Parents, a princess and a pirate

So back to our FL vacation.......

Thursday Brett and I needed to get in a good, long run.  Now it was hot and humid all week and we had each attempted to run earlier in the week, which didn't go well.  But we were committed to running this together.  We had to run through sand, pavement and the woods.  It was miserable but we gutted it out.  Here is some evidence of the brutality of it:

Thankfully, we spent the day hanging out at the pool and lake.  It was so nice to be able to play with the kids but relax as well since it wasn't just Brett and I watching the kids.  It's impossible to relax around water when it's just one-on-one because you have to be on top of where the kids are the whole time.  So having an extra set of adults there to help was really nice.  I got plenty of sun too!

That evening we drove to the other side of Orlando to have dinner at John's favorite restaurant The Black Hammock.  It was in the middle of nowhere on the banks of a lake whose claim to fame was having the most "gators" in all of Florida.  The food was ok, the scenery was pretty good and watching the kids eat gator bites was memorable (they really do taste like chicken). 

After dinner I was on the receiving end of a little surprise birthday party!  Dick and Sharon had gotten me a cake and we enjoyed that while I opened presents.  I got a new pair of Tinkerbell earrings (which I had picked out earlier), a black dress jacket and money to buy and iPhone with! 

Friday was our next planned day at Disney.  This one was going to be special, we were going to Hollywood Studios which  happened to be having one of their annual Star Wars weekends that day!  Brett and I dropped the kids and Dick and Sharon off at the park because we had to go to ESPN Zone to pick up our bibs and theme park tickets for the Expedition Everest Challenge on Saturday night.  We did wait for the kids to get into the park before leaving so we were able to see two Storm Troopers walking on top of the entrance, doing a little skit.  Boba Fett showed up there and Matthew got really excited to see him, he's one of Matthew's favorites.  We knew today was going to be a fun day for our Little Man.  

Brett and I headed out to the ESPN Zone where they were gearing up for the World Cup's first game.  We had to burn an hour before packet pickup started so we watched the beginning of the World Cup which was a little crazy with the fans there.  Once packet pickup opened, we grabbed our stuff and free tickets and headed back to Hollywood.  We found the kids standing in line to get Darth Vader's autograph!!  Of course we had to get a family picture.

We saw many, many character from all the Star Wars movies.  Kylie even got excited about seeing them.  We also rode some rides and enjoyed the Block Party Parade.  Kylie was brought out into the parade to dance with the cast members and had a blast getting down. 

We also saw Princess Leia and we were getting her autograph and Matthew was playing shy with her, as usual.  While we were sitting there, all of a sudden Chewabacca walks up to us!  He was heading for a break (can't blame the guy, he was huge, wearing a full fur outfit and it was 90 degrees outside).  He must have noticed Matthew playing shy and decided to stop.  What a treat!  Kylie got a hug and Brett called him a "walking carpet" which brought quite the reaction from Chewy and Leia!  We enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner at Mama Melrose's.  The food was SO good.  I had no problem finishing my plate!  It was a perfect way to spend my 35th birthday.