Florida - Day 3 - Kennedy Space Center

On Monday (Feb 22nd) we went to the Kennedy Space Center. The day was supposed to be mostly overcast with rain in the late afternoon so we didn't want to risk doing a day at Disney in the rain. Also, since we had such a big day at Sea World the day before, we figured it was good to do a slower paced day to not wear out Carter too quickly.

The drive out to Kennedy Space Center took about an hour and Carter slept the entire drive. His naps in the stroller weren't so great the day before so it was good to give him the car ride for a long nap. We got there around 9:30 am and it wasn't very crowded yet (not that it ever got too crowded).

Our first stop was the Rocket Garden. There are a bunch of old rockets set up outside that you can look at and read about. Carter enjoyed running around the area.



Carter and Brian checking out a rocket ...





I think this picture is so cute. Carter loves to take us places now by holding our hands and pulling us in the direction he wants to go (but he'll also refuse to hold our hands when we want to lead him to where we want to go).



A couple of pictures of Carter and me ...



After the Rocket Garden, we stopped by the Children's Play Dome. Unfortunately Carter was too small for most of the play equipment, though he did try this slide a few times.


Next was the Shuttle Launch Experience. This is the newest attraction at Kennedy Space Center. It's a simulator ride that mimics a shuttle launch and journey into orbit. Our wait was only about 5 minutes. We all watched the introduction video and then Brian got to ride the simulator. Carter and I got to watch Brian though on a video feed in a waiting room (about 5 other people were with us because they didn't want to do the ride with the rest of their groups). Carter kept waving at the television but I'm not sure if he really saw Brian or not (these were very small televisions). I did say to him a few times "There's Daddy" so maybe he recognized him.

Next we toured the Explorer shuttle.




We got to see the payload area and a little bit of the cockpit area.




We walked by the Astronaut Memorial on our way to lunch.


We had lunch at the Orbit Cafe and then did the Space Center Tour. For this, you take a bus to 3 separate sites that aren't part of the visitor's center where we'd been so far. The line was a little long for loading the buses (it took about 30 minutes), but Carter did okay. We had to leave the stroller at the visitor's center so we had to hold him the whole time. At this point in the trip, Carter was still letting us hold him without too much protesting. He got worse and worse about this as he wanted more and more independence.

Carter did pretty good on the buses. Most rides took almost 20 minutes but we kept feeding him snacks and that helped distract him.

Our first stop was the LC 39 Observation Gantry. From here we were able to view the 2 launch pads that are currently used. This was a pretty quick stop for us.



The next stop was the Apollo / Saturn V Center. We enjoyed this stop the most. The tour of this site started out with a video in a big open room about the Apollo / Saturn V mission. Somehow Carter fell asleep during the loud video while Brian held him. Next we moved on to the Mission Control Room that was used for the mission. Brian's arm was tiring out so I took Carter in here for awhile. In this room, they replicated the countdown and launch. It got really, really loud. I covered Carter's one exposed ear and he never stirred.

Then we moved out to the exhibit hall with the restored Saturn V rocket. Carter woke up from his 20 minute nap shortly after we entered this section.


The Saturn V rocket ...




Carter was getting a little fussy so Brian took him for a walk outside ...


They found an alligator!


The third stop was the International Space Station Center. This is where they build some of the space station components. There is an observation room above the floor where you can see the actual components being worked on.

Brian and Carter in a mock-up space station module ...


The tour took us almost 3 hours. When we got off the bus at the visitor's center, we ran into an astronaut! Carter even gave the guy a high five.


Our last stop was the Early Space Exploration and Nature Technology Buildings. We strolled through some of the exhibits and enjoyed having Carter in his stroller again.


There were 2 IMAX theaters with movies playing throughout the day, but we skipped them because we didn't think Carter was going to make it through a 45 minute movie. I think we've already seen one of the movies several years ago anyway.

We left around 4 pm and drove back to Orlando. Carter slept for about half the drive.

We went to dinner at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza. This ended up being a fancy little pizza place and Carter was not in a good mood when we got there. Luckily he cheered up a little as the meal went on.

Carter was generally good whenever we went out to eat, but he's starting to get really loud. He doesn't have an "inside voice" at dinner. I really hate disturbing other people when they pay to eat out so I have a hard time ignoring him (he stops squealing a lot quicker if we don't give him attention). Sometimes I cover his mouth lightly with my hand to try to make him stop and he'll start laughing (Brian calls it my "Mom Palm"). Because of this, we ended up doing a lot of quicker dinners at less fancy restaurants during our trip. We were okay with this though because we could then get Carter to bed closer to his normal bedtime and have some down time to ourselves in the evenings.

