in orlando...

 spencer showed great bravery by riding on all four plane rides even though it made him a little nervous.
you know, come to think of it, i am not a very good flyer either, and i was brave too. :)

i only wore my hair down for about ten minutes on the first day - then in a messy bun for the other six and three/fourths. even a pony tail was unacceptable because hair was still touching my too-hot neck.

we saw penguins (my favorite) and dolphins and whales.

tasted all kinds of coke from around the world, it was pretty gross.

rich channeled john lasseter.

spencer had the gall to tell me that the rockin' roller coaster was "just ok, mostly it was just turns". what the? it's one of my favorite rides of all time.

then i saw the photo and laughed at him because it seemed to me like he was having a good time.

woody gave ethan his hat as a reward for being brave enough to give him a hug. (he must have known that ethan was nervous.) that moment made the whole trip worth it.

taylor's long thick hair reacted so awesomely to the amount of humidity in the air, that it provided daily entertainment for us all. this photo doesn't even do justice to the sweet fro that it was.

allie purchased the ultimate pin and lanyard collection she's always wanted - with her own hard-earned cash.

we ate really bland, over-priced food at the famous planet hollywood. (we're smiling because we didn't know how bland and over-prized it would be yet.)

ethan was psyched to be just tall enough for most of the rides we rode.

the kids, little guy included, salivated over this sweet ride at epcot...

 we fed the dolphins and pet the sting rays.

we saw all the important people and took photos with most of them.

even in orlando, the teenagers managed to make time for texting. usually while waiting in the long lines or riding shuttles in between parks.

taylor channeled his inner viking.

 his fellow SBOs would be so proud.

all the people in our family INCLUDING rich, rode this ride. the photo was terrible or i would've purchased it as proof for rich doubters.

spencer managed to sneak into several photos without me noticing until reviewing them later. these two are my favorites.

we walked at least 100 miles over the seven days - seriously, and i had about sixteen blisters on my poor feet to prove it, i'll spare you the photos. with the heat and humidity, we were all pretty wasted at the end of each day - ok half way through each day.

 hot and miserable, but i still managed to get them to smile for me. ya, i got skills.

  we all loved chilling at typhoon lagoon in the water for one whole day to beat the heat.

there was one more part of orlando that we all loved, but it deserves it's own short post. so you'll just have to wait. but here's a little clue...