seven days of paradise: day one

I really want to blog about our vacation because I want to always have details of our adventures documented:) I really wish I would have blogged during because of some of the funny things Brennan said and did that I can't remember (I always think I will remember, but I should know better!) I debated on how to do it and with having taken about 800 pictures, one blog post is not going to cut it! Plus, each day of our trip was filled with so much excitement and fun activities that I think each day (or most days at least) could really use their own post. We left one week ago today, so we will see if I can keep up with each day of our vacation:)

Here we are waiting for the metrolink to take us to the airport...at 4:40am!

Being silly on the train. (btw, I intended to edit and crop, however I got a little overwhelmed with 800 pictures so you're getting the raw deal on most pictures here:)

at the airport!

GiGi got Brennan this southwest airplane (which is the airline we flew) on one of her trips and he loved playing with it on the plane both ways, pretending he was flying the plane and acting as the pilot:)

Enjoying some hot cocoa on the ride:)

Casey and I got some good laughs at some of the crazy stuff they sell in the Sky Mall. Seriously?? Eyelashes for your vehicle?!

When we arrived at our hotel, we parked right next to the official whale Sea World bug! So cool!

Home Sweet Home...for a few days at least:) 

I really enjoyed our stay at this hotel. It is called Homewood Suites by Hilton. I highly recommend it as a Sea World package. We got an amazing deal on our Sea World tickets and our hotel. This hotel has a full complimentary buffet breakfast every morning. They also offered a "Welcome Home Reception", so from 5pm to 7pm each day they had a buffet style dinner with free soda, beer and wine. It was such a money saver! Casey really enjoyed the free beer:) 

I have not one complaint about our stay!

After we got checked in, we were starving! We walked over to Senor Frogs for lunch...yum:)

We got to the hotel at about 11:30 so after lunch we had the whole day to whatever we wanted. Swimming sounded great!

Brennan loved the hot tub! We did too of course!

After we had enough Florida sun for the day we were looking for something else to do. Our hotel was in such a great location, Pirate's Cove mini golf course was also within walking distance. After dinner, we drove over (we forgot how close it was). It was the coolest mini golf place I've ever seen.

The parking spaces were separated by this pattern, so cute!

Brennan chose an orange golf ball...his favorite color;)

It's called Pirate's Cove and it was filled with all kinds of pirate fun for ye matey!

This was Brennan's first mini golf experience. We were actually just talking about taking him this summer, but this was the perfect first experience to add to the trip:)

There were tons of huge water falls and streams of water that were part of the course.

Here is a tunnel we had to golf through.

Casey and I had a little competition going. I started off strong with a hole in one and lots of par 2's, but Casey ended up beating me by 2 points. He was keeping score so I think he may have fudged a bit!

At the end, the kids got a little bag with all kinds of pirate stuff. Here is Brennan sporting his eye patch and pirate hat! He is so funny, he would not smile since he was acting the part of a pirate!