Christmas and Tropical Palms

We just wrapped up two weeks at our favorite Orlando-area Thousand Trails park - Tropical Palms Resort.  This resort is quite hard to get into and, having now booked out the rest of our stays through the winter, I can tell you this is the only time we'll make it in here this season.  In addition to being the closest Thousand Trails park to Disney World, it is also the best maintained park with the most amenities of any Thousand Trails park in the Orlando area.  The laundry room alone is worth the stay!  For the first time we weren't even able to book the 'elite' site here, so we were 'stuck' in a premium site nearer to the back of the park.  Still a great experience, but because of ongoing construction (they're expanding the park - good news for next year!) it was a pain to get to our site.

This is a terrible picture of our campsite but the only 
one we managed to take...

We only had a couple of days to take advantage of the proximity to Disney World before our annual passes were blocked out for the holiday season, but we made the most of them!  We saw the Candlelight Processional at Epcot for the first time and it was just beautiful.  Andy Garcia hosted the evening we visited and he had some entertaining commentary, but overall it was just a reverent telling (and singing) of the Christmas story.  It was absolutely beautiful and definitely put us in the Christmas spirit!  We also saw the new Harmonious nighttime show at Epcot (impressive!) and finished our cookie stroll.

The Candelight Processional

Close up of Andy Garcia reading the Christmas story

Our reward for finishing the cookie stroll!

We also spent a few hours at Animal Kingdom, catching the new Kite-Tails show (Lion King version).  It was neat!  Lots of handheld and jetski-held kites.

Animal Kingdom Christmas tree

Simba in the Kite-Tails show

We enjoyed several quiet days at Tropical Palms after we couldn't go to Disney World, and for Christmas itself we drove (just the car) back 'home' (to the adjacent towns where we grew up) to Virginia to spend a couple days with both sets of parents and most of our siblings (Aaron's brother and my sister).  It was great to see everyone but the drive home the Sunday after Christmas was awful, so if we end up doing this again we definitely need to figure out an alternative RV storage in Florida so we can travel some different dates.  This trip kind of came up last minute when my sister decided to spend Christmas with my parents, and we'd already booked all of our stays through the holiday season so we were a bit inflexible in our travel plans.

All ready for Christmas morning at my mom's house (pre-kid
destruction)

Merry Christmas everyone!  And a happy new year!

Peacock Baby!!

Ok, so less of a baby and more of a teenager...but we'll get to that.  We're finally back in Orlando, land of sun and warmth and Disney!  Our first stop (since we had to be out of the Thousand Trails system for a week after our last stay) was at Magnolia Park, an Orange County park sadly a bit of a hike to Disney World...that said, I think it might be my favorite county park, so I was still happy to stay here!  Now, you may recall from our stay last year that this park sports a decent population of peacocks - much to our surprise, this year we saw a juvenile peacock in the crowd!  We noticed fairly quickly that there was one more peacock than last year, and as we watched the peacocks we realized there was a not-quite-right colored male hanging out with the females all the time.  Must be the new baby!!  Very cool.

Our campsite at Magnolia Park

The juvenile - he was skittish so I had to zoom in from 
far away - note the speckles on his breast (the adults don't
have those).

The juvenile peacock with the peahens - note how he has a much
bluer head than the females, which is why I'm assuming he's a male

For completeness, an adult male

We're just making an assumption on the juvenile male based on the fact he didn't exist last year and looking at his emerging colors, but honestly I had trouble finding information online so I *could* be wrong, don't quote me!  I did see something that said male peacocks don't begin developing their tails until 2 years old, which would be consistent with his presumed age and current tail growth (nonexistent).

We tried out our new waste tote for the first time!  This allows us to haul wastewater from our holding tanks to the dump station at parks like this where we're not on sewer, without having to drive the RV to the dump station.  Before we bought this, I used to collect each dishwashing's water and carry it in a bucket to the restroom's outdoor sink to pour down the drain, so this was a huge improvement!  It was great to use the RV sink like normal and only have to have Aaron haul wastewater once during our stay.

Hauling the tote to the dump station

With just about a week left before our Disney annual passes blocked out for the holidays, we spent several days in Disney World even though it was a long-ish toll-filled drive.  We were able to experience Epcot's long-awaited new Space 220 restaurant, ride Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, and see the holiday decorations at all the parks.  

