Lion Country Safari

The Florida Summer Savings Pass is a great deal for vacationers to South Florida and Florida residents looking for fun day trips.  I first purchased one for my family years ago when we visited Boca Raton and visited 3 of the attractions.  Now that we live here, I know I can get even more value from it all summer long.  For $58/adult and $48/child, you can enjoy unlimited visits to Miami Zoo, Miami Seaquarium, Museum of Discovery and Science, and Lion Country Safari from 5/12-9/30.

When you consider the regular price of admissions for each of these attractions, you'll quickly see that you could easily get your money's worth.

	Adult	Child
Lion Country Safari	$35	$26 (age 3-9)
Miami Zoo	$22.95	$18.95 (age 3-12)
Seaquarium	$46.99	$36.99 (age 3-9)
MODS	$16	$13 (age 2-12)

This past weekend, we took a trip to Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, which is about 20 miles west of West Palm Beach and 60 miles north of Ft. Lauderdale.  We first came here 2 years ago and it's exactly what as I remember it.  It's not a huge, fancy park but there's plenty to do and see, especially for little ones including rides, attractions and animal encounters.  Their website says to plan for 4-5 hours at the park but we were there for almost 8 hours.

You start with a drive through the wildlife preserve.  It's pretty neat to get so close to the animals.  You'll see lions, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, alpaca, rhinoceros, alpaca, just to name a few.

The animals wander everywhere (except for the lions which are behind a fence) and signs remind visitors that this is their home and the animals have the right of way.  Sometimes they cross right in the path of the cars.  You are allowed to pull over and watch the animals.  Just don't be that car that stops in the middle and blocks everyone else behind you!

While we waited for one ostrich to move out of the car path, another one surprised us and came pecking at our window.

As typical of Florida summers there's often rain or lightning.  Apparently the state of Florida has the greatest occurrences of lightning in the entire United States.  So on this visit while there was no rain, all the water attractions were closed because of lightning activity within a 5 miles radius.

While we waited for the spray park and water slides to open, there was still plenty to do.  The kids rode scooters, ran through a hedge lined maze, played mini golf, and visited the petting zoo--all included in the price of admission.

For nominal costs ($1/a stick to feed birds, $2/a small head of romaine), we fed the goats and budgies while we waited.

They also have gemstone and fossil panning, which we didn't do on this visit.  But my kids enjoyed it on our previous visit.  You purchase a mining bag and pour it into a screen bottom box.  You place it in the sluice, a trough of running water.  And as the dirt is washed away, you'll find various gemstones and fossils.  Of course, what you find will depend on the type of bag you purchase.

Finally, 3 hours later, just before we were about to call it quits.  The lightning warning was lifted and the kids got to enjoy the spray park, 2 water slides, water wars, and paddle boating.

Honestly, my older son was not that excited to go here when I told him our plans.  But in the end he said he had a great time.  And isn't that so much of life?  Often it's just a matter of readjusting our
attitude and remembering it's not necessarily about what we're doing but enjoying the people that we are doing it with.

Disney World - First Visit as Annual Passholders

This year our family moved from New Jersey, the only home my children have ever known, to Florida.  It was a really sad move for them.  To cheer them up, hubby bought annual passes to Disney World.

The goal for my Disney World posts to come is to document our Disney travels to see at the end of the year if we would want to renew our passes.  I'll fill each post with highlights of each trip, tips, dining suggestions, and to-dos aside from rides, because there really are so many unique experiences that will complete your trip.

Our first Disney trip was over MLK weekend.  On a spur of the moment decision, we decided to spend the long weekend at Disney.  Even just days before the trip it was really easy to find a reasonably priced room on Disney property.  We stayed at the WDW Dolphin Hotel, which is considered a Deluxe Resort.  It is what you think of in a traditional hotel with a large lobby, restaurants on premise, meeting rooms etc.  For our family of 5 it meant 2 double beds, a roll away bed and 1 bathroom.  Since it was winter we didn't enjoy the outdoor amenities but they do have pools, tennis courts etc.  The Dolphin Hotel is close to Epcot and accessible to the parks by bus or boat.  See an interactive map of WDW resorts in relation to all the parks here.

Know Before You Go: Florida Weather in Winter
We are from NJ, a place where my son will wear shorts even in the snow until I beg him to wear some pants or at least long socks.  Our agreed cut off used to be that below 50 degrees he wears pants.  So imagine when we got to Disney World in January and it was in the 60's and he came in shorts and the rest of with short sleeves.  I quickly learned that 60 degrees here is not the same as 60 in NJ.  With the high humidity, the cold cuts through you.  So prepare some jackets and sweatshirts if traveling to WDW in the winter.

