Author: karstrl

Mazatlan 2020

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This year we decided to fly away to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico. We found a great deal at the Riu in Mazatlan and spent our spring break there. The flight was long and so was the bus ride to the resort, but it was well worth the wait. We spent our days relaxing at the pool, sliding down the water slides, and just hanging out. The boys and I played soccer on the beach, which was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect all week. We were a few days in and a major pandemic started all over the news. The resort started to empty out and we were able to book a couple fishing charters at unbelievable prices. The fishing was fun and we even ended up catching a huge Marlin. It was a once in a lifetime experience, which Aiden and I got to share. We saw so many dolphin and even a humpback whale. After a great week of fun, sun, and play we had to head home. We were very lucky to catch the last plane back to the states before the boarder was closed. Lots of memories were made.

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Grand Canyon 2019

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Grand Canyon 2019

The start of our long journey began on a Friday morning.  We drove all day and made it to Kearney, NE.  The next morning, we woke up early and headed to Jay and Karen Pegel’s house in Colorado Springs.  The weather was beautiful and we finally made it to the mountains.  The guys golfed on Saturday while the boys and Heather played at the park.  The next day we headed up to the top of Pike’s Peak.  The sky was clear and the views were great.  Heather was a little frightened on the way up to the top.  She had a hard time looking out the window on the ride up the mountain.  The top of the mountains shop was getting renovated and so we had to take a shuttle from mile 16.  We saw some big horned sheep on the way up too.  In the afternoon the guys went golfing again and the boys and Heather went to Skyzone.  The next morning, we headed to Pagosa Springs.

The car ride from Colorado Springs to Pagosa Springs became a memorable one.  Along the way just past Pueblo on Highway 160 we saw the Spanish Peaks, two standalone peaks that are extremely high.  We then started to climb up the San Juan Mountain range that was amazing.  I saw two Elk and one was a nice 6 x 6 just past the Spanish Peaks.  We headed to the Great Sand Dunes off of highway 150.  We were in complete aww and disbelief on how huge the dunes where and the amount of sand that got built up just below the Sangre De Cristo Mountains over hundreds of years.  We hiked across the water that is a river in the early summer.  Once we got across, we made it up the first Dune which was very difficult due to the sand being very soft.  The sand was also extremely HOT.  We wore sandals, which was a big mistake.  Our feet at times felt like there were on fire.  Heather and Evan headed back after a few photos and Aiden and Dad went up a few higher dunes almost to the top.  It’s somewhat unreal to see 30 miles of sand over 700 feet high at the base of a very tall mountain.  After the Dunes we did some off roading on a very rough 3-mile rock road up the mountain to see Zapata Falls.  It was a long drive, but a short ½ mile hike to the falls.  We walked up the stream in between the rock crevasse to see the large waterfall.  It was very unique and probably not possible to get to at times depending on the time of year when the snow is melting quickly.  We got back on Hwy 160 and drove one of the most beautiful drives we’ve ever seen through the San Juan National Forest.  The climb up to Wolf Creek at 10,586 was awesome and the decent was just as beautiful.  We stopped at Treasure Falls right off the highway.  It was short steep hike, but very beautiful.  We took some pictures got our feet wet and felt the mist of the tall waterfall.  The rainbow from the mist was very pretty, we even got it in some of the pictures.  We finally arrived at our resort in Pagosa Springs.

We had a few adventures while staying in Pagosa Springs.   We drove to the Piedra River and hiked up a cliff overlooking the river.  The river valley down below was quite the sight to see from high up on the cliff.  The hike wasn’t too long, but it wasn’t the easiest either.  On the way up the cliff we came across the fissures, which were huge cracks in the mountain side.  Some of the fissures where over 30 feet deep.  We went down in one that was only about 12 feet deep and enjoyed the temperature difference.  It was very cool down in the fissure.   After our cliff hike we headed to Williams creek reservoir to cool off.  We ate lunch and got our feet wet.  After lunch we headed to what we thought was Peidra Falls.  After heading down a gravel road for over 10 miles and then up a mountain side that only one vehicle could fit on, we ran into a road grader.  We had to back up on a steep mountain side and turn around.  We ended up going the wrong way.  We stopped at the campground and got better directions and headed 8 miles to Piedra Falls.  Once at the parking lot we took the short hike to the falls.  The falls was worth the drive.  It was cool and refreshing.  We even saw a trout in the river near the base of the falls.  We headed back to the resort to rest our legs.

