Crowds, Fruit Bats, and Orange Le Creuset {Florida Vacation Wrap-Up}

the view from our room at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House

we saw giraffes and zebra everyday

I realized we left Florida over two weeks ago and I've only posted some snaps from Harry Potter. I could go on and on and share hundreds of pictures but here are some highlights:

First, the crowds. I mentioned that it was extremely busy at Harry Potter but of course it was "regular busy" all over Universal and all the Disney Parks and any mom knows you are never truly relaxed in those kinds of places when you are watching your children (...or any public place, really). One thing I've found to make it easier is dressing my children in similar colors:

At Universal, when we noticed there was a Dr. Seuss "Thing Three" tee shirt in addition to the other two from The Cat in the Hat, we went all out and dressed our three in matching tees the next day. This really does make it easier to keep track of multiple little ones:

Another tip I heard recently - which is so smart - is to take a quick snap of your child(ren) on your cell phone right before you enter the mall/park/airport etc. That way, if your child does happen to get lost (it can only take seconds) you have a very current pic readily available.

Now fruit bats. They may seem to be a strange highlight from a trip to Disney... but have you ever seen those little creatures up close? They are amazing! They look like cute little furry puppies with these incredible long thin leathery wings they wrap around themselves. We saw them at The Animal Kingdom (it was our first trip there and such a great visit for our little animal lovers).

After a safari tour, taking pictures with Jiminy Cricket, and petting a snake, we found a furry little stuffed bat at a gift shop and my son quite quickly became attached to him:

"Theodore Batman" and his happy (and sleeping) new owner

The Lion King show was also wonderful.

And the orange Le Creuset...

It is my favorite (I have a French oven and teapot out on my stove all the time) and just one of the touches I love about the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes, Orlando. We stayed there last May (post here) and really wanted to stay again during this visit, so spent three nights there before we moved on to The Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House for that full Disney experience.

grits and oatmeal served up in orange LC at the Ritz Carlton breakfast buffet... perfect

love the decor too

I do have a couple more OOTDs from the trip that I'll post together soon.

Happy Monday!

xoxo