Seaworld.

Calleigh had been so excited to see Shamu since we told her we were going to Seaworld. For weeks before the trip she would randomly shout out to us "Who are we going to see? .. Shamu, Shamu, Shamu!" It was adorable.
The instant we arrived in Florida she wanted to go and see Shamu but we managed to get her to wait one more day as it was already 3pm and after a long drive all we wanted was some food and a soft bed!

As I mentioned in the previous post (you can read it here) we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn as part of a Seaworld package so our tickets were included in the hotel stay. We were thrilled to find out that Seaworld was just a 5 minute walk from the hotel so we didn't have to drive and pay for parking.

That morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then planned to walked across to Seaworld. Before we left we picked up our complimentary express passes from the lobby and a nice lady gave Calleigh a Seaworld backpack with a Shamu teddy inside- she loved it!

When we got to the park it was so quiet. We did have to wait about 10 minutes for the park to open but it didn't bother us. Our first stop was going to be Dolphin Cove but unfortunately it was closed for renovations. I was really gutted as I always loved Dolphin Cove when I went as a kid. Nevertheless we didn't let it bother us too much so we moved on to the new Antarctica and took Calleigh on her first ride of the trip, Antarctica- Empire of the Penguin. It was still early so there was no queue and we went straight in. We took the mild ride as Calleigh was too small for the wild ride. It was a gentle ride that followed the life of a little Penguin called Puck. At the end of the ride we exited through the Penguin enclosure. Calleigh loved watching the penguins but we couldn't stay too long as it was so cold in there and Calleigh was shaking like a leaf!

We then made our way to the Dolphin Theater to catch the dolphin show- Blue Horizons. After we had sat down we were informed it was going to be a bit of a different show as the dolphins were not co operating very well and the trainers couldn't go in the water with them. It was still a great show and Calleigh was in awe watching the dolphins jump out of the water!

After the show we went to see the Sea Lions. As we were stood there watching them from behind the glass I asked Calleigh if she wanted to get some fish to feed them. She said yes after she had finished finger painting. I was so confused about this answer until I saw her with her finger in large pile of white bird poo! "Noooo Calleigh!! That's poo!" I shouted. Even after we had washed her hands she went on about it all day, looking at her finger and talking something about poo haha!
So anyway we fed the Sea Lions, Calleigh's attempt only made it to one of birds that hang around that area and after that she didn't want to do it anymore.. The birds were kind of aggressive!

We then made our way to Shamu Stadium, stopping for a drink and a snack on the way. When it was time for the show we took a seat in the reserved seating section (another perk from the hotel package) safely away from the splash zone! Calleigh was so excited and it was great to see her joining in with the crowd and all the ooohs and ahhhs when the Orcas jumped. Her favorite part of the show was when two of the whales kissed each other, she still goes on about it now.

After Shamu we took Calleigh to see the Polar Bears after the Wild Arctic ride. These were another animal that she was really excited to see, but sadly we were informed that the last one had passed away a few months back. We did still get to see the Beluga Whales, the seals and the huge Walruses! Calleigh was amazed by how big they were. One of them was just hanging by the glass, bobbing up and down out of the water, and Calleigh happened to notice his.. er.. bits. She asked me if it was his belly button or if he was doing a poo. Not wanting to explain what it really was, especially in front of an audience, I settled with his belly button. To which she told me how big and cute it was haha!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and enjoying the warm sunshine. We picked up some bits at the gift shops and lastly we saw the Turtles and the Manitees.
By four we were all knackered and started our walk back to the hotel. Calleigh was talking about it all night and kept saying we will go again tomorrow.
She had such a great time!

Our Holiday to Florida

After what seemed like the longest winter ever we decided to book a holiday to Florida to get a bit of sunshine. This post will just be a run down of our trip and then I'll go into more details on another post!

We took the same drive as last time on the way down, stopping for one night in Atlanta to break up a long car journey. 

The trip down to Atlanta was the hardest, we got stuck in a lot of traffic and it ended up taking a lot longer than we thought. It was over 11 hours and we didn't arrive at the hotel until after 9pm (because we headed east we lost an hour crossing through a time zone). We promptly went to bed so we could get an early start on our drive to Florida. That was a much better run thankfully and we arrived in our hotel in good time. 

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn at Seaworld as part of a Seaworld Vacation package so our tickets were included. Calleigh had been beyond excited to Shamu for weeks so we were really looking forward to that! 

We didn't do much the first night, just unpacked and chilled in the hotel.

The next day we got up early, had breakfast in the hotel and then walked to Seaworld (it was a 5 minute walk from the hotel!)We were there for the whole day and had a great time.
I will write about our time at Seaworld in another post!

The next day we didn't do much, just took a drive around and hung out in the pool. Calleigh loved playing by the pool, she is still a little bit afraid of water but it didn't stop her playing in the shallow end, even though the water was freezing!
That night we took Calleigh to Downtown Disney and she got to play in the fountains again and we also took her in the T.Rex centre and she dug for some dinosaur bones, or more precisely, buried my foot in the sand.