Inside Space 220 at Epcot - the idea behind this restaurant is that 
you take an 'elevator' to a space station, and once there the 'windows'
show you a view of Earth far below, with astronauts and spacecraft
floating by.

Also at Epcot - one of the many bronze statues Epcot put out 
for the 50th anniversary celebration.  This is Rocket from 
Guardians of the Galaxy.

Decorations at the main pond in Hollywood Studios

Christmas decorations on Main Street, USA (Magic Kingdom)

We'll see Animal Kingdom at our next stop.  Overall this was a great stay and we're glad to be back in Orlando!  

Sunshine Holiday Daytona

After Thanksgiving we took a short hop to the Daytona Beach area and stayed at the Sunshine Holiday Daytona RV Resort, part of Thousand Trails.  As soon as we arrived, our new neighbors came over to welcome us and offer any assistance we might need during our stay - so friendly!  On the bad side, they put us way in the back of the park with the permanent residents, where the roads were narrow and people weren't so careful about keeping their cars out of the roadway.  From talking to our new neighbors, it seems common for the office to put longer-staying Thousand Trails members in the back of the park, reserving the front for short timers and/or full paying customers.  I guess this makes sense.  

Our campsite at Sunshine Holiday Daytona

My sister came down the first Saturday we were there with her family and we all went to the light show at Daytona International Speedway.  The lights were lovely and very well done but we were VERY disappointed that you can't drive on the track during this event.  Aaron and I had been to the light show at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and most of the show is on the track and you can drive on the scary sloped part...unfortunately we expected the same here and got the kids' hopes all up...they were sorely disappointed.  So I'd say the Daytona speedway lights are overpriced for what you get - you can get the same kind of show in city parks around the country, being at the speedway didn't add anything unique since you just drive under the bleachers.

Christmas-y sign for the speedway

Only in Florida!

We spent half the week at my sister's place helping take care of the kids while my brother-in-law was out of town.  While we were there we were able to see a SpaceX launch from their front yard!  It was very cool.

SpaceX Launch

We also saw my nephews' first flag football game before leaving the area.  I learned a lot more about what flag football actually is...apparently I really didn't know how it worked before!  We were so exhausted from Thanksgiving and busy with helping my sister that we didn't get out to see much else in the area, so this post is probably a little boring!  We'll try to do better next time :-).

Thanksgiving in Florida

It finally came...Thanksgiving in Florida!  Ever since I moved farther south than the rest of my family (when we moved to Charlotte in 2012), I've been begging the rest of my family to come south for Thanksgiving, rather than have us go to the frigid north.  Of course, what with us living in small spaces and not having kids, my pleas fell on deaf ears.  Finally, this year, with my sister now living in Florida, my wish was granted!  My sister hosted Thanksgiving at her townhouse in St. Augustine this year, and for once I didn't have to leave the warmth to celebrate with my family!

Since my sister does still live in a townhouse while they wait for their GIANT house to be built nearby, we stayed nights in our RV for the week.  We stayed at the Clay County Fairgrounds RV park, which actually exceeded my expectations.  Although the reservation system was a little worrisome (I didn't get a proper confirmation, just an email saying they received my request and would be in touch if they had questions/concerns), as the day approached things actually went great.  The camp host emailed the night before with our site number and a map of the campground (this is an unusual perk!); when we got there, the camp host came over to welcome us; the small park had secure access, level and wide sites, and good water pressure.  The night before we left the camp host sent another email reminding us of our departure the next day.  Overall I was quite pleased with the campground for what it was (somewhere to sleep - we're not talking a resort here), and it had pretty easy access to my sister's place.  The biggest downside to this park is that they close for months on end for actual events that happen at the fairgrounds...but it worked great for Thanksgiving week!

Our campsite at Clay County Fairgrounds

Though the weather was a little chilly for the area, it was still much better than anywhere to the north!  The Florida Thanksgiving did not disappoint :-).  We spent 3 days with the larger family cooking, eating, and having fun.  Friday after Thanksgiving my aunt, my sister, and I continued the family tradition of fall apple butter making - something I've been doing with my aunt since I was a teenager.

The 'formal' photo of my family across the street from the townhouse

Ready to eat!

With my aunt and my sister and the fruits of our labor