Jauary 2021

Beginning of the year Nate did an elk hunt. This was his setup to try to keep warm overnight, he said it worked alright.

We did a bunch of skiing and even convinced out friends to tag along one time! Brenda borrowed Porter's (who is 8) boots and skis and they fit!!

The best part of January was our big trip to FLORIDA!!! We left bright and early on the 17, and I almost left all our boarding passes in the car, thankfully I remembered at the last second! This was the boys' first flight and they all did fantastic, even having to wear masks! We flew from Boise to LAX and had a long layover so we spent a lot of time exploring our section of the airport. Then flew from LAX to Miami. We got in late and slept at an airbnb not far from Allison and Dallin (they were on their last day of quarantine the day before!). They were so nice to let us borrow a double stroller to take to the parks with us, and it was such a huge help. We ended up staying and chatting with them all morning and they bought us lunch and the kids played and it was wonderful. Plus the sunshine! Ahh, dreaming of going back in the winter!

When we finally got out of their hair we drove up to Orlando! The first stop was Blue Springs State Park where we watched tons of manatees! It was beautiful and the water was crystal clear! It was so neat to see so many in one place.

We checked into our airbnb which was in an awesome location, but totally a letdown. We never saw any other people and there was supposed to be a policy about loud noise after 10pm but EVERY night Nate and I were woken up by partying/super loud music and it was just not good sleep.

The next morning we drove to Legoland! This was a huge hit! The park was very empty and they were most lenient about masks, halfway through the day we'd all taken ours off. Most of the rides had so little line that we were able to just stay on and go again as many times as we wanted! Our favorite rides were Ninjago and the Pharaoh one.

all the Lego statues were amazing!

the coolest Banyan tree!

water park in January?! YES!

The next day we headed to Universal Studios! We were just outside the parking garage when out of nowhere Kade puked. All the parks were taking temps to let you in so we were nervous for a minute until we realized he was probably just car sick. It was 20 min back to our airbnb for new clothes or 5 min to the nearest Walmart. We bought him a new outfit and headed back to the park!

The little boys really like Dr. Seuss land and we were there early enough that there were hardly any lines! The big draw to this park was Harry Potter world! Spencer and I are big fans and had read all the books so this was our reward, I think I was as excited as he was! We tried butterbeer and went into Honeydukes for some treats and loved it. We all liked the buckbeak rollercoaster but Hagrid's Motorbike was by far the best coaster and my probably my favorite theme park ride to date (though log ride's still a pretty solid favorite as well). They just did an excellent job of incorporating all the Harry Potter themes and elements, it was less about the ride and more about just being an overall awesome experience.

The Jurassic Park part of the park was still under construction so that was kind of a bummer. There was also a King Kong ride that didn't look all that scary but after waiting in line a few minutes Spence changed his mind. I told him to run back out to dad, unbeknownst to me Nate had taken Garrett to go get a treat while they waited, Spencer came out and couldn't find Nate and I guess just lost it. The teenage worker there was awesome and calmed him down, even offered him a free churro which Spencer declined (which Nate later instructed him on later, you never turn down an offer like that). Eventually Nate came strolling back and Spencer was saved. Meanwhile, inside the ride Kade was losing his mind at the creepy scary giant gorilla! He was crying and shaking in terror! I hid his face in my lap and just laughed thinking what a terrible parent I was!

Nate and Spencer did a few water rides and basically had them to themselves! We didn't do any of the wild roller coasters which I was ok with. Guess we'll have to go back so Nate and Spence can get their fix!

Finally, we went to Magic Kingdom! The best part of this park was that the Alldredges came with us! I made us all wear Boise State shirts which Nate appreciated. I got reprimanded for eating while walking (apparently not allowed per COVID). Disney was by far the most strict in regards to masking, but it was fine. Worth it to visit all the parks and not have them be SO crowded! I think the longest we waited in any line at any park was Splash Mountain and it was maybe 30 min! 

After shutting the park down we drove back to Miami to spend a couple days with Allison and family. We wanted to see an alligator and drove to a spot they normally see them. We walked around a bit and thought we were out of luck until we were leaving and Allison spotted something, sure enough it was a gator! Then we went to the beach!!!

As we were walking up to the beach there was a dark shadow in the water and people were running out of the water, Allison said she guessed it was a manatee and as everyone was freaking out the lifeguard yelled "relax its just a manatee!" Nate and Allison tried to hurry into the water to catch an up close glimpse. The water in the Atlantic in January is superb and we had SO much fun!!

Spencer was quite the little fish and just love the water and the sand! Kade and Max had fun making sand castles and Garrett was just along for the ride! Nate worked on his model portfolio...still hasn't gotten any calls...weird.

That night we got to celebrate Lizzie's 7th birthday! We felt so lucky to be there for that and Allison made the cutest koala cake! They had some cool glow in the dark flying toys to play with too! We stayed up late chatting and laughing and at one point one of the kids came in and said 3 of the 5 had either put themselves to bed or fallen asleep.

The next morning we got up bright and early to catch our flight home. We are so thankful for Dallin and Allison for being such amazing hosts and putting up with us. We owe them!! It was sure fun to see them and they really are living a dream out there in Florida! (Nate started looking at real estate as soon as we got home).

As we were returning out rental car there were these huge signs on the way into the airport asking if you remembered to return your rental key. After seeing 5 I asked Nate if he left the keys and he assured me he did. As we're going through security and emptying our pockets, Nate says "Oh crap!" as he pulls out the rental key. I tell him to run it back and I'll take the 3 boys, 2 car seats, and 4 carryons and head to the gate. Ha. I'm sure I looked like a circus. I'd carry 2 things ahead, set them down, go back for more. Repeat. We didn't make it very far in the time it took Nate to get back and thankfully we were plenty early to the airport so we had the time.

We flew from Miami back to LAX and then home to Boise. It was such a fun trip and we can't wait for our next big adventure!

We came home to cold and jumped right back into skiing! Nate and I were even lucky enough to get a night away to ski/snowboard together. After that date Nate came home and immediately sold his snowboard. Guess we're a skis only family now!