Florida...for Thanksgiving?

So, Sydney and I really needed a vacation. What better time than Thanksgiving? We don't have any family close by, so we decided to trek on down to Florida and enjoy the beach and some warmer weather. We also decided to go to SeaWorld and Discovery Cove which was awesome!

Our trip started out like this. He was being such a cutie and totally knew what was going on once we started packing things up.


Then we were off. We drove down on Wednesday after I took my test that morning and Sydney finished her dog visits. We got on the road around 3pm. Got to Daytona Beach around 1:30am! Our plan was to sleep in the back of our Volvo station wagon to save on costs for hotels and such so we could spend them on nice eating out and fun activities. It totally worked out great. Our little make-shift bedroom was actually pretty comfortable. We just made sure the strategically place our "campsite" near a Walmart so that we had quick access to bathrooms and groceries! It was actually a lot of fun!
The next morning (Thanksgiving), Syd and I headed to the beach. The weather was so nice. The beach was beautiful. We mostly just slept for hours on our towels and enjoyed our relaxing.

I'm in this picture too!
Sydney will be so happy I put this picture up!

Thanksgiving dinner was at Hog Heaven, Real Pit Bar-B-Q (http://hogheavendaytona.com/). Delicious! The evening was spend in the Volvo with a movie on a laptop. Doesn't get much better for vacation.

The next morning was going to be a half day in Daytona and then we were off to SeaWorld! Once we got to SeaWorld though, it was raining mucho. Luckily it wasn't cold until we sat in all the splash zones and the FREEZING tank water cooled us down. It was tons of fun though and Sydney's first time. The shows were great and we got to see the brand new baby killer whale.

Rainy McRain!

The Manta Ray exhibit was freaking awesome. Little did we know that the next day we'd be swimming in the same tank as ones even bigger than this guy.
Sydney can speak to the animals.

The next morning we were scheduled for our day of luxury at Discovery Cove. It was so much fun! We swam with dolphins, snorkeled with giant sting rays/manta rays, fed exotic birds, lounged around, and basically had a blast! Very much a lot of fun!

Where we swam with the dolphins. Sorry folks...no cameras, and the pictures we take for you will be 1 million dollars. I expected as much. (actually I did, since I read about it before hand)

This little guy was a treat. We had little ID cards that got us all the stuff for free at the resort, and one of the birds in the aviary decided that I looked like a nice place to land and discovered the lanyard around my neck. Best perch EVER!

But his weight started to pull the lanyard down my neck. Didn't stop him. He had a good spot and he was staying there.
He promptly went to sleep.

I thought this little guy was going to be my new best friend. He probably stayed on my back like that for at least 15 minutes. When he finally decided his nap was over, he climbed to my shoulder and started nuzzling up to my face. I thought it was so cute, but then he took a dumb on my shoulder and flew off. Yeah....I know.

So, after our day at Discovery Cove, we ran back over to SeaWorld to see the dolphin show we missed the day before and then drove back home. It was a very fun and much needed vacation that was too short like always. We can't wait for Christmas, although our destination will be much less warm.

Jump Into FALL!!!!

I know. CUTE!

Like always there's been a lot going on lately. Our dog is getting cuter by the day. I'm getting really sick of school, and Sydney is working a lot. We could really use a vacation. We can't wait until Christmas break when we're coming home to Utah for a week. Also, we're trying to figure something out so we can get out of here the week of Thanksgiving. I want to drive down to Florida!

We had a great Halloween! Sydney and I had orange and green waffles. She had orange juice and I drank purple milk. We really got into the spirit of Halloween.

At the branch Trunk or Treat, the YM were in charge of a spook alley/haunted maze. This is it with the lights on. They made a huge maze that you had to crawl through out of old stage curtains and tables and chairs. It was a hit & everyone there loved it. Some of these boys have a future career working at haunted houses.

Leftover coffin from Oliver Sykes. We decided to put it to good use.

I made Sydney watch a SCARY movie! Hehe! This picture is priceless.

We also took care of our friend Morgan's dog, Kimber. She was a handful, but we had a lot of fun together, while he was enjoying himself in San Diego.
This picture is just to showcase how soft our doggie can get right after a bath and a brushing!
We made some caramel apples too! Sydney made M&M and I used Skor! YUM!

The best thing about this picture is that there is a hole in these jeans that the stick from my apple is conveniently covering up. :)

Last week we had a surprise visit from my aunt Claudia. She is travelling across the U.S. house sitter for people in some exotic locations and she decided to stop by on her way through Richmond. We were happy to haver her here and ate out at some awesome restaurants. This was at The Black Sheep. Easily one of our favorite places here. Those are Brussels sprouts that she is holding.

Sydney had a big sandwich! I had a fried bologna sandwich. They were all DELICIOUS!

All in all, it's been a good end of October/beginning of November. I can hardly believe that the year is almost over. Time is flying by. I registered for Step 1 of the boards that I will take this summer. YIKES! It makes me nervous!