Florida Trip recap: Part 1

    It has taken me a few days to get our trip photos uploaded because when we returned from our trip to Florida on Saturday night, we had to make an unexpected visit to the hospital. Owen is feeling better now, but he started getting a fever in the car on the way back to Kentucky and when we got home and I took his temperature, it was 104.6. We hurriedly grabbed a few things and after an unanswered call to our pediatrian, we drove to the hospital. We only spent a few hours there running tests and getting Owen's fever to come down to a more manageable level. On a related note, he now hates all nurses. (Sorry, Aunt Twyla) It turns out that he has a really bad ear infection, which we overlooked because I hadn't noticed him tugging at his ears or any of the usual signs and because he has three teeth coming in all at once, we figured that was why we had been having trouble with getting him to bed and with him waking up in the night. 
     Now Owen is on an antibiotic and we alternate giving him acetaminophen and ibuprofen as he needs it for his fever. This morning he woke up with no fever and has been eating much better and drinking juice and Pediatlyte. And he is his normal happy self for the most part. 
      Our trip to Florida to visit our friends Katie and David went really well. We spent most of our time hanging out at their house, eating whatever Katie was craving at the moment, swimming in their pool, and visiting a couple theme parks. Here are some photos from the first part of our trip. Tomorrow, I will post photos from our trip to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure (and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in particular). 

      On one of our first couple days in Florida, we visited Disney's Animal Kingdom. Neither Tim nor I have ever been to that particular park and we figured it was one of the most toddler friendly since Owen is too little to ride most rides. Animal Kingdom only has maybe five rides and the rest is shows and animals.

      We started our visit to the park in the Camp Mickey and Minnie section of the park where after 10 a.m. you can find an assortment of Disney characters. We bypassed all of the other characters and went straight for the one Owen knows by name - Mickey Mouse! Owen was pretty overwhelmed perhaps by the size of Mickey. (He's a lot smaller on the TV). 

      There were no tears shed though, so I consider meeting Mickey a success. Katie and David also gifted Owen with his own Mickey Mouse stuffed animal and he loves it. 

   After meeting Mickey we decided to head over to the Kilamanjaro Safari ride where you ride through the section of the park where the animals roam freely as if they're actually in Africa. It was about a 30 minute wait, but the ride itself is about 20 minutes long, so it was worth it. Plus, Owen could ride! He really enjoyed looking around at the scenery and the animals and we all really had a fun time too. I highly recommend this ride. 

      We were in the very front row, so we had a great view. 

 The Serengeti section of the park was so realistic.

We got up close and personal with a ton of animals. 

Mufasa is alive!

Nothing cuter than baby animals. 

Owen enjoyed playing the drums in the Africa section of the theme park.

The Tree of Life, the park's most notable feature, is really cool looking, with animals carved into the tree trunk.

We had lunch at the Yak and Yeti restaurant, which served Asian cuisine. It was really yummy. Though Owen was not fooled by fried green beans. 

After lunch, because we were crazy people, we rode the Expedition Everest roller coaster which features the yeti, aka the Abominable Snowman. It is a really fun ride. As a note for parents, Disney allows you to parent swap by giving you a Fast Pass to go through a quicker line after one parent goes through the regular line. The cool thing is that the pass is good for up to three people so after Tim and David rode the roller coaster, Tim and I went through the shorter line and he got to ride it twice. I actually like Universal Studios way of doing parent swap better, but I will get to that tomorrow. 

The last ride we rode was the Dinosaur ride. It was okay, but a little cheesy and jerky. 

 Owen loves Katie and David's dogs Lexi and Cooper. Here he is giving Lexi a kiss. 

The pool was a another favorite of Owen's trip. He loves the water.

How do you like Owen's baby speedo? Very European. 

Splashing in the water is super fun, even when it gets you in the eyes.

See?

Also, swimming in the pool helps babies go to sleep at night. But probably isn't good for babies with ear infections. Parent Fail.

     
  Check the blog again tomorrow to see pictures from the second half of our trip, particularly if you're interested in checking out Universal Studios Islands of Adventure's new Harry Potter section.