Magic Kingdom (MK):
To Do:
1. Watch the Happily Ever After Fireworks at 9:15 p.m. as the grand finale to your day.  It's more than a firework show--it's fireworks, lasers and projections of Disney characters on Cinderella's castle all synchronized to well recognized soundtracks that will take you on a musical journey of watching dreams come true.  If you stay til the end of the 18 minute show you can see Tinkerbell fly across the night sky.  What a magical way to end your best day ever.

TIP: You will want a view where you can see the base of the castle all the way up to the spires to enjoy the full experience because the projections are a huge part of the show.  We didn't stake out a spot early but showed up on the middle of Main Street right before the show started and found a place to stand.  The view from Main Street is good depending on if you have anyone directly in front blocking your view.  It certainly was great for my 2 little ones sitting on our shoulders but not for my 9 year old who couldn't see with so many people packed in front of us.  Honestly by the end of the show, my shoulders were sore from holding a 40 pounder while trying to crane my neck around for a view.

front view of the castle from Main Street USA

We've also watched the fireworks from the entrance to Tomorrowland and by boat which I'll post on later.

View from the bridge by Tomorrowland

2. Catch the Festival of Fantasy Parade.  Check the performance times on your Disney app and add it to your schedule.

TIP: Many people would recommend Main Street to view the parade because it only seems fitting to watch it with the backdrop of the castle.  On this trip we did find seats on the curb along Main Street.  But on another visit we watched it in Frontierland near the edge of Adventureland where the parade begins and we got a great view of each float and the performers.  Having already seen it we weren't as concerned about creating that perfect ambiance than just taking a break while watching the parade.

Animal Kingdom (AK):
To Do: 
1. Watch the Tree of Life Awakenings at night.  The Tree of Life is prominently displayed at the center of AK and is a towering 145 foot symbol of all living things and their place in the circle of life.  At night, it transforms to an amazing display of lights and animals.  It is visually mesmerizing.

2. Face Painting
So your child (or you) want to get some face painting and you're wondering if you should spend the ~$15.  The process doesn't take long to have done nor have we ever had to wait in line very long for our turn.  It's also a fun alternative to pass the time while with a little one while waiting for members of your party to finish their thrill ride.  And the results are pretty amazing.  But remember that you will have your face-painted child in all your pictures for that day if you were thinking you wanted to use that family photo in front of the castle for your holiday card.  So maybe do that photo first and then get the face painting.

TIP: Get the face painting done early in the day so you can maximize it on your child, and you can get FREE touch ups as necessary during your visit at that park!  That's pretty awesome.

Hollywood Studios (HS):
To Do:
Jedi Training
We, along with many others, ran to get in line for Jedi Training tickets at the opening of HS.  Tickets are first come, first served and you register for the time slot you want to do the training so you can work around your already scheduled fast passes.  After the group training, each child will have an opportunity to use the force while armed in light sabers to "fight" Darth Vader or Darth Maul.

TIP: 1. There will be a mad dash of parents trying to secure a spot for their Star Wars loving kids, so get there early and look at a map beforehand to know where you're going.  My first time, I found HS to be less intuitive to navigate than the other parks.
2. Your kids need to be with you.  They will be "interviewed" to see whether they are able to participate.  They will need to be able to follow simple instructions.  So don't leave them behind with dad while mom runs ahead.

Memorable Eats:
If you stay at the Dolphin or Swan Resort, stop by The Fountain for the "Fountain Funnel" -- 7 flavors of ice cream, 3 sauces, 3 toppings, topped with whipped cream and a cherry for $28.99.  You'll want to share it, or maybe not. 

7 scoops, 3 sauces, 3 toppings-dig in!

A Tour of Downtown Dallas

While we were in Dallas, I wanted to take the kids on a tour of the city.  We booked a narrated trolley tour that took us past all the major sites of downtown Dallas, including Dealey Plaza, the 2 marked spots on Elm Street where President Kennedy was shot, the Reunion Tower, First Baptist Church of Dallas with 50 feet water fountains synchronized to music, the Perot museum, and Pioneer Plaza.

The GeO Deck of the Reunion Tower is 500 feet up and provides a panoramic view of downtown Dallas.  We took the kids there for some holiday activities.  They got to pet animals from the Dallas zoo, take pictures with Santa, and get balloons made by an elf.