While in Pagosa we took a trip to Chimney Rock.  We hiked up to the monument and took some pictures.  We learned all about the Pueblo people and how lived hundreds of years ago.  We saw their rock homes, which must have taken a very long time to build.  It was very interesting to learn about their history.

After spending 4 days in Pagosa we were on to our next destination. Along the way to Flagstaff we stopped at Mesa Verde.  We took the long drive and did the Balcony House tour.  It was a little more adventurous since you need to climb a 32 foot wooden ladder along the side of the cliff.  Heather was a little nervous driving along the steep roads and especially climbing the ladder and walking up the side of the cliff.  The views and the way people lived a long time ago were very educational.

Next stop was the four corners.  We had to stop and take pictures.  It’s not often that you can be in 4 states at one time.  We even had each family member in a different state at once. 

We arrived in Flagstaff after a very boring drive through somewhat of a desert.  There wasn’t much to see between the four corners and outside of Flagstaff.  Once we came up on Flagstaff there was green again along with some mountains.  We really liked Flagstaff until we got into the traffic by our hotel.  It turned out to be college move in day.  We checked in ordered pizza and relaxed for the evening.

The next morning, we head up to the Grand Canyon.  It was about a 1.5-hour drive to finally get there.  We parked along the side of the road and walked out to a point at the Canyon and starred at one of the wonders of the earth.  It’s hard to image that water could create such a canyon.  It looked like a picture that an artist drew from every direction we looked.  We spent the whole day at the Grand Canyon’s south rim.  We started from the very east and then went to the west stopping and taking pictures at every look out point.  We climb down on some rock formations that hung out over the Grand Canyon.  It was very relaxing and peaceful. 

The next day we took a trip to Bearizona to see a wildlife area that you can drive through and see wolves, bears, and other animals right outside your car window.  It was a very cool and fun place.  We saw a raptor free flight show, which was pretty fun.  The owls flew right over our heads during the show.  We also saw a Jaguar up close in one of the exhibits.  He was very big and pretty.

After visiting Bearizona, we hopped back in the car to our last destination, Sedona.  The drive to Sedona was our shortest of the trip.  We drove down a few thousand feet with very scenic views.  We made it to our resort and relaxed for the night.  The next day we set out to hike to Devils Bridge.  It’s a somewhat of a hike, but nothing we couldn’t handle at 3.6 miles roundtrip.  We really didn’t factor in the 101 degrees heat though.  It became a little bit more of a challenge than expected.  We made it up to the top of the bridge and the views were amazing.  It was totally worth the hike.   We ran out of water on the way down because there was a hiker in need.  The fire department rescue team was called in to help the hiker get back safely.  We made it back to the car and cranked the A/C to cool down.

We also visited Slide Rock State Park.  Slide Rock is a creek with rocks that were shaped from running water.  The rocks were very slippery and many people slipped and fell.  There is also a cliff that we all jumped off of.  The cliff was about 10-12 feet high and the boys loved it. 

The rest of the week we hung out by the pool and did resort activities.  We played junk food bingo one day and everyone in the family won big.  We ended up with a ton of snacks for the ride home.  We also did a tour of Sedona and saw an 11 million dollar house.   Sedona was a great place to visit and we are hoping to stop back again someday in the future.

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Spring Break Panama City 2019

