Thousand Trails Orlando which is really in Clermont, FL

As I mentioned, the Cropps talked to us about spending some time in Disney with them. We tried for a site at Disney's Fort Wilderness campground. Unfortunately, they were "sold out" (though there was an empty site next to the Cropps the whole time). But, the good news was that we were able to get into Thousand Trails Orlando (or, as the cool kids say- "TTO"). Getting into there let us spend some time with some of our other favorite people, the Churches.

Because we were leaving on a non-travel work day, Mandie took the helm and piloted the rig while I read a proposed EPA regulation. I do love having a wife who drives.

We found a spot back in the D section. We like it back there because it's a little more wooded than the other parts of the park. But, it's further away from most of the amenities. It was a pretty decent site.

Once there, I went to work looking for a slow leak in one of my tires. We lose about 10psi every 2-3 weeks. Turns out there was a little bubbling around the valve stem. I tightened it with a couple of 1/8-1/4 turns. The bubbling stopped and the air pressure held. #win

We met up lake side with the Churches one afternoon. The boys played and the girls talked.

Proof that she loves me, homemade ham & cheese hoagie:

Along the idea of "it's always something", my grill finally stopped lighting the whole way around the burner tube and one of the door struts for a hatch broke.

Because TTO is so close to Disney, we spent a very rainy day at Animal Kingdom with the Cropps. Unfortunate for them but fortunate for us, they took the rain with them when they left and the remainder of the day was pretty nice!

We rode Kali River Rapids for the first time and actually ended up riding it 3 times back to back right before the park closed:

The next day, we headed into Magic Kingdom. There were literally more people than I've ever seen at the parks. The line for the Ferry at the Ticket and Transportation Center was crazy; getting through security was nutty; the line for the People Mover almost went back to Space Mountain; and so on. We still had a good time. Until dinner- we had the absolutely worst food I've ever experienced at Disney at Pinocchio's Haus. Downright gross. But, that aside- we had a fun time.

As usual, we hung out later than the Cropps (cough) lightweights (cough). We hit a few more rides and watched a parade.

Paige even watched the parade with Rach:

The food was so bad that we had to make it up with a trip back to Mellow Mushroom. I really do love that place!

Leaving Orlando, we headed northward to Mrytle Beach. On the way, we stopped off at a Harvest Hosts Farm for a night. But, of course- that's a blog for another day.

Peace River in Wauchula, FL

We headed on down the road from Clerbrook to another Thousand Trails campground called Peace River. This campground is quite busy in the winter and is a huge snowbirding destination. Fortunately for us, we were getting there in late March and the crowd was thinning out. In fact, we got a site that appeared to be recently vacated by a seasonal camper (based on the post holes in the ground and the variety of hardware left laying around). I raked the site clean and it cleaned up pretty nicely. The best part- it was fully covered in trees and pretty big!

Played some minigolf:

Watched people hunt for shark teeth:

Planned our summer/fall:

Mandie got all official with her Jamberry selling:

Taped up my skylight (with the theory that it would stop the leak in reality, I just made a leaking eyesore):

Gratuitous grilled food shot:

Easter happened and we went fairly non-traditional. Goodie baskets/bags, egg hunt, and then a trip to Bradenton Beach for the day. Unfortunately, it turned pretty crazy windy and ultimately started kicking the sand up to the point that it was stinging. We finished the day up with trying to fly kites and ironically, for as windy as it was at the beach, there was almost no wind at the campground.

On Monday, the Cropps came out to have dinner with us. The kids got along great. We also started learning how much we have in common and how absolutely opposites we really are; I'm not sure how you can be both...

And while there, they convinced us to head back to the Orlando area and do a couple of days at Disney. ("Convinced" might be a strong word...) Fort Wilderness was sold out, so we landed back at Thousand Trails Orlando. But that'll be another blog entry...

So, we packed up and rolled out. The leaves did a number on my slide toppers!

Yep, that was our 9 days there. Kind of relaxing, really.