Holidays » The Best Nest

Anniversary Day has passed, as has our five days at the beach.

We have swam, snorkeled, fished, skateboarded and dog-walked (having the little dogs with us has been so lovely!). We have market-ed, Op-shopped, perused the aisles of many 4 Squares and enjoyed a multitude of bakery delights – hello Cheese Sticks!
We have caught up with family and Dave got to enjoy the local nightlife at the tavern with my cousin. Ethan has not been in particularly fine form but some days have been better than others, luckily Mum understands Ethan to a T otherwise I think she would have run for the hills long ago!
I am fairly certain I have grown a good metre around in all directions including my ass and crashed a bit toward the end of our stay, leaving the beaching to Mum, Dave and E while I have napped and read – holidays definitely are not just about doing, equally important is the not doing (which I am rather a fan of).

Oh we pretty much ate our way around America and it was mah-vellous! We couldn’t get enough mexican food and even brought Taco Bell seasoning home with us. Dave and E kicked off the Festival of Eating in Sydney – I guess their motto at this point was “Mama’s not here we can eat what we want!” {who am I kidding – I was just dying to join the party!}.

The night I arrived in Chicago my flight got in at midnight and we kicked things off good and proper with an impromptu trip to White Castle – the northern equivalent of Krystal Burger, little steamed buns I love you! White_Castle

We had one day to shop in Chicago; so, so sad, but Ethan and Mum managed to eat $15 worth of Frozen Yogurt themselves!

Then it was wedding time, and we ate our way around that banging party like champs! KFC on the wedding party limo on the way TO the reception? Yes please! Then there were the four trestle sized tables of dessert;

Breakfast burritos were on the menu as we headed south. I can’t tell you how many dreams of Juanita’s breakfast burritos I have had since leaving San Diego – so sad : (

Onwards but not necessarily upwards to Chilis. We love you two-for-one margaritas ALL DAY! Chicken fajitas and loaded fries

We were in fantasy land after all so let’s eat dessert all day long! Frozen bananas at Disney World and Dippin’ Dots at Sea World

We were in the south so we HAD to eat waffle fries at Chik Fil A who don’t like the gays!

You can get some kick ass FRESH seafood in Florida/Georgia and we made sure to order pretty much everything on the menu when we took Dave’s little sister Sara out for lunch. I had the crab cake sandwich and Dave had everything.

This little restaurant on the St Mary’s river also had amaze cocktails. I enjoyed these very much;

Our trip almost over we had one last Mexican feast in Santa Monica, E plowed some Taquitos, Dave had fish tacos and I devoured a chicken burrito. The 40 oz margaritas were a bit of a struggle but we managed ; )

In the early stages of planning our trip we thought we would do three parks in three days and tack Wet n’ Wild on at night time. When I really started thinking and investigating how much admission actually cost {approx $300 USD per park} we decided to cut it back to two days and two parks plus Wet n’ Wild.

I AM SO GLAD WE WERE CHEAP ASSES.

Ethan was done after two days, in fact if I am totally honest he spent most of the time at Animal Kingdom with his eyes on the ground looking for lizards anyway. That lil weirdo would have been just as happy {probably happier} if we had taken him to a swamp, given him an empty ice-cream container to catch critters and told him we’d be back to get him in 5 hours and don’t feed marshmallows to alligators.

But dammit we were going to DISNEY!

Like SeaWorld the park was gorgeous, our miracle run of no queues continued, there were slushy margaritas (!!!!), the weather was scorching hot but the novelty of summer in winter still hadn’t worn off so we were stoked. The rides at Animal Kingdom were more suited to kids of Ethan’s age than those at SeaWorld, he was able to ride everything so we quickly booked our Fast Pass to Everest which was amazing – a real classic roller coaster that younger kids can enjoy.

As we were at the park well before opening we were able to make it on the 3rd jeep for the Kilimanjaro Safari. Wow. We were SO close to the animals, and they were out and about and frisky as it was still early morning. Lucky Jacks. The best way to describe Animal Kingdom is that it is the ultimate zoo cleverly integrated into a theme park, you almost forget you are within the confines of the great Disney empire. It was a strangely peaceful day – I know that sounds insane but there is a lovely atmosphere at Animal Kingdom, people take their time and 90% of the time you are completely unaware of the enclosures – they are so seamlessly integrated into the environment. We had an amazing day at a place that is the perfect family destination.