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Sun, sand, and fun for this vacation.  We drove down to the Panama City Beach for our 2019 Spring Break.  We left on Friday and made it to Mattoon for an overnight stop before hitting the road again.  We woke up and had a great breakfast after getting a good night’s rest.  The weather was nice.  We didn’t run into any storms or rain the whole way down to Florida.  We stopped again in Birmingham.  We surprised the kids with a trip to Sky Zone after checking into our hotel.  The boys jumped for over an hour, dunking basketballs, jumping the spinning arm, wall climbing, and playing dodgeball.  We woke up and had breakfast.  I was feeling a little sore from the dodgeball game.  I think I used muscles that I haven’t used in my back for a long time,  after some icy hot,  I was ready to roll.  We made it to Panama City Beach in the early afternoon.  We decided to do our grocery shopping and get a bite to eat before heading to the resort.  The resort was full, and our check-in was later than normal.  This Wyndham Panama Beach resort is one of our favorites because it’s right on the beach and you can see the sunset on the gulf every night.  Our first night we played bag toss, connect four, pool, and shuffleboard in the activities area at the resort.  The boys really enjoyed bag toss and Evan beat mom and dad at connect four.  Most days we hung out at the beach and enjoyed the sun.  The boys went snorkeling and swimming.  The waves were never big enough to use the body boards.  The Zastrow’s came to visit on Tuesday and we hung out with them on the beach and then did some shopping at the center down the road.  We ended up having lunch at Pompano Joe’s, which was very tasty.  On Wednesday we drove to a golf driving range and we hit a bucket of balls with my new Callaway irons before heading to the Seeger’s (more hockey friends) condo.  The Seeger’s were staying just down the road.  We played some bag toss on the beach and the kids made sandcastles.  It was very breezy that day, which made bag tossing difficult.  On our last day we headed over the Destin to do some shopping and Parasailing.  We ended up getting some great deals at the boys new favorite clothing store, American Eagle.  The Adidas store had a 50% off everything in store, so I was in heaven.   After shopping we headed over to the Sun Dogs Parasailing boat.  We headed out on the water and went up in the sky 1200ft.  Heather and Evan went first, and Aiden and I followed.  The view of the coast and water was cool.  We were so high that everything looked tiny from up there.  It was quite the experience and a great one to remember the trip by.  We ate lunch after parasailing at Dewey Destin’s Harborside.  We had some fresh fish once more before our long drive back to the colder weather.  Our first stop on the way home was in Birmingham, which was just a place to get a quick sleep in before the next leg of the trip.  On Saturday we drove from Birmingham all the way to Beloit, a very long day of driving.  We checked in at 9pm in Beloit and let the kids swim for a little while before heading to bed.  The next day we had breakfast and headed to the Brewers game to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa.  The Brewer game ended up being a memorable one.  Christian Yelich not only had his 4th home run that day, but he also had the base hit that won the game 5-4 over the Cardinals.  The Brewers were down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth but pulled out the thriller to cap off our Spring Break this year. 

Universal Orlando 2018

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A break much needed at the end of soccer season and before hockey season to Orlando, Florida. We flew out of Milwaukee to our favorite resort Wyndham Bonnet Creek. This time our room was in tower 5 on the 6th floor, room 683. The resort was somewhat busy because tower 4 was closed due to painting and renovations, but it was mainly just a parking issue. We unpacked and headed to the pool for some warm sun and relaxation on Friday. On Saturday it was more of the same, just hung out at the resort and then headed to Disney Springs to do some shopping and take the traditional pictures. On Sunday we headed to Universal Studios. This year the boys were tall enough to ride all of the rides. The new Harry Potter Dragon’s Alley was interesting, but not better than the Forbidden Journey. The Train on the other hand we thought was a waste of time. It took a long time and honestly was pretty boring. We only rode the train once. The Fast and Furious ride turned out to be a bust also. There was just too much going on and the plot was pretty lame. Of course the boys loved Rip, Ride, Rocket. I think we rode that one a good 6-8 times that day. They were introduced to the front car and some Limp Bizkit (Rollin). That ride never gets old, way too much fun. The boys really liked The Hulk ride and Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall over at Islands of Adventure. And of course mom’s favorite The Mummy ended of the first day in the books. We were hoping to watch the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series while down in Florida, but it just didn’t work out for them in 2018, so we ended up watching the Red Sox vs. Dodgers. We also got to watch some late night NHL games that we typically don’t get to see back home on TV.

On Monday we headed to the Volcano Bay. We had a blast at the water park. We had so much fun that after we took a day off on Tuesday to rest from all the walking around the parks we decided to start Wednesday and Thursday at Volcano Bay before heading to the other 2 parks. The water slides at Volcano Bay were awesome. The Aqua Coaster was so much fun that we Tapu Tapu’d it right after riding to go again! We’ve never been on a water slide roller coaster before and it was pretty cool. The Plunge slides were a lot of fun too. The boys really liked the Ko’okiri body plunge, it’s the tallest body slide in America ranging at 125 feet tall, and also the first to travel through a pool full of guests. It took about 10 minutes to climb up to the top of the volcano and about 3-4 seconds to get down from the very top of the volcano.