We really wanted to take Calleigh to either Disney or Universal Studios but we just couldn't justify spending the money when we realised that Calleigh was still a bit too short for most rides, so instead we planned on going to Aquatica and booked ourselves a Cabana for the day!
It was the best plan ever as Calleigh absolutely loved it there! Her favourite was the wave pool and playing on the sandy beach. She didn't go on any slides with me but she did have a float around the lazy river. I think she enjoyed it, even though she gripped onto me the whole time with her death grip haha!

That night we also took Calleigh to play Mini Golf, it was fun although she just cheated the whole way round by picking up her ball and putting it inches away from the hole.

On our last day we took Calleigh to Seaworld again to see Shamu one last time. We didn't stay as long this time as she happened to find the water fountains and played in them until she was soaked through!

This time Calleigh also went on her first roller coaster- The Shamu Express. It was hilarious, she got off and said to me "Phew! That was so fast!".

The next morning we got up early to get a good start towards our next stop. Even though it was our last day in Florida we still had some holiday left. The road we took home was a long route through Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. Look out for another post with more about our journey back!

Simple Stroller Rental Review

If you are like me then the last thing you want to be worrying about when going on vacation is fitting the stroller in the car or even remembering to take it along (been there once, it was a nightmare!). So for our trip to Florida I decided to go with renting a stroller for our trip. 

After comparing a few Florida based rental sites, including Disney, I decided on a company called Simple Stroller Rental. 

Simple Stroller Rental is a family owned business in Central Florida that was born out of an unfortunate bad experience with another rental company. Because of this they started up their own stroller rental business offering higher quality rentals and better customer service. 

When it came to ordering my stroller online I found it super easy to navigate. There is no need for account registration you just need to fill out a reservation form with your travel dates, hotel address and payment information. Piece of cake. 

I ordered the City Micro Single as that was plenty enough to cart Calleigh in for a week but they also offer a full range of single and double strollers to fit your needs as well as accessories such as a rain cover for a little extra. 

The price of a stroller I had is an initial charge of $15, the rain cover for $10 and the daily fee of only $5 per day. To rent a stroller in a Disney park is $15 per day and they are no where near as comfortable. The great thing about Simple Stroller Rental is that they charge by the day whereas other companies tend to charge on a weekly basis meaning if you only want it for 4 days you still have to pay for the week. 

As you can expect I had my fears- What if the pushchair wasn't there? What if I had to carry Calleigh around for the week? Did I put the hotel address in correctly? All of these thoughts ran through my head but I was pleasantly reassured when, on the morning of our arrival at the hotel, I received a text message confirming that our stroller had been delivered and was waiting for us at the hotel.

When we arrived at the hotel the stroller was indeed waiting for us at reception. Calleigh couldn't wait to get in it and try it out (she has to try everything out, every time we are in Toys R Us she has to do test naps on the cots). The stroller was in perfect condition and very clean, it almost looked brand new. 

It was very easy to manoeuvre, perfect for wheeling around people in a busy park and getting it up and down was simple too with a one pull system. Calleigh gave it her full approval the first time we went out in it, she fell straight to sleep! 

The rain cover came in extremely useful. One minute it was nice and the sunny, next minute the heavens opened above us. It was really quick to attach and covered the whole pushchair perfectly with no gaps or struggle to pull it over the bottom. Suffice to say we got very wet but Calleigh remained nice and dry. 

After our holiday was over we left the pushchair at the hotel reception for it to be picked up, there was nothing else I needed to do. 

Overall I was extremely happy with the stroller and the service we received and will definitely be using them again come our next trip to Florida. 

For more information visit the Simple Stroller Rental website or connect with them via the 

Simple Stroller Rental Facebook Page 

or find them on Twitter.

A huge thank you to Simple Stroller Rental for providing us with the stroller for this review. If any of my readers are planning a trip to Central Florida for a vacation and would like the peace of mind I had they are offering a 10% discount if you use the code "calleighemma". 

Disclosure: I am participating in a blogger campaign and received this rental free of charge for the purpose of this review. My thoughts are completely my own and are in no way influenced by the brand. I was not compensated in any other way for this post. 

Eating Out with a Toddler

When Calleigh was a baby it was really easy for us to go out for a meal. Most of the time Calleigh would remain asleep in the pushchair and if she did wake up a bit of milk would normally keep her happy. She was very good as a baby.

Even when she grew a bit older and was big enough to be put in a high chair she would sit there and look around quite happy. I never purchased any kid's meals when she was that young and normally brought some kind of bowl or packet food with me  for her to have. 

Now though, it is a completely different story. 

Calleigh is older, more curious and much more of a fidget bum. Because of this we tend not to go out very much anymore. 

On our recent trip to Florida we didn't have much choice and had to eat out. 

Our preferred sort of place to eat with Calleigh is somewhere that offers a buffet and the option for kids to eat free. That way we are not restricted to a less than exciting kids menu and don't have to pay for something Calleigh is not going to eat. 

Seating wise we try to get a booth if we can, that was Calleigh can sit next to us on a booster seat instead of in a high chair. Calleigh doesn't stay sat in the high chair very long now and tries her best to climb out of them unless we can keep her entertained. Restaurants that offer crayons for kids are great!

