Fantastic (& Educational) Spring Break

Vacations.. many enjoy them because they can relax, not work, or have fun and play. The best part of vacation to me is learning something new (it's the teacher in me) and spending time with good friends or family.  Not having to work, cook or clean is also a huge benefit! I guess that's why I really enjoy going on vacation.

Written on May 4, 2011

Wanted to share with you our incredible and highly educational trip to Florida during Spring Break. No, we did not do Disney nor Epcot. But instead we went to Discovery Cove, SeaWorld, Kennedy Space Center and took a ride on an airboat through the swamp lands of Florida.

We traveled with one of Emily's classmate's family, the H. family, since both Emily and Shawna are big space and animal buffs. They love to learn!

After an almost full day of travel, we went to Discovery Cove first. And what a relaxing experience that was. Discovery Cove is a private resort (part of the SeaWorld Parks) where you get to swim with dolphins, sting rays and other fish in their lagoons. It only allows 1000 people in per day (reservations are required), food/drink is unlimited all day and equipment, lockers and wet suits are all provided for. It had beautiful clean sand and you can snorkel and swim and play in the sand to your hearts desire. The highlight was the dolphin experience where we learned all about them from a trainer and then got to hug, ride and kiss them too. Extremely memorable! 

The next day we headed to SeaWorld where we saw the Orca, that killed her trainer last year, perform in the Shamu Show. The dolphin show was absolutely amazing! Nothing we have ever seen before, and we've been to SeaWorld San Diego and Marine World/Six Flaggs. They had a ton of sting rays that you can touch and feed along with more dolphins. And the huge manatees were fascinating. Did you know that they are related to the elephants? The myth of mermaids stemmed from these animals. The kids enjoyed it so much that we went back another day since we had a 14 day unlimited entry pass (part of the package with Discovery Cove). 

Afterwards we checked out of our Orlando hotel and checked into our Cocoa Beach hotel. We headed to Kennedy Space Center and had a blast! Below is a picture of Emily and behind her is the Space Shuttle Endeaver being prepped to be launched on Friday (the day we left Florida). We were kind of bummed that we were going to miss the actual launch (I did not know there was going to be one when I booked everything) but in hindsight since it was delayed, I'm glad we did not stay. It was incredible to see all those rockets life-size. And to learn about the whole space program and it's accomplishments is awe-inspiring.

We were able to take an Airboat ride (something Matthew has always wanted to do.. he says it reminds him of his childhood days when he loved watching Flipper on TV). Let me tell you it was one of the most smoothest rides I've rode on but it was loud and fast! We saw alligators, bald eagles and even cattle! 

Now we could not pass up the opportunity to go to the beach and play in the Atlantic Ocean!! The water was warm and the sand was smooth and fine. The girls loved collecting shells and baby clams. The beach was just a few yards away from our hotel. And apparently, a perfect spot to watch the launch! 

Lastly, the food.. well it was okay.. we used my ipad to yelp restaurants in the area but I must say that Cocoa Beach is a 'po-dunk-town'. Only 6 miles long and 1 mile wide and not a great selection of restaurants. Every place we went to was rated high but it did not compare with CA restaurants. I guess we are spoiled. We did go to a teppenyakki restaurant in Orlando where the kids had a great time. On our last night we went to a really nice french restaurant where we had fresh fish. I was looking forward to some fresh fish to eat! Also the asian restaurants there were Thai & Sushi. Yep.. thai and japanese together.. strange. They were all over the city. 

 One of the best parts of our trip was the company. As you may know, we love to travel but not without more people than just us. This was one of the first times we traveled with friends and not family. The H. family were perfect travelers. They love to travel, eat good food, shop in gift stores and take many many pictures! Just like us! It always helps to ask a 'friend' instead of a 'stranger' to take a family photo especially when your camera is worth mega bucks! Don't want anyone to 'run' off with it or take a horrible unfocused picture. We saw many out of state license places along our trip. Way more than we see in California.

Lastly, we departed Florida on April 29 which was our 16th anniversary. Funny thing our honeymoon was spent in DisneyWorld and Epcot! So after 16 years, we went back to Florida for the 2nd time! While I was resting with Hannah in the hotel, Matthew, Willy and the other girls went to the beach. Matthew designed a couple of sand messages (one is below) for me and emailed them to me on our special day! It was a beautiful surprise!