When we arrived to Orlando it was a relief. As much as I loved the beach, coming back to the hotel room every night feeling sandy was not as much fun. We got back to the condo and relaxed for the rest of the night. Olivia was still anxious everytime I left the room. Same old same old. Sigh. They say it's a phase. We headed for bed early because tomorrow would be a tiring day.
SEA WORLD!
When we planned this trip, we thought that Olivia would be too young to enjoy Disney and Universal. However, Sea World would be a different story. After all, she is a water baby and we talked about les poissons and Baby Beluga all the time. She would love Sea World. Or so we thought.
It was another gorgeous day in Orlando. We dropped off Lola and Lola at the Outlet Mall and then proceeded with our day. We parked in the "privileged" section of the parking. Which really meant, we paid an extra $5 to park closer to the entrance. hahahhaa. As we were walking towards the entrance, you could hear Christmas music playing in the distance. It can't be yet I thought. We paid the entrance fee ...which nearly killed us. Times have changed. Who can afford to bring a family to these places nowadays. It's crazy. Anyways... as we walked in, there was Christmas decorations everywhere.
Our first stop was to take a picture with some penguin. Olivia not really amused. Sigh. Off we went to a theme ride. Papa and Grandpapa decided to brave the twisty roller coaster as we waited for them at the bottom. Martin never goes on these rides, or at least not with me. I'm thinking that Grandpapa gave him the courage to go and he was soo happy that he did. He was so happy that he got suckered into buying the photo that they take before you take the dive. Sigh. He's such a consumer. hahahhahah
Then we started getting to the good stuff. The aquariums. There is something about aquariums that is so peaceful and fascinating. Olivia loved walked up the glass and looking at the fishes. She was running from one end to another. Mind you..I think we were more excited than her. It just brought us back to when we were kids and experiencing Sea World for the first time. I think we were much older than her though. :0P
After the aquarium, we went to see the penguins. Exciting for us, not so much for Olivia. These poor things just stood there wondering aimlessly. We decided it may be time for a show. There was a sea lion show about to start. We walked in and probably 10 minutes into the show Olivia was bored. Heck Papa was bored too. So we ended up leaving. Maybe she was a bit too young for Sea World.
We decided to take a break and head for lunch. Sure enough, after lunch Olivia passed out in the stroller. This allowed Mama to go and enjoy some attractions. Grandmaman graciously offered to watch Olivia as we tried the "Polar Express" experience. It was pretty cool because I loved the movie. It started off with the movie actually and then you walk through "Santa's Village" where you get to see the Arctic animals - the polar bear, the beluga whale, and some walruses. We even got to touch some real Artic ice flown in and displayed in the attraction. We even got to touch it...woohoo! :0p
When we came out, Olivia was still asleep. We walked over to the killer whale tank and got to see "Shamu" or his twin swimming around. That's when we heard the cry. Great...she's up. It was funny. She would start to cry but as soon as the whale came to the side tank, she would stop. Then it would swim away and she would start again. Sigh. It was time to get out of the stroller.
We decided to head back to the Children's attractions so she could ride on some rides and at least run around. We took Olivia on her first merry-go-round ride. Of course as we strapped her in, she had no idea what was going on. But as soon as the ride start I wasn't sure if she was scared or enjoying it. She didn't let go of the pole the whole time. But when it finished she said "Encore?". hahahhaha
We tried too look for another ride for her. Of course as we are walking there is a machine that sprays water in efforts to cool people down on a hot day. Olivia was drawn to it. There she was just standing there screaming in glee and getting soaked by the minute. What could we do? This was the best fun she had all day.
As we looked around we saw a splash pad where children were running around playing in the water. That's where we were heading.
By this time, Olivia was soaked. Oh well... We took off her shoes and off she went. Screaming and playing in the water. She was in heaven. It was hilarious. I didn't bring a bathing suit or a towel for her (who knew?) so she danced and jumped in her dress. Luckily, I did have a change of clothing. We spend a good portion of time there. But soon it was time to go. We had to pick up the other grandparents at the mall. hahahahah. We brought her to this amazing Baby Centre, which was had a nursing station, changing rooms, and kitchen. It was awesome setup. There was even rocking chairs in the front for those parents who wanted to use it. Pretty cool.
So although Olivia didn't really understand the whole Sea World thing, I think we ended on a pretty high note. She was happy playing and that was all that mattered. Maybe we'll try again when she's a bit older.
The rest of the days in Orlando seems to be a blur of shopping malls. Hahahhaa. After Sea World, the grandparents took Olivia with them back home (screaming..sigh) and we were able to walk around the outlet just the 2 of us. That hasn't happened for a long time. We pretty much raced around the outlet before it closed and we didn't even have a romantic dinner. ahhahahah. We ate at the food court and pretty much wolfed down our food to get more shops in. Crazy I know.
The next day, was another outlet day. This time we had Olivia which made it a bit difficult. It wasn't the same experience shopping with a toddler. :0P We literally shopped till we dropped. We had dinner at Panera Bread and went home. Crazy day.
The next day Martin had to work in Melbourne. We decided to go visit the "mini" outlet (like we didn't have enough of shopping). We came back and had a nice "dodo" till Papa came. For our last night, we went out for dinner to Macaroni Grill. Pictures say it all.
After dinner, we were allowed to leave Olivia again with the grandparents as we raced over to The Millennium Mall. Love this mall, not only for the stores but for The Cheesecake Factory. We brought some home for everyone for dessert. But by the time we got home, everyone was pooped and headed to bed. Me? I ate the cheesecake. It was delicious. hahahahha. Olivia stayed up and waited for us. :0P
The next morning, we loaded the car rental and we said our goodbyes. It was a great holiday. I really love Florida and hope to visit again soon. As for the attractions for Olivia, I have to say maybe a couple more years. Although Olivia was tied to my hip for the trip, she slept well. She got a tan and she had more time in the water than she would have back in Ottawa. She got a lot of Papa time which was awesome, and when she let them, she had a lot of grandparent time.
She was awesome on the plane back. She slept for an hour and half, which was pretty much most of the flight. Hope to be back again soon.
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