Going Home

We had a debate during the week about the "big" parks, because after all, getting to Florida was ⅔ of the battle!  While I don't care about Disney or Harry Potter experiences,  I have family members who really wanted to go to HP.  Two daughters especially!  So, Mat and I talked about options.  I knew that paying for all of us wouldn't be reasonable @ $800+ for one days entertainment.  But maybe we could send the two who really wanted to go, and the rest of us do something else together.  After talking about it, we decided the whole point of the trip was to spend time together as a family, so Harry got chopped.

We packed and cleaned up on Wednesday night because we had one last adventure we wanted to experience in Orlando before heading to the airport.  Our flight wasn't until almost 6:00 p.m. so we had plenty of time to fit something like this in.

We had heard great things about this place and decided early on that this was a "must do".  And I'm so glad we did!  Lots of gator education, gator shows, a petting zoo, a huge zip line over a gator infested lagoon, etc. etc.  It was great fun!

McK loved the petting zoo, the food came in a ice cream cone that the goats also ate!

Oh Isaac!

Zip-Lining!

You only live once!  This is an albino Burmese Python, he was heavier than I expected!

Pythons don't bite, they squeeze, so there was no reason to worry about this guy.

Goodbye Florida!

This trip was such a blessing to us!  It was so great to be far from home and the daily grind.  It was such a blessing to miss a treatment, because I felt almost totally "normal!"  It was so great to only have our family to spend time with and rely on, to not have the distraction of doorbells and friends taking kids away from home.  There was so much laughter and cooperation and bonding.  We all needed to get away from the stress of cancer, have some time to play and laugh.  We all came home feeling a little lighter.

When we got home, we found our stockings filled (thanks Cindy!) and a few more Sub for Santa items.

We've been so blessed this Christmas season!  So many people have come to our aid and made the season more bearable under the circumstances we face.  Despite being gone on vacation, the family (who is still a mystery to us) that did the 12 Days for us continued.  My neighbor checked the porch every day/evening to pick up anything that got left for us.  Their thoughtfulness and generosity touched me and reminded me that there are so many people out there rooting for us,  people we know and people we don't.