Spring Break in Orlando with Ash and Johnny

 We were supposed to be in Japan over Spring Break for Steven's senior trip, but the US went to war and Mike was deployed. The boys didn't want to do anything, so I decided to see if the Shades of Green resort had openings, and they did! I invited Ashley to come, thinking there's no way she would, and she did! Her kids weren't on spring break, so she could only take Johnny, since he's still in elementary school. I wanted to visit the new Epic Universe park, but it was sold out, so we visited Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and had a great time. 

Our first day was a travel day. We arrived, Audrey napped, and we waited for Ash to arrive. We visited the hotel pool, but it wasn't an overly warm day. (not that the kids minded) Ashley and I went walk and ALMOST got eaten by a wild crocodile. (That's our story and we're sticking to it) Could the sound of rustling next to the walking path been something other than a hungry crocodile? Sure. Was it? We may never know, because we ran so fast back to the hotel that the crocodile didn't stand a chance. (I only had to be faster than Ash, and everyone knows I still am in spite of my bad hips) ;)

Our first full day we went to Universal Studios first, then took the train to Islands of Adventure, and then back again. We let the kids lead us wherever they wanted. 

We then went to Islands of Adventure so Audrey could overcome her fear of animatronic dinos. If you remember from our last trip in Feb of 2023, Audrey REALLY wanted to see Blue the Velociraptor, but was terrified when it was her turn. This time, she did GREAT! She also got a new wand, so we spent a lot of time in the HP portions of the parks letting her try out some spells. 

On Day 2 we started at Islands of Adventure