After all of the trouble I had getting back to America {read here} and the excitement of THE Wedding {read here} we were ready for some down time. Of course Orlando is never going to be a lay-by-the-pool, doze off, super-relaxing holiday spot, but we knew we would have some much needed Jack time and just be US!

Anyone who meets Ethan for even five minutes will know that SeaWorld was simply a no-brainer for our little family. Dave and I have dreamed of taking him there since he was 2 years old and he wore out his first Finding Nemo DVD. The allure of the ocean has never faded, nor has his love for the creatures that live there.

We weren’t let down in the slightest, which is pretty amazing considering there were 5 years + of expectations to live up to. The park itself was beautiful, smoke free and easy to navigate. We never had to wait in line longer than 15 minutes {and that was only once}. We quickly figured out that going Single Rider eliminates all wait times. We were also there mid-week and at the very end of summer vacation, so it was just an all round score!

Ethan fed sharks and stingrays, we sat in the splash zones at the Orca and Dolphin shows, I got to see my beloved Beluga whales and we stumbled into every feeding in the whole park – with no crowds. The rides were amazing, E was still too short for the two big roller coasters, which was just fine by him, so Dave and I took turns braving those. We did and saw everything there was to do and hopped on the bus to head to Wet ‘n Wild around 6pm.

We had planned a night visit to this legend water park for two reasons; the first being that out trip was slap bang in the middle of summer so any water park was going to be nuts during the day, secondly, admission is half price after 5pm. Yes we are cheap. We arrived at the entry at 7pm. We had two hours until closing and after some discussion decided to charge it. Such a wicked decision. We ran around that park like mad people, we ran between all of the slides and managed to ride EVERYTHING with time to spare for about 5 laps along the lazy river before the park closed at 9pm. We and a blast. 90% of the rides are raft rides so we could all ride together which just mad everything that much more special. E was such a trooper, he must have been exhausted but he loved every second of our time there and was definitely braver than I. He took great pleasure in watching my discomfort as I emerged from the pool after the scariest slide in the park {he went first of course and declared it the best thing ever!}.

Our first day in O-Town was ridiculously fun and equal parts exhausting.

That’s how I’m going to refer to Hadyn and Joanna’s wedding until the end of days because it really really was THE Wedding.

Everything was amazing, beautiful, perfect, on trend and everything just worked brilliantly. When you glean tid-bits of ideas here and there over the 11-ish months of planning it’s hard to catch a glimpse of the Big Picture. Jo’s vision was astounding and the execution was flawless.

Dear Hadyn & Jo

We loved your wedding. We loved being a part of your wedding. Thank you so much for including us in your special day. You were both radiant. I never knew Hadyn was capable of ‘that’ smile. That “I’ve surely died and gone to heaven because THIS girl is marrying me today!” smile.

I’m so excited to have a Sister-in-Law, and wish you both the very best for your future together.

We love you so much

The Jacks xx

& then a downtown Chicago storm

The reception Ballroom

The entrance of the Bridal Party & Cake Cutting

Surely it’s not. Dave and I woke up at 4.37am. On a Monday. With school, work, swimming lessons and a netball game tonight for me, this is going to be the longest day ever.
Returning to work was surprisingly easy, I missed my workmates. When you are used to seeing people five days a week you become strangely attached to them. Ethan also had a great day back, he hopped in the truck after school a changed boy which was lovely ~~and lucky for him~~ as he was a demon child yesterday; I was dreading the drama I thought might accompany his return to school and routine. Instead he has chatted non stop about how great it was to see all of his wee mates and all the welcome back hugs he got.
This holiday was amazing for our family. I didn’t realize how much Dave and I were bitching at each other or how impatient we were being with Ethan until I was faced with the possibility of not being able to travel at all {you can catch up on that here}.
Being able to attend my little brothers wedding in Chicago and watching Ethan bond instantly with his American family was worth every penny of the massive cost of the trip.

Family is everything

Some people are forever friends even over time and oceans

United Airlines are the absolute worst option long haul

Santa Monica Promenade is the business for escaping LAX during a long layover (and some of the best shopping I have ever seen!)

Those are some things I have learned.