Legoland

Today was "divide and conquer" day. We fly out tomorrow so it was our last full day in Florida. After a day of rest yesterday, we were all ready to make the  most out of our last day here. We didn't do Disneyworld or Sea World, cause it was just too much for tickets for all of us. But we told kids if they wanted to do something like that, we would support them and help them get there. No one wanted to pony up their own cash for those activities, and that's ok. It was good to spend time at the pool and beach. Corey did feel like he wanted to give Peter an experience though. And Peter came up to Corey yesterday holding a brochure for a crocodile experience and humbly asked Corey "Is this too expensive?" That melted his heart and so he started working his magic and got tickets for Owen, Daniel, and Peter to go to Legoland today. Abi decided to go too and she contributed to her ticket. Corey, Abi, and the boys were stuck in tourist traffic for longer than they'd like, but eventually got to Legoland and it was the "BEST DAY EVER" according to Peter.

Hyrum was a good stand-in father figure for the day and also documented with photos, which I appreciated. 

Not sure why these pics are in panoramic format?

Peter is a Ninja!

Yeah, this day at Legoland was mostly for Peter. 

(We love you Peter!)

We still plan to take him to Disneyland sometime soon. I think it needs to be before he's 8, cause I think it will still have that magic for him if he's still little. And under 8 is still little. So maybe after Wesley gets back! That would be really fun. Yes, let's do it for Spring Break 2026! They had a good day today though, and that made us happy. 

Joseph, Eliza, Melodie, Ethan and Bella all went and did a kayak tour at Blue Spring State Park in Joseph's rental car. Corey drove Hyrum, Abi, Owen, Daniel and Peter to Legoland in his car, then Corey worked in a Marriott lobby while they went and had fun. Corey said it was like "coming home" to be at a Marriott, ha. Yes, feels like home. I stayed at the Wyndham hotel with Lily, Sophi, Natalie, and Katharine and we packed up and checked out of the room. It was a bit crazy loading up my car with the food and luggage and presents and bins of crap that we brought out here, but we did it (thanks to an extended check out time). 

We were on our way out at 10:30 and we drove straight to Ft. Lauderdale. Everyone driving to somewhere fun.

Well, not us so much. But Katharine didn't know she was missing out. She was singing to the Little Mermaid and loving it (when Ariel gives her voice to Ursula, it was really cute. We played the song on repeat so she did it a few times.) 

Lily played other Disney soundtracks and quizzed her sisters.

The drive wasn't too painful, even though Lily, as my navigator, took me to downtown Ft. Lauderdale instead of to our hotel, so then I had to backtrack for 20 min. It's fine. Yay, we made it. Then they all immediately sat down on the couch and turned on the tv. 

And that is why we always put the remotes away first thing when we get to a hotel. "No, girls, sorry... I need you to help me get dinner ready for people." Katharine, I'm ok if she vegges out."

Haha, little queen. 

When Mel got to the hotel, she took Lily with her to a latino market so she could get a big avocado. Mel has been dating a guy and they have some joke going on about how the avocado that Mel was bringing to me (after her mission) was confiscated by the international security people. So she had to go get one and brought it back for them to use in a date night recipe.

Mel and I played Egyptian Rat Screw a few times. It got intense...

And then after everyone was back and settled in, we had some scripture time before we headed to bed. 

And hugs all around. Some of the kids have early morning departures - Joseph and Eliza and Ethan and Bella are leaving first - J&E are dropping off Ethan and Bella, then returning their car, then the rest of us and all the luggage should fit in our two cars. 

It's been great having everyone together, and so exciting that we'll have some babies joining the family next year! Corey was thinking that that would probably happen, and thus a trip like this will be harder to pull off in the future for them with diapers and carseats, so this really was a great chance to have a family trip together "one last time"... I'm sure we'll do something fun again (they are talking about Costa Rica or Hawaii for the next one!) ha, we'll see! If we make it epic enough, then maybe people will do what it takes to join us!