Our first stop in the Big Magical City was at Sea World. If Disney World is the happiest place on earth, then Sea World definitely wins the prize for hottest place on earth. My word, people - it was hot. Not that it's not normally hot in South Florida in June, mind you. But it was extra hot there. I think it's because nearly every show is outside...they tend to keep big fish and all outside for whatever reason. No one has yet invented outdoor air conditioning, but I venture to say that the person who does will be a very, very rich person. Most of my photos from Sea World were of the swimmy creatures; I managed a couple of the kids, but mostly we were more interested in watching the dolphins, whales, otters and sea lions - oh my!
Sunshine had fun dancing to the music at the Shamu show - the shows didn't hold her attention too long, but she did like the music they played. The sea lion & otter show was so funny - the boys really enjoyed that one. After the sea lion & otter show, Sarge took Bubba to ride one of the roller coasters while the younger kids & I went to the sea lion feeding area. I think Little took this pic:
We sat in the shade at that exhibit waiting for Sarge & Bubba to return from the coaster. That was one of the best parts of the day :) Little & Dude chased a few lizards after they photographed the various birds & sea lions. They stopped for a few seconds so that I could capture this one:
You've already seen a few of the highlights from Disney, but here's a few more. One of the first rides we went on happened to be the Tea Cups. As you can see, the kids loved that - even Sunshine!
Unfortunately, I did not love that the boys just kept spinning and spinning and spinning our tea cup - of course, they thought it was hysterical. I could not stand up when it was over. Does that mean I'm old?
Cool treats are always a welcome sight on a HOT summer day. Thankfully, the Magic Kingdom at least seemed cooler because there are so many more indoor activities.
Sunshine still pooped out after a while, though - all that fun plus all that heat just wears a girl out! She slept through Pirates of the Caribbean, Mickey's Philharmagic, It's a Small World, and while the boys were on Splash Mountain.
That's them just to the left of the big branch or whatever it is sticking up to the right. I missed them coming down the mountain because Sunshine woke up & I was not doing well wrangling camera & sleepy, sweaty baby girl!
This was at Mickey's Toon Town Farm - I just loved this part. Classic Disney :)
Mostly this was what I got of Bubba - you probably noticed that in the ice cream pic and in the carousel pic below - he was always ducking behind something. Except for the times I made them pose. Then he suffered through it, complete with his tweenage countenance.
This is one of my new favorites of Sarge & Sunshine. Maybe one day I'll have a new favorite of me with one of my children. But that would mean giving up control of my camera, so maybe not.
This is our farewell shot from the ferry. She's just too cute with her Minnie Mouse purse. I love her.
So that's it in a (somewhat large) nutshell. It was a great blessing to be able have this week with our kids. It was Sarge's hard work that made it possible. We were able to tag along on a conference with him and enjoy our first real family vacation. I'm so thankful that it all worked out. Even if it was entirely too hot. It was still pretty cool :)
I promise I did TRY to get pics of the boys too. However, I was mostly unsuccessful. Here's one in which you can see 4 out of 7 boys; one of our cousins is on the left, Bubba on the right in orange. There are 2 guys just to the right of Bubba - one is Dude & one is another cousin. Notice I didn't say you could see their faces. You can see Granna & Sunshine straight ahead.
Here's THE one of Dude boogie boarding. After trying to wade out to get a picture of these boys, I decided to save my camera and forget it - I could totally see a wave knocking me down with the Nikon in hand.
Bubba just gave me his usual "Why are you bothering me with that thing again?!" look. And Little is nowhere to be seen; he stayed back at the pool with Sarge & came down to the beach after the camera was safely tucked away. Ah well. At least we can all say with certainty they were at the beach! 