The Reunion Tower in the background

A visit from the Dallas Zoo

Santa isn't so scary for any of the kids anymore

balloons made to order by Santa's Elf

After an hour long tour, the kids got to enjoy some time outside just running around and enjoying the statues at Pioneer Plaza, which celebrates the history of longhorns being driven by cowboys.  This is the 2nd most visited landmark in downtown Dallas, the first being Dealey Plaza.

I was surprised to find that downtown Dallas was pretty quiet the Sunday before Christmas.  I had braced myself for holiday crowds and traffic, but our tour guide told us that Dallas being a suburban city gets its traffic during the work week.  In that sense we lucked out and got to enjoy a leisurely visit in downtown Dallas.

Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine, TX

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Dallas.  Since we were traveling so far for a wedding, we decided to extend our stay and make a mini vacation of it and booked ourselves into the Great Wolf Lodge for 2 nights.  It was the perfect length stay for our family.  There was plenty to do and lots of fun for the kids.

I spent a little extra and booked the Wolf Den, which has a separate cave themed sleeping area for the kids with bunk beds and their own TV.   Unfortunately when I was booking the room, they were out of the rooms that had a 3rd bed in the cave and baby T was sad he didn't get to sleep in the wolf den.

The kids enjoyed plenty of time at the 84 degree, indoor water park the first night we arrived and most of the day of our second day.  It was balmy and warm.  There was plenty for all ages from sprinklers for baby T to big slides for lil P and big L.  And the whole family loved circling the lazy river over and over.

In the morning the kids enjoyed a Wolf Walk, learning about different animals and making origami wolf.  And, in the evening, the kids enjoyed story time in their PJs at the Great Clock Tower, complete with falling snow.

In addition to wolf ears, the front desk gave the kids special bands so that they could get free ice cream every day.  Is there anything better than enjoying ice cream in PJs?

The entire Lodge was well beautifully decorated for the holiday season.

letters to Santa

The Great Clock Tower

 

The next time we go to the Great Wolf we'll try other activities like MagiQuest which we just didn't have the time to do.  Overall, it was a great, short visit with plenty to do and reasonably priced.

Thanksgiving Festivities

This year I felt like Thanksgiving was being so rushed and overlooked in many of the retail stores.  Even before Thanksgiving was near all the Christmas holiday decorations were starting to appear.  I made a point of not even thinking about Christmas until we celebrated Thanksgiving.  So here is my post on our Thanksgiving celebrations.

This year, I have the privilege of being lil P's class mom.  And yes in our school it is considered a privilege, complete with an application specifying how many number of times you served in various PTA activities. So, I was surprised and excited to be picked by the committee for lil P's class.

Lil P's class had a Thanksgiving party, for which I prepared the food.

A gaggle of turkey pretzels

How to:
1. Dip pretzel rods in melted dark chocolate candy melt.
2. Place on a Keebler Grasshopper cookie. (to support the pretzel up put a chopstick/dowel under the undipped pretzel)
3. Use melted chocolate to attach 5 candy corn.
4. Use melted chocolate to attach candy eye balls.
5. Use melted chocolate to attach half of an orange m&m.
6. Use melted red candy melt to make the wattle.  Use a piping bag or a ziplock bag and make a small cut in the corner.

Turkey cups filled with carrot and cheese sticks

How to:
1. Print turkey pictures and attach to plastic cups with pedestal base (Found at Party City).
2. Cut carrots into sticks long enough to protrude over the top of the cup (to look like the turkey's feathers).
2. Cut cheese sticks (white cheddar and regular cheddar) to match carrots.

A cornucopia of fruit

How to: 
1. Steam waffle cones for 30 seconds until they fall apart and are soft (one at a time, two if you are super fast because they harden quickly)
2. Quickly wrap it around a cone shape (I made one with foil) to reshape and the bend the bottom up.
3. Fill with fruit.

Thanksgiving in VA
We spent Thanksgiving in VA with family and feasted on a traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey and all the fixings.  Then we enjoyed the Reston Town Center Holiday Parade which was celebrating their 25th year.  

Nats' Teddy Roosevelt

Macy's style balloon including this gingerbread

Time with the cousins
We also had some special time with the cousins.

And now, I am ready to put up the Christmas decorations.

Big L's First Science Fair

Big L participated in his schools' science fair for the first time this year.  The whole process was a great learning experience for him and I'm so proud of him.

Using the scientific method he measured heart rates for various activities to see what made his heart beat the fastest.   In addition to conducting the experiment, he put a lot of effort into practicing explaining his project succinctly and calculating individualized target heart rates for people stopping by his table.  He started out a little shy taking to students he didn't know but by the end of the night he became more confident and even calculated target heart rates for the principal.

He did such a great job, and having gone through it once I'm sure next year's will go even smoother!