Florida Part 1: Vero, Brody's Birthday and Orlando

There was a potential for freezing rains and icy roads so at 6pm on Tuesday we decided we better head down that evening.  By 7:30 we were on the road!  We could have used a little more prep time, I ended up forgetting several things including Brody's birthday presents!  

Goodbye Frozen lake Sunsets (cadillac):

Hello Florida sunsets!

We met up briefly with our cousins in the airport!  They also flew Southwest out of Grand Rapids, but they went direct to Orlando and we flew into Tampa.  We booked a pickup truck and ended up in the minivan for the same rate (after a small mix up).  Tampa traffic was pretty bad (we landed at 4:10 and were on the road at 5pm), but once we hit the I-4 it was mostly smooth sailing.  Total time to Vero was 3h 15m, typically it is a 2.5hr trip.

Grandma had dinner ready for us and then it was off to bed, we were all exhausted!  The next day was Brody's birthday!  After breakfast we headed to Jaycee park.  

Grandma arranged for a special birthday lunch after the park:

After lunch we headed to Cocoa Beach to hang out a bit with the Bruce family.  The kids had a blast!

Playing football:

There was a severe weather warning, but it stayed clear of us!

After Cocoa Beach we headed to our hotel in Orlando.  Traffic wasn't bad at all and we arrived at 7pm.  Our room was REALLY far away, so we ended up swithing rooms.  Aaron unpacked the car while I ordered a pizza.  Then it was my turn to fill the car back up with groceries!  I think it was 10pm before I ate dinner, but it was a great day.  The next morning we went to Mark and Lisa's condo and swam with them for the day:

Austin skinned his knees on the way to the pool.  It was touch and go for awhile there.  I think he will make it without the amputation:

He was a little exhausted from the busy past few days and the traumatic skinned knee injury:

The boys are doing a great job swimming, they had a blast jumping in and playing football together: 

Back to the room for some quiet time.  

Oh, Austin also caught a few fish this morning!  In jammies.  

Good buddies.