At the resort the boys went trick or treating for Halloween and received a boat load of candy from the resort. We had so much candy that we almost didn’t have enough room in our backpacks to bring it home. We played pool bingo and joined in a water volleyball game. Both Mom and Dad were big winners at bingo and received even more candy. We raced ducks in the lazy river and got a quick round of mini golf in before heading home. Another great fun filled family vacation!

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Virginia 2018

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Ah Virginia, summer vacation with Grandma and Grandpa to the east coast again.  This trip was one we will not forget, not so much for all the fun we had, but for all the HEAT there was.  It was a hot one the whole week.  We started this one off with a bang and it wasn’t a car accident.  It was a great Milwaukee Brewers 8-2 win against the Reds at the Great American Ballpark followed by Friday night fireworks.  We drove straight to Virginia Beach after the ballgame and stayed at the Wingate just about 10 minutes from the Beach.  We headed to the beach Saturday and wow was it packed.  There were hardly any places to even put your towel down.   The water was super refreshing and the boys had a great time boogie  boarding on the waves.  We walked the streets to find a restroom and ended up at the Bestwestern hotel, but we needed a key to get into the hotel lobby restrooms.  Luckily someone came out of the men’s and Heather grabbed the door quick before it closed.  It was quite the event when everyone has to go and there is no bathroom close by.  Did I mention Heather went too.  After our bathroom fiasco we head to the amusement park were Dad and Evan rode the swings.  We ate at Jumpin Shrimp for dinner.  It was good, but not the best seafood we’ve ever had.  After dinner we stopped at the DQ for some ice cream before heading back to the hotel.

Time to check-in to the Wyndham Governor’s Green in Williamsburg.  We arrived on Sunday at the resort and after we got settled in we went swimming and tried to stay cool.  The next day we headed downtown Williamsburg to check-out the old settlement.  We had a great time seeing all the old shops, houses, the capital, and even a parade.

On the 3rd we decided we need to cool off.  We all went to Country USA Waterpark.  The water was a little on the warm side for us.  The boys went on every ride at least one and some a few times more.  We had a great time and so did Grandpa on the toilet flush ride.  It was impressive to see him make it all the way up the steps to the top.  He learned one thing from that ride, “plug your nose”.  Once the floor drops out from under you you’re headed down the enclosed tube at a pretty good speed.

For the 4th of July we ended up going to Jamestown in the morning and Yorktown in the afternoon.  We toured the museum in Jamestown and saw the old fort.  We met the blacksmith, the solider, and even an Indian there.  We learn how they used deer antlers to carve arrowheads for hunting.  We all got to try on the old armour that they wore in battle.  We went aboard 3 replica ships they had in the harbor and learned how they sailed to Jamestown.

After Jamestown we headed up to Yorktown to watch the canon fire.  It was quite the site to see.  At Yorktown we learned how they made their clothes back in those days and also how they used the land for all their food.  The boys were in for a real shocker that there was no McDonald’s back then.  We were even told that the young boys back then worked from 5am until dusk every day.  Evan and dad got to hold an old musket and Evan put on a colonel’s jacket too.

The next day we headed back to Yorktown to check-out the old battlefields.  We walked out on the famous battlefields that won our independence on Oct 19th 1781.   We saw the field were Cornwallis surrender and the famous redoubt bunkers 9 and 10 we took over to secure our victory.  After our battlefield tour we ate lunch and went swimming in the York River before heading back to the resort for one last night.    All in all our Virginia trip was fun, but also a neat step back in history to see how far we’ve grown and how we got where we are today.