On that night we got Carter to bed around 8:15 pm and got a few hours to relax.

Florida - Day 2 - Sea World

Carter did great and slept through the night. He was up and ready to go at his normal time of 6 am. No sleeping in for this kid! The hotel had waffle makers and our little piggy ate 3/4ths of a waffle (he ended up eating these every morning and ended up finishing a few waffles).

Carter's poor nose was a faucet by now but that was the only symptom of his cold. It was really annoying for everyone though because he needed it wiped all the time and he hates having it wiped.

The weather was really nice on Sunday and we decided it would be a good day for Sea World. I had bought our tickets online before we left and the ticket is good for a second visit within a week. So since we figured we'd be coming back, we wanted to go there early in the trip.

We got to the park just before it opened at 9 am and were some of the first people in (this is when Carter's early wake up time is nice).


Sea World's newest roller coaster, Manta, is near the entrance of the park and since there was no line, Brian went on it first thing (I was a little jealous - hopefully we'll be back sometime when I'm not pregnant!).

Carter LOVED watching this ride though. He would point at the cars as they climbed the track. He would do this anywhere in the park that he could see the ride.


We tried to watch to see if we could see Brian (he ended up riding in the front and really liked the ride).


When the ride got close to us, Carter kept covering his mouth and squealing. It was very cute!



Carter and I also checked out the sea turtle and flamingo exhibits while we waited for Brian. Carter really liked the flamingos. He kept pointing and yelling at them.

Next we went to the Whale and Dolphin Theater to see the Blue Horizons show. The show has lots of dolphins and birds and people doing acrobatics. We thought this was the best show at Sea World and Carter really got in to it.

Here are some videos of the show and Carter's reaction. I did a poor job filming the performing, but you get a good idea of how much Carter enjoyed it.

After the show we walked around for a little bit to see some of the animals and Carter eventually took a nap in his stroller. We saw alligators, manatees, sea lions, and seals.



Carter petting a manatee statue ...


The sea lions and seals begging for fish you could buy and feed them ...


This is how Carter likes to sleep, with his hands behind his head ...


We stopped for lunch at The Terrace restaurant. We brought all of Carter's food with us from home and that saved a ton of money since it's so expensive to eat in the parks. Carter will sometimes share food with us when we go out, but it's really hit or miss. One time he'll love something and the next time we go there, he spits out the exact same food.

The park started getting a lot more crowded in the afternoon. We were really glad that we got there so early and were able to do so much without a lot of people around.

After lunch, we went to the children's area, Shamu's Happy Harbor. Carter rode the carousel first and loved it as usual.

We got our picture taken with Shamu ...


Carter really liked the characters at the beginning of the trip. Here's a clip of him giving Shamu "five" ...

There was a really cool, giant, multi-story rope playground in the children's area. We tried to let Carter play on it a little, but he was just too small to go anywhere.


Brian took Carter on the Jazzy Jellies ride. It went up in the air and you could make it spin. Carter wasn't all that excited by it, but didn't hate it either.


Next we went to the underwater viewing area of the killer whales. We were at Sea World on Sunday and again on Friday. It was Wednesday that one of the trainers was killed by one of the killer whales so we luckily missed all the drama at the park.

Carter liked staring at the whales and would occasionally point them out to us.



Then we headed over for another show at the Sea Lion and Otter Stadium. This one was called Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island. We weren't as excited about this show, but it turned out to be really entertaining.

Before the show started there was a pirate that made fun of people as they entered the stadium. Luckily we came in the opposite side so we were spared. He was really funny though.

The show was just okay at first - the acting was really bad.


Carter paid attention and chewed on his fingers a lot.


The show got good though when the otter unexpectedly attacked the sea lion! The otter wasn't supposed to be on stage but came out of nowhere and bit the sea lion's rear flippers. The sea lion got spooked and went swimming throwing off the entire show. The cast wasn't sure what to do and had to make up new dialogue. The otter also left a map on stage that was supposed to be missing for awhile. The cast did a good job being funny about the whole situation and making things up. When they started getting somewhat on track, the woman sneezed and forgot all her lines. Things just started going even more downhill from there.


