A Spontaneous Weekend Getaway!

This past weekend, my parents were going to be camping at Fort Wilderness in Orlando. Jake and I were planning on taking a trip to the Temple and dropping Kaitlyn off with them while we went to a session. Well, things didn't go quite as planned because Friday morning, Jake got an itch to extend our time in Orlando.

So, Jake visited priceline.com and got a really good deal on hotel across the street from Downtown Disney and we spent Saturday toting Kaitlyn around Fort Wilderness and Disney Village.

We started our morning by visiting what used to be the Petting Zoo at Fort Wilderness. However, there are no more sheep, goats and/or other animals... just ponies.

We got there just before opening and Kaitlyn spent a good 10 minutes chasing the ponies around the outer fence.

Once the "Ranch" opened, we followed everyone inside and got in line to ride a pony; but you know how 2 year olds are, there was a tantrum that resulted in no pony ride. On the way out she made sure to give a nearby pony a big hug.

Then, even though it was only 10:30a, we were already sweating! So, we made a b-line for the pool! They had recently renovated it and added a "big kid" slide and a child play area. Kaitlyn liked the kiddie pool the best. She kept jumping in and stomping around in it.

She also liked to crawl around on her hands in the water.

Here is Kaitlyn sliding down the kiddie slide all by herself!

Jacob even snuck her down the big kid slide once before the Lifeguard told him only 1 person was allowed down at a time. This girl is a total adrenaline junkie!

Before we left to go back to our room for a nap, we had a little ice cream snack. Kaitlyn has been obsessed with, "Mouse!" ever since her Nana took her to the Magic Kingdom last Labor Day weekend. She loves everything "Mouse!" She was very excited to eat some "Mouse!"

When we made our way back to the hotel, Kaitlyn was in desperate need of a nap. She had gotten 3 hours less sleep than normal the previous night. She ended up taking a 4 hour nap. That allowed Mommy to relax, shower and take a nap of her own. While Daddy watched the USF vs. FSU game with frustration and ended up taking his own nap before the game even ended.

Once everyone was awake and ready to go, we walked over to Downtown Disney to get some dinner. We lucked out at the Rain Forest Cafe' (we had tried to make reservations but they were totally booked) and we were seated within 25 minutes of our arrival. Kaitlyn liked the animals, but didn't like the simulated thunderstorms.

After dinner, we took a walk through "Pooh Corner" to get to the Merry-Go-Round. Kaitlyn loves this over-sized Dalmation. The photo on the top is from this weekend. The photo on the bottom is from last November. She's gotten so big!

After our visit with Lucky, Daddy and Katie went for a ride! Kaitlyn loves Merry-Go-Rounds!

Then, after some more walking around, we made a pit stop at Ghiradelli's for ice cream! Kaitlyn LOVES ice cream! She couldn't shovel it in fast enough.

After our sweet tooths had been satisfied, we headed back to the hotel just in time to miss out being soaked by the huge storm that made its way through the area.