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Daytona Beach Spring Break 2018

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This vacation we decided to break up the drive a little bit more.  We headed down to Daytona Beach and made two stops along the way.  The first stop we made was in Salem, IL.  The hotel we booked had an indoor pool, but of course when we got there it was being renovated.  Luckily we were able to get our money back and go another hotel with an indoor pool.  The boys swam at the Holiday Inn for hours.  We had the whole pool to ourselves.  It was very relaxing.  The next day we left Salem, IL and headed to Atlanta for our next hotel stop.  We arrived somewhat late and didn’t have many options for food.  We ended up grabbing take out from a Publix grocery store deli and ate in our hotel room.  The boys did some swimming and the next morning we headed out to our final destination……Daytona Beach.  We arrived at our resort and it was crazy busy.  There was a very long check-in line.  Luckily since we are owners we didn’t have to wait long.  We bypassed about 20 people and were checked in within minutes.  There were quite a few disgruntled people that I could hear complaining in the background.  We ended up on the 9 floor with an ocean view.  The room was very nice and they changed all the decor since we were there last time.

We spent most days waking up and having a nice breakfast before hitting the beach until the sun was hidden by the resort, which was around 3pm everyday.  We ventured out and ended up going to Sky Zone for 2 days while we were there.  The boys played endless Dodgeball at the indoor trampoline park.  We were there for over 4 hours both days, even some of the staff were like “you’re still here”.  It was so much fun that dad even joined the second day.  The boys loved boogie boarding in the ocean.  They caught quite a few waves all week.  The surf was very rough all week and lifeguards were constantly blowing their whistle at people to wave them in.  We saw a few rescues as well.  We took our 2 pets lizards back to Florida on the trip and released them near the resort.  Spike and Speedee were once again set free back in Florida.  Mom and dad were quite happy since all we seemed to do was buy crickets for them every week.  We did go out to a nice dinner at the new beach restaurant called Riptides.  We had a nice Seafood meal with a great atmosphere.  The resort still had the 9 hole indoor mini golf course.  The whole family played and it became quite competitive.

This vacation was fun and relaxing.  Our trip home was long and sad as the temperature kept dropping.  We stayed in Locust Grove, GA the first night on the road and did a little shopping in the morning.  We made a pit stop at the Bass Pro Shop near Chattanooga to checkout a new shotgun for Aiden, but couldn’t find one we liked.  We made our second stop in Tuscola, IL to break up the trip and give the boys some play time in the hotel pool.  We arrived home to the cold and snow after picking up Ranger at a friends house around 3pm.

 

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Wisconsin Dells 2017

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We celebrated the boys birthdays this fall at Glacier Canyon.  The boys each brought a few friends with them and they had a blast.  They spent many hours in the huge 3 story playground.  We did the sky ropes inside the arcade area which was a blast.  We walked on small platforms and ropes that are mounted all over above the arcade.  The boys went down the new interactive water slide where you have colored buttons on your board and you press the corresponding color when you see that color going down the slide.   You are constantly pushing color buttons while going down.  At the end of the ride you can check out how well you did pressing the correct colors by checking out your score.  We went on the Hurricane, which is a huge funnel that 4 people go down at once on a big raft.  The boys loved that ride so much that we did it a handful of times.   The boys dressed up for trick or treating at the resort and got lots of candy.  We had cup cakes and ice cream for the boys birthday.  The boys played video games and won lots of little toys. All the boys did the duck race at the lazy river and we even had one of the boys finish in the top 3!  All in all it was a fun and relaxing mini vacation/birthday party.  We will be back!

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Mt LeConte Trail View

Sevierville – Nashville Spring Break 2017

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This year for Spring Break we gave the boys the option of beach or mountains and much to our surprise, they chose the mountains.  We ventured back to the Great Smoky Mountains of TN to the Wyndham Wilderness Resort. The weather this time around was a much different story from our first trip where we had to hike through about a foot of snow on the way up to Grotto Falls.  This time we had temperatures between 70 and 80 at the base and it was great hiking weather.  We were deeply saddened to see the devastation from the fire that took place November 2016.  Many homes were destroyed and most only having the foundation left.  Because of the fire one of the trails we wanted to hike “the Chimney Tops” was closed so on the first day we set off to Alum Cave Bluff  with a distance of 4.6 Miles round trip and a difficulty listed as moderate. However, Ryan could not stop there as this trail lead to Mt. Le Conte, a hike to the 3rd tallest mountain top in the Smokies and one that he has always wanted to accomplish.  Alum Cave to Mt. Le Conte with a round trip distance of 10.2 Miles had a difficulty listed as Moderate. The views along the trail were breathtaking.  We climbed right up into the clouds that day.    Once we got to the top, it became extremely cloudy which limited the views, but when you could see the views were amazing. The air near the top of the mountain was very cool and damp and then it started to rain.  The hike back down the mountain was a wet one. We were completely soaked when got back to the car. Needless to say Mom and Dad could barely walk after the decent down the mountain.  This was a hike we will never forget. 

