Orlando - Part 1 in Pictures

Here are some pictures from our trip to Orlando this past weekend. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. I wasn't so sure I wanted to leave so it helped that it was raining on Sunday when we left! Here is a little recap of our trip to go along with all of the pictures.

• Wednesday night: Brandon's family picked us up from the airport since they had arrived earlier that day.

• Thursday: Brandon presented his research at the conference in the morning. We all went to lunch at Chili's afterwards and then hung out by the pool the rest of the afternoon. For some reason I thought that I didn't need sunscreen so I laid out the whole afternoon without it and definitely became a lobster by that night (I am not sure what I was thinking after just having gone through a long MN winter!) We ate dinner at Bongos (Gloria Estefan's restaurant) at Downtown Disney and then went shopping at some outlets which was fun for me, not so much fun for Brandon!

• Friday: We woke up in time to get to Magic Kingdom right after it opened. We managed to go on the first two rides without waiting and used Fast Passes the rest of the day, so we really only had to wait for one ride. I am kind of a wimp when it comes to roller coasters, but Brandon loves them so I promised I would go on Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain with him... We went on Splash Mountain in the morning and talked Brandon's sister into going too and we all ended up getting soaked, but Joy was definitely the most wet! For the first time in my life, I went on Space Mountain and didn't like it so much, but I did actually like Thunder Mountain Railroad. The last time I rode on it was when I was young and got really scared so I hadn't been on it since. We then headed over to Disney Hollywood Studios (aka MGM) around 4pm so that Brandon could go on some bigger rides like the Tower of Terror and the Rockin Roller Coaster. We also got to see the Indiana Jones and Fantasmic shows which was fun. We had a packed day but it was so much fun to be like a kid!

• Saturday: Brandon went to the conference in the morning and then we all headed to Epcot around noon. We went on some of the rides there and looked around at all of the countries. Afterwards, we went back to Downtown Disney to see La Nouba, Disney's Cirque du Soleil show. It was excellent! We then ate dinner at Carrabbas, an Italian restaurant, that we all enjoyed.

• Sunday: We all left....

It was so nice to be in warm weather and to be able to spend time with Brandon's family. We are so blessed!

The resort that we stayed atBrandon trying to get my hair wet!Downtown DisneyBrandon and his dadAll of us at BongosOutside at Downtown DisneyMagic Kingdom!Cinderella's CastleOur favorite ride - the ride is actually better at Disneyland though...Brandon, Joy and Me - you can tell that Brandon is thrilled to be wearing the hats for the picture!All soaked after Splash MountainNervous before riding Thunder Mountain Railroad!The Jungle Cruise - my type of ride!Philarmagic - a 3-D show that I really enjoyedProof that I went on Space Mountain - my hair got destroyed after getting wet on Splash MountainAt Disney Hollywood Studios

Brandon and his mom went on the Tower of Terror twice!

Waiting for Fantasmic to start

Mickey!