Florida Vacation part 2: Downtown Disney and the Zoo

While we were in Florida, we decided against going to Disney World because she is still young and wouldn't want to be there for very long so it would be a waste of money. We did go to Orlando however, and stopped at Downtown Disney. They had disney songs blasting so Laneah would randomly dance:) She loved the statue of Mickey and Minnie.
We went into the Disney Store there, which was huge! She found a stuffed animal cat that she loved. She immediately snuggled it and gave it about 50 kisses before we left the store. She wouldn't let go of it for the lady at the checkout and the lady said "We get that all the time, we never take the toys from the kids" Lol. Laneah wouldn't even stop snuggling with her kitty to take a picture with Cinderella.

In the store, they have a Bibity Bobbity Boutique wher little girls get dressed in princess gowns and have their hair done with crowns and everything. It was so cute. I can't wait to bring Laneah back when she is 3 or 4. Jason seriously had to drag me out of the store so I didn't buy all of the princess dresses they had:)

They had a Lego Land and all of these huge Lego built animals. They even had a Loch Ness Monster coming out of the water.
We visited the Lowry Zoo in Tampa in the morning before we went to Orlando, which is rated the number one Zoo in the country for children. They have a stingray bay where you can pet stingrays like Laneah is doing in the picture below.
What was really cool about the Zoo was they had feeding stations for a lot of the animals. You could feed giraffes, rhinos, and several other animals. It cost money to feed them, but you could still go the the feeding station. We walked right up to this giraffe with his giant tongue.

The children's part of the zoo had a little water park, which was great because it was over a hundred degrees and extremely humid.
They had an area to pet the goats, which Laneah liked, but she kept wanting to sit on the ground which was filled with goat dung so she didn't stay in there very long.
So we took her outside the gate and let her feed the goats some pellets. She loved when they licked her hands.
There were two ladies who worked at the zoo who walked around with this baby Llama and you could pet it and take your picture with it.

I have never seen a Zoo like this. They had a Carousel and roller coaster rides throughout the Zoo. You could also ride on ponies and camels. Laneah had a great time and she was very tired when we left:)

Florida Vacation part 1: The Beaches

We had a great time on our trip to Florida. The weather was super hot and muggy, but it was sunny and beautiful there. The beaches on the gulf are amazing with their clear blue tinted water, white sand and lots of seashells. Plus the water is really warm! The water was almost the same temperature as the air! We stayed in Tampa but went to Clearwater, Sarasota and Orlando too. Clearwater is my favorite beach to go to in Florida (but I have never been further south than Orlando), so we went to this beach a couple of times. They have a really nice playground for kids, a pier, places to eat and shop, volleyball nets, and most of all, it's just an awesome beach.

We weren't sure how Laneah would react to the beach and the water, but we were hopeful that she would be a beach lover like we are. And we got lucky. As soon as we got to the beach she ran straight for the water. We had to hold her back to slather her in sunscreen:)



It was so sunny and bright that she couldn't look up without squinting. Lol.


She had a lot of fun playing in the water with daddy. She actually liked the waves as long as the salt water didn't get in her eyes. She also liked us taking her out into the water and "jumping" over the waves. She also had fun pushing our heads under the water:)




We brought a ball to the beach with us, and she sat down and we put the ball in the water. She thought it was so funny that the water would bring the ball right back to her.



While we were there, we bought her this cute little wagon set with a pail and some beach toys. She had so much fun pulling the wagon on the beach and through the water.

And of course mommy played too
Florida we miss you!

"Mommy, can I have an Ipod?"

I can see this question coming all to soon. She already loves to listen to music and has recently learned how to use my headphones. Yesterday she pulled my Ipod out of my purse, brought it to me to turn on the music and stuck the head phones in her ears.

Prayer Time

We taught Laneah how to fold her arms for prayer. She loves prayer time. When we sit down for any meals or snacks, she folds her arms and waits for us to have prayer. Sometimes after we say prayer, she wants to say it to, and so she says prayer using her baby talk, but with the same inflection that we use for prayer. It is so cute.

Move over Baby Einstien...

....Laneah has fallen in love with a giant purple dinosaur.
Yep, Laneah loves Barney. She wants to watch him all the time. She will hand me the remote and point to the tv and if anything else is on besides Barney, she shakes her head "no". Is it possible to have all of the Barney songs memorized in just two weeks? Because I think I do.