Orlando's Biggest Attraction

Each winter for the past several years, we have made a trek down to the Orlando area. We do this not because we have a fanatical love of all things Disney ('cuz we do not). We do this because we have family retired in the sunshine state. One set of grandparents and my husband's aunt and uncle all live in Florida. While we hate that they are so far away, we love that they are where they are so we have them as a convenient reason for taking a mid-winter break to escape the dreary cold weather for a short while. Our annual mid-winter days in the sun give us stamina to survive the remaining weeks (which really seem like months) until spring actually arrives in Maryland.

Even though we do not have the fanatical love of all things Disney or the other competing Orlando venues, we usually hit an attraction each time we go. If you have kids and are within a day's drive of Orlando, it is required that you buy tickets and go. In the past,

we've been to The Magic Kingdom

and to Sea World

It may be difficult to tell for those of you who didn't share this day with us, but this picture was definitely taken at Sea World.

This is when Helios did his impression of a sea lion throwing a temper tantrum on the ground next to the stingray touch tank. It is one of our most frequent flashbacks favorite memories of that trip to Sea World.

We also visited Animal Kingdom one particularly hot day. Souvenir water bottle fans: $45.00.

Helios' chimpanzee impression: priceless.

And we've been to Kennedy Space Center. It was stellar.

And we paid a visit to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was brilliant!

All good stuff. But after all these years of attractions, we decided this year to avoid the crowds and spend our entire visit with the relatives. We jumped in Grandpa's pool.

The grandparents treated to the boys to a round of mini-golf. I like to call it putt-putt, do you?

We mined for semiprecious stones.

I keep saying "we" but what I really mean is "they, the boys". This is what my husband and I really did.

And that was plenty of attraction for us.