Animals weren't doing what they were supposed to, such as going backstage instead of performing. And when one guy put his arm in a hole, it was supposed to look like it was coming out of another but the second guy forgot to pull up his sleeve. That led to more improvised lines and more laughter. The show ended up being really entertaining, but I don't think it would normally be all that great.


Carter liked that other people were laughing and clapping so much and that made him do the same things.

After the show, we went over to the Shark Encounter. We thought this aquarium was a bit lame, small, and overcrowded. We'd recommend skipping his exhibit.

Here's Carter checking out some of the sharks and rays outside of the aquarium ...



Carter fell asleep in his stroller after this and we sat on a bench and relaxed for a little bit. When Carter woke up, we started heading over to Shamu Stadium to see the Believe show.

Here's Carter and me on Shamu!


This stadium is a lot bigger than the others we were at during the day so Carter couldn't see as well. The show is slower with slow music and Carter got restless quickly. When he got cranky, we moved up to the top of the stadium where it was empty until the end of the show. Carter was much better up there. I think he was just bored (and getting worn out).


After the show, we went back to Shamu's Happy Harbor to see if Carter wanted to run around a little before we left. There was a fun looking sand play area but as soon as we put Carter's bare feet down on the sand, he screamed. He hated the sand for some reason. This kid does not look happy, does he?


We decided that it was time to head out since it was getting close to dinner time (4:45 pm) and we'd been at the park almost 8 hours. We ran by the hotel to heat up some dinner for Carter and went to Boston Market for dinner. Then we headed back to the hotel for a little play time and bath and had Carter in bed around 7:45 pm.

We had so much fun and the weather was beautiful - sunny and warm but got a little cloudy and breezy in the late afternoon to cool it off to a perfect temperature. We think Carter had a lot of fun too. This past week when there was a news story on TV about dolphins or seals (I don't remember exactly), Carter pointed at the TV and started making his "oooh, oooh" sound. He seems to remember the animals he saw at Sea World which we think is pretty cool.

Florida - Day 1 - Travel

Our drive down to Florida was uneventful. We left Knoxville around 7:30 am on Saturday (Feb 20th) and made it to Orlando in just over 10 hours. The drive felt short - I think Brian and I both just enjoyed sitting in one place for awhile! Carter did really well too. He would get pretty fussy when he was tired and had trouble falling asleep. But he eventually took 3 short naps. It was a beautiful, sunny day and just kept getting warmer and warmer as we headed south. We've had such a cold and cloudy winter that the weather put us in such a good mood.

When we arrived in Orlando, we checked into our first of two hotels down there. Brian had a lot of points from traveling for work so we split our trip between a Homewood Suites (using Hilton points) and a Staybridge Suites (using Holiday Inn points). We got 3 free nights at the Homewood and 2 free nights at the Staybridge (we paid for 2 additional nights at the Staybridge). We wanted suites with separate bedrooms (which require a lot more points) because it is so much easier when we can put Carter's playyard in the living room area and then go into the bedroom once he's asleep around his normal bedtime. Then we don't have to keep Carter up too late or go to bed at the same time as him.

We were staying on International Drive by all the convention centers so there were a ton of chain restaurants all around us. We decided to try Olive Garden across from our hotel because it didn't look too crowded. It was already 6:30 pm and past time for Carter to have dinner. We were told there was a 20 minute wait and decided he could make it that long. After 45 minutes we finally left. Tons of people that got there after us were being seated but we were eventually told we had to wait for a table instead of a booth because a high chair at a booth is a fire hazard. That's the first time we've ever heard that. Has anyone else run into this? We eat at booths most of the time when we go out (it's easier than finding a place to put the displaced extra chair). Anyway, I was mad because I didn't want to get Carter to bed too late on our first night and pregnancy emotions decided to kick in. Poor Brian. Brian dropped Carter and me off at the hotel so I could feed Carter and get him ready for bed, and Brian found a Chili's and ordered carry-out for us.

We finally got Carter to bed around 8:45 pm. Unfortunately I had noticed his nose starting to run on the drive and I could tell by bedtime that he had a cold. Perfect timing for our trip!

Another Vacation

We just got back from a second week away in a row. After getting home from Florida last Saturday, we flew out to San Francisco on Monday. Brian had to go there for a conference for work so we decided it would be fun for Carter and me to tag along. We flew back home today and are very happy to be back. We had fun, but I am so worn out. I'll post lots of details and pictures from this trip after I post about our Florida trip (I have A LOT of catching up to do!), but here are a few pictures from the trip.