1st Annual Mancini Family Vacation

One of the family traditions that I've been looking forward to creating the most has been the annual beach trip. After Luke and Maddie are grown and have families of their own, I would love for them to be in the rhythm of carving out time to spend a week with us on vacation. How fun!!

Now that Maddie is older and can do more things, we decided this was the year to start. We piled into the Mancini Fam Jam Van and headed to Florida. The first stop -

Disney World!!

Luke is a great age to go for the first time. He loved it. When we asked him which ride was his favorite, he said, "All of them!" As for Maddie... Well, she probably really won't remember a thing but the good news is her ticket to the park was FREE! She may not remember Disney World but she did add a new sentence to her repertoire: "I wanna ride a ride!"

Lots of "bonding" time while waiting in line for the rides.


Luke hamming it up with his Mickey ears for the camera.

This is what happens when you try to take a picture of Luke and me in the sun. We can't help but squint, hold up a hand to shield the eyes, or just look down. Light blue eyes are SO sensitive to light.

Much better!

We spent three nights (two days) in Orlando. Our original plan was to do Disney World on Monday and then one of the other parks on Tuesday. However, we decided we wanted to take our time exploring Disney World and not get all tense about getting to all the rides in one day. We also decided to leave the park and go back to the condo for lunch and Maddie's nap. This plan allowed us to have really enjoyable times with well-rested kids and we got to see the fireworks on Monday night and the Main Street Electrical Parade on Tuesday night.

Even with all of that careful planning...

we did have some tense and sour moments.
However, those were few and far between because we were after all in the Magic Kingdom!

On Wednesday, we traveled to the beach. We went to Madeira Beach which is on the gulf side by St. Petersburg. After two days of running around a theme park, it was SO awesome to settle into a slower pace. The kids loved playing in the sand and the ocean. We asked Luke if he liked Disney World or the beach better. His response, "I don't know. I like them both!" I would love to post pics of the beach but we didn't bring the camera to the beach with us. Boo!

We ended up leaving the beach a day early. The weather forecast was calling for rain all day on Friday and entertaining active children in a condo on a rainy day was not going to set anyone up for success. So, we decided to drive back in the rain and spend the sunny holiday weekend poolside in Atlanta. Woo-hoo! It has been an awesome family vacation.