Our adventure in Florida

Well, we are currently on our way home. I wish I would have blogged more while we were in Florida but we were constantly on the go. We took the kids to Animal Kingdom and Epcot center which was really fun! The kids LOVED seeing the different animals at Animal Kingdom. They are facinated by dinosaurs and we were able to see replicas of dinosaurs and a life size replica of the bones of the T-Rex named Sue. The first ride we went on was a dinosaur ride that had animatronic dinosaurs. It was pretty scary. I didn't realize how realistic the dinosaurs would be. I would definitely recommend it though. While waiting in line (though there weren't hardly any lines)we got to see dinosaur and other prehistoric animal bones, learn about the theories of why dinosaurs became extinct and information about the way the world looked at the time of the dinosaurs. We then went on a few rides, then went to the "Asia" area. In it there were tigers, bats, Asian deer and birds. It was cold so some of the animals were not out (like the komodo dragon) which was a little disappointing but there were many more animals to see. We went on a "safari" and saw alligators, giraffes, lions, hippos, rhinos, antelope and ostriches. We also saw termite mounds and learned about animal conservation and poachers. We listened to African music.
We then went to Epcot and rode a lot of rides there. I really liked the ride that explained how written language has progressed through time to modern days. The kids loved the imagination ride with the dragon named figment. We walked around the lake and experienced the different "countries". We saw replicas of the Eiffel tower, a Japanese temple, Norwegian buildings, British buildings, Chinese buildings and many more. It was fun seeing the people dressed up but I wish we were able to go back during the day so we could have a better view of things. Maybe for our next trip ;) We spent a lot of time with my mother and sisters and my aunt, uncle and cousins. My grandma and grandpa came to visit for a day. It was great for my kids to be able to spend time with my family, they don't get to do that very often. It was also good for their math and reading (the girls showed off their skills by volunteering to do math and read to my family!
We all went Mini golfing and the kids did pretty well. The theme was Pirates and there were placards around that had true information about pirates (including Black beard). Michael and I got a chance to go out while my mom babysat. My whole family was amazed by our children's energy and all agreed that we were smart in our decision to homeschool our children.
Funnily enough, we didn't swim once while we were in Florida (the temps hovered in the 60's). We did walk around an outdoor mall where my sister works. I struggled to not buy anything in the overly priced culinary store.
I know we did a ton more things but my brain is not currently remembering it all (probably from lack of sleep). Can't wait to get home and rest! We are dropping my sister off in Atlanta and we are going to be off.