 feet!

Sawgrass Recreation Park (where we took the airboat ride and looked at a bunch of animals they have in the Everglades)

This white bird was just standing on the sidewalk next to the store. It was so strange to see. Rob thought it was fake at first. Pretty funny

The day we got back from our Cruise we were both so exhausted. Rob slept for like 3 hours! We napped a lot on this trip...that Florida sun just wore us out.

Driving from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando. It really didn't seem that long because we had so many new things to see.

Well, spontaneously we decided we'd head over to DisneyWorld. Aren't vacations great? We hadn't originally planned on going but they were open late and we were starting late, so we just decided to go. We felt really guilty the whole time though because we were there without Anisten. It made me miss her even more

The Jungle Safari ride. I just couldn't get over all the beautiful lush green surroundings. It was so pretty

Rob in the Swiss Family Robinson tree house
Rob has been to Disneyland twice in his life and both times Space Mountain was not working. Well we picked a good day in Disneyworld, because it was working this time and he loved it! We got to go on it twice thanks to the Fast Pass.

I had to get a picture of Woody and Jesse for Anisten. She keeps wondering who those little girls are though

In front of Cinderella's castle. We sent a picture to Anisten of it and she loved it. My mom said she wanted to keep looking at it.

The next day we went to Islands of Adventure. I'd been there before in High School and I was so excited to take Rob there and ride all the fun rides. Well, apparently Rob is way too old for this stuff now because they made him sick! The Incredible Hulk and Spiderman made him sick more than anything and those were the two I was most looking forward to. haha To be honest, I don't think I would've been able to ride them as many times as I could back in the day. The joys of growing old.

We did make it over to Poseidon's Fury which isn't actually a ride at all, but more of a theatrical tour. We liked it.

Rob in front of Poseidon's Fury..pretty cool looking

Poseidon's triton

I was sooo bummed because the Harry Potter ride/section doesn't open until June 18th!! So I got to look at it from the other side of the fence and it just made me more upset. It seriously looks awesome! Someday I'll have to make it back there. Here is part of Hogsmeade.

Hogwarts castle. Doesn't it just look awesome?! I can just see Harry up there studying. haha

Aaaaah!! Here comes a big dinosaur! haha Such a picture moment ya know? We loved the Jurassic Park ride. It was one of them that didn't make Rob sick

We went and saw Iron Man 2 on Imax while we were at Universal and really liked it. We both loved the first one and I think this one was just as good.

Well, although it took months to come, our trip sure went by fast. Even while missing my girls. We had such a good time.

Bye Florida! Bye Mickey! Bye Sun!

Ani made us these very cute Froot Loop and straw necklaces to welcome us home (Rob's is all blue for BYU). She was happy to have us back. She kept saying "I missed you!"

It was Mother's Day the day we got home and it was quite a present for me to see my girls again. My dad came and picked us up at the airport so the first time I saw the girls again was in the backseat of the truck. Ani got so excited, but Aivree started crying! It was a little sad. I think she wanted me to hold her and at the same time she was scared or something. It didn't take her long to get back in her old ways though. The very next day she was only happy when mom was in the room.

On the flip side, it was also a great Mother's Day for my mom because her long week of taking care of two crazy girls was finally over! I really am so appreciative of her and my dad for all they did. I was able to relax and enjoy the trip knowing my girls were safe and happy...and I promise not to do that to them again. At least for awhile :) haha Love you guys!!

Here's our cute Thing 1 and Thing 2 (Rob just HAD to buy these shirts when we saw them at Universal. There was no talking him out of it. They sure look cute though). So happy to be home with them again, but we sure had a blast while we were gone!