On my birthday we went for a meal at TGI Fridays and I was very happy to see a more exciting kids menu, with more than just chicken nuggets or burgers. We brought Calleigh the spaghetti with marinara sauce. She loves spaghetti! When the meal arrived it was huge! 

That was a pretty successful experience. 

Others have not been so good. We went to one restaurant and Calleigh would just not sit still. Everything was thrown on the floor, she kept shouting and was generally just a nightmare. Although some bloke sitting across from us found her hilarious. I partly blame him Calleighs behaviour, his laughing made her think it was okay to carry on what she was doing and she acted up for the crowd.

We plan to try and go out more often as if we don't get her used to the environment and how to act then she will just carry on. Don't get me wrong I want it to be a fun experience for her too so I don't plan to just have her sit there in silence, only able to move her hands but I would prefer a little less animal behaviour.

It seems to be hit and miss with Calleigh. Sometimes she will be an angel and eat all her food and really enjoy herself playing with the crayons. Other times, well let's just say we sometimes want to walk out mid way through our meal. 

Magic Kingdom and My Birthday

The morning of my birthday I woke up to hear Paul banging around in the other room of the hotel. As I sat on the bed with Calleigh beans waiting for him to be finished, Paul made his entrance with a cup of tea in hand. 

Perfect. 

He invited me into the room and I was amazed to see he had decorated it with streamers and birthday balloons and on the table lay my birthday cards and presents. It was lovely. Thank you to everyone who sent me cards! 

Of course Calleigh was straight in there with the balloons and the confetti. By the time I had finished opening my presents confetti was everywhere and we found out that the dye in it also dyes your skin after freaking out when we saw little pink circles all over calleigh's feet.

Afterwards, as planned, we headed to Disney's Magic Kingdom Park. When we arrived we chose to take the ferry boat across, Calleigh loved looking out the window as we went across the lake. Our first stop was to pick up my birthday badge from customer service. While there we saw Snow White and Marie from Aristocats.
I had dressed Calleigh up in her Sofia dress and everyone commented on how beautiful she looked. And she did, it brought tears to my eyes to see her looking like a little princess.

It was a very hot day again and the sun was shining so when we decided to go for something to eat and were told we had to leave the stroller outside we didn't think much of it and went inside. We had chosen to eat at the new Be Our Guest Restaurant. It was gorgeous, it was like walking into Beauty and the Beast! We had carved Turkey sandwiches with fries and Calleigh and I also had dessert. Dessert was the cutest, tastiest small cake I have ever had.

After we had finished we went back to pick up the stroller, only to find out it had rained, a lot! The stroller was soaking wet. We ended up having to buy a towel to dry it off so Calleigh could go in and have a nap. After the rain had stopped we walked around the rest of the park. Unfortunately the rain had made it so humid it was almost unbearable so we left a bit earlier than planned. 

It continued raining on and off that afternoon so we didn't have chance to do much outside of the dry hotel room. 

That evening we went out for a birthday meal at TGI Fridays. It was gorgeous and Calleigh loved tucking in to my free birthday sundae (two treats in one day!). When we got back that night Calleigh was asleep so we tucked her into bed and then Paul came out with my birthday cake, all lit up with 24 candles. It was carrot cake- my favourite! 

I blew out the candles and Paul and I enjoyed a beer together before joining Calleigh in the land of nod.

Thank you for an amazing birthday Paul!

You can see more of our trip to Disney here

Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney Junior Live

On Monday we went for our first day at a Disney theme park. We chose to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios instead of Animal Kingdom after we found out they did a Disney Junior Live stage show. 

I had planned to get up early and go and have some breakfast before we go but me being me turned off my alarm when it went off at 7 in the morning and instead stayed in bed until gone 8. So we skipped breakfast and headed straight for the park. Our first stop when we got there was to go and see the stage show before it got too busy later. 

We were ushered into the theatre but unfortunately it was quite full so we could only get a seat at the back. It didn't make any difference though, Calleigh could see fine and wasn't in danger of getting knocked over by others. 

As the show started and all of Calleigh's favourite characters came on stage Calleigh's face lit up. Her eyes were glued to the stage for the whole show and I was so impressed to see her playing along and singing and clapping, she even had a little dance. I swear I don't think I've ever cried so much, I was so happy to see her so happy that the tears just came flooding out. 

Calleigh's favourite Disney program is The Little Einsteins but unfortunately due to the release of Sofia the First they seem to have been scrapped from the show. I was quite gutted that Calleigh wouldn't get to see them, she always loves to pat pat along with them. We have also been looking for some Little Einsteins toys but they don't have any, anywhere! Besides spending near $200 for a limited edition Rocket toy on Ebay. 

After the show we went to meet Jake and Handy Manny. Calleigh loved seeing Jake and gave him a big hug and shared a little dance with him. She wasn't so keen on Handy Manny though. 

We stopped for lunch at the Pizza Parlour and walked around the rest of the park whilst Calleigh had a well needed nap. When she woke up she was so hot and sweaty that we decided to call it a day and headed off home. I must say though we had the best day and I will never forget how excited and happy she was. She kept giving us the biggest hugs, a little thank you in her own way.