 After the long hike on the first day, the family needed the next 2 days to recoup.  We spent time at the indoor and outdoor water parks at the resort and then spent a day at the NASCAR Speed Park in Pigeon Forge.  The boys rode on 13 different tracks as well as a rollercoaster, the scrambler, tilt-a-whirl, and the Starship 3000.  They also had a rock-climbing walk that the boys were able to climb to the top of and ring the bell.  One would have thought they had enough climbing the day before but they proved us wrong.

 On the 4th day we ventured back to the mountain to get in another hike.  We decided to hike up to Grotto Falls again.  We climbed to this spot 4 years prior when it was frozen and snow covered.  Grotto Falls, which was a distance of only 3.0 Miles.  However, the road to the trail was still closed for the winter so we had to hike an additional 4 miles.  The trail was listed with a moderate difficulty and offers the only waterfall that visitors are able to walk behind.

On the 5th day, we packed up and headed off to Nashville to take in a Nashville Predators game as they were playing Ryan’s favorite NHL team the Toronto Maple leafs. The Leafs were hot that night and we were able to cheer them onto a win. This was only the second NHL game the boys have been too and they really enjoyed watching it now that they were older.

One the way home we asked the boys if they enjoyed this trip and they said it was one of the best ever. I would have to agree, from the weather, the beautiful mountains and great family times this vacation left a lasting impression on us all.

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Sea World 2016

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Sea World in October I’d have to say was a great choice.  We lucked out with the weather being in the low to mid 80’s all week without rain, you couldn’t ask for anything more.  We tested out the Voyager Air external wireless hard drive on the flight down and back.  It worked awesome!!  We were able to stream 4 different movies with our kindles up in the sky.  We arrived on Friday night and checked into a room at the Baymont for one night before heading over to the Wyndham Bonnet Creek resort the following day.  We grabbed a pizza from a 7 Eleven just to get by for the night.  I wouldn’t recommend it.  It did only take 5 minutes to cook and now we know why.  After a great hot breakfast at the Baymont we did a little shopping and headed to our resort.  We held off going to the parks until the weekdays.  We went to Busch Gardens in Tampa on Monday, then Sea World on Wednesday, and then Aquatica on Friday.  Each park was awesome.  The roller coasters at Busch Gardens were so much fun.  The kids could go on every ride and they did multiple times.  There were hardly any lines at the parks, which made it even more enjoyable.  We did so many roller coasters that day I’m glad we rested a day in between the next park.  Our favorite ride was probably Sheikra where they hold you for a few seconds dangling over the edge at the very top.  We also liked the Cheetah Hunt, Kumba, Montu, and the Cobra’s Curse.  What made the rides so much fun is that each ride was so unique and not like any other.  Of course we did front car at least once on everything for the experience.  We’ll never forget the Falcons Fury.  All I can say is what a view and holy crap Heather, Aiden, and Evan were scared.  The picture at the end was priceless.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard my family scream so loud and if you know them you can only imagine how loud it was.  The ride consists of you sitting down while being carried 385 feet straight up and then dropping you, but there is a kicker, before they drop you they decided let’s scare the crap out of them even more by turning them so they’re facing the ground.  All I can say is “what a rush”.  You only live once, so we did it and are still alive to talk about it.

We had fun at Bonnet Creek playing mini golf, swimming, and other activities like hula hooping.  I ended up taking 2nd place in the hula hoop contest only because I can’t do two at a time.  The pools at the resort were kind of cold, but felt refreshing after baking in the sun for a good hour.  We went to the new T-Rex restaurant at Disney Springs (downtown Disney).  The food was ok, but the prices are pretty steep.  The restaurant was pretty cool.  It’s basically like the Rainforest Café decor, but with dinosaurs instead of Jungle animals.  We grabbed a few souvenirs along the trip as well.

Sea World was amazing!!  Some of the best roller coasters I’ve ever been on.  The Mako is one of the best rides in the world in my opinion.  You go up 200 feet without shoulder harnesses.  The only thing holding you down is a lap bar.  Talk about fun, the speed and the hills that make you come off you seat constantly provide way too much thrill.  Throwing your hands up like we did the whole ride is a must.  Once I showed the kids were the camera was they loved it even more.  We showed our pipes once and other times made silly faces.  The Manta was another amazing ride.  You sit down in your seat and then they turn you over on your stomach now trusting the shoulder harness which is the only thing holding you when you go up into the sky. The first loop is absolutely crazy.  You go head first down at 3.7 g’s, which feels more like 10.   The whole time you feel like superman with your hands out twisting up and down while flying through the sky.  The Kraken is another awesome ride.  Front car is a totally different experience with this ride.  The ride is unique because it’s floorless, which make the front car even more thrilling.  Antarctica was great because you get too cool off after being out in the hot sun, plus they have Penguins.  Evan has a love for Penguins, which made this experience even better.  We got too see many penguins up close while they swam and courted each other.  Apparently it was matting season.  The killer whale show was fun to watch too.  It always amazes me that humans can actually train these huge whales to do tricks on command.

The Aquatica waterpark was a great choice for our last theme park.  The water temps were perfect at the park.  The park has the best lazy river ever!!  You grab a life jacket and just relax.  The current is super strong and it will carry you all the way around the park.  The boys liked the Ihu’s Breakaway Falls the best.  The waterslide is a breakaway, which means you get inside the capsule and the floor falls out sending you straight down superfast.  There also a tube slide that goes under water and you get to see Dolphins swimming by you if you’re lucky.

We had a blast in Florida again.  Hope to be back again soon!!

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Smuggler’s Notch 2016

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Northeast here we come!!  This vacation had quite a few hours in the car.  We estimated about 48 hours in the Nissan Altima.  Our first stop on the way to Smugglers Notch was to Niagara Falls, Canada.  The views of the falls were breathtaking.  The amount of water that goes over every second is amazing.  We stayed close to the Falls and did a lot of walking around the area.   It was very hot out and we waited hours in line to get on the boat that takes your right up to the falls.  We got so close that water splashed over everyone on board.  It felt so good to feel that cool fresh water on us that we didn’t even care about being wet.   We took a lot of pictures, picked up some souvenirs, ate dinner at TGI’s, and then headed back for a nice swim at the hotel.  In the morning we packed up and headed off to Toronto to check out the Hockey Hall of Fame.  It was so much fun that we ended up staying there for over 3 hours.  The kids loved testing their goalie and shooting skills on the computerized screens.  Since we are big hockey fans we enjoyed visiting this place and it brought back so many memories.  All the records set and broken were listed throughout the facility. There were quite a few I actually remember watching on TV back in the 90’s.

We walked a few blocks from the HHOF to the CN Tower.  We had planned to go up in the tower, but there was over an hour wait and we were exhausted from all the walking and didn’t really want to wait that long.  We took some pictures and maybe we’ll come back since there is more to see in Toronto.  The only downside to the city is that taxes and hotels area very expensive.

Off to Smugglers.  We woke up bright and early for our next 8+ hour drive to Smugglers Notch in Vermont.  We drove up to Montreal and then down.  We finally arrived at Smugglers Notch around 6pm Monday.  After checking in we unpacked and headed to the pool.  They had 4 different pools for us to go too.  You just call for a shuttle and they come right to your front door for pick.  The pools were fun and there were even some waterslides.  The resort also has two reservoirs on their property that had fun outdoor equipment.  We spent a whole day at Rum Runners.

On Thursday morning we drove down to the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory to learn how they make their ice cream.  We got some samples after the tour and also some souvenirs.  It was so hot outside that the ice cream melted faster than Evan could eat it.  He tried drinking it, but instead dumped it down his shirt.

This vacation was filled with many good memories.  The one we will never forget is going zip lining up in the mountains.  We were flying high amongst the trees.  We zipped over gorges and walking trails way down below.  The longest zip was 960 ft and boy was it fast.  We also did some rappelling from about 40 ft-50 ft high.  What a great trip!!

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