It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.
This was one of my many, many thoughts when the road trip to Florida took many hours longer than I originally planned. But I made it there and now I’ve made it back home.
Vacation! Ah….bliss!
The first few days after returning home….not so much 🙂 I’ve been playing catch up with my normal home life. Which, in the summertime, is not normal at all. I haven’t found my groove with the kids home full-time. It’s highly doubtful that I’ll actually find it before it’s time for them to return to school.
The vacation I just returned from was just me and 4 kids. Yes, Four! We allowed the oldest to bring a friend this time. The first segment of the trip was to Old Town in Kissimmee, Florida. My family started going there some years back because they have the Saturday Nite Classic Car Cruise, America’s longest continuous running car cruise. My parents have participated in the cruise on some occasions, but this time was just a family meet up for the weekend.
Since today is Thursday, I’m including some of the interesting doors that I passed. I included the top one because it’s just too amazing to not be included in this post. The other sets are shown to consider the WordPress Photo Challenge this week of partners. If you want to see some other amazing doors, you can check out Norm 2.0, the host of Thursday doors, found here.
There were some other really neat doors for future posts, but I’m going to diverge at the path and continue on with the partnering theme. We met my parents, my brother, sister-in-law, and my two nephews. My kids have a total of six cousins. Due to the way life works out sometimes, there are mostly large age gaps. However, my brother’s oldest son is only three years younger than my daughter. My daughter and my nephew had a day of play on Saturday. Located next to the walking area of Old Town is Fun Spot America. It has carnival-like rides and go-karts.
I loved watching the two of them race along, laughing as they moved from ride to ride. It was a typical, hot day in Florida. The sun beat relentlessly as the storm clouds gathered in the distance. They paused in shade only long enough to drink some water before dashing away to the next piece of fun. They took time out to go through the obstacle fun house where the three-year-old could tag along. Then on to bumper cars, roller coasters, and go-karts….over and over. Even when the rain rolled in, it couldn’t diminish their fun. They moved to the arcade and battled each other in air hockey. When the rain passed, they were out again.
It made my heart so happy watching them. I grew up with a lot of cousins that were close to my age. There were large family gatherings where we would spend hours outdoors creating new worlds, exploring the woods, and chasing fireflies. Late in the evening, we would lay underneath the stars dreaming of faraway galaxies. Every now and then we would be convinced that we had seen an alien ship passing by.
I always wanted that kind of childhood for my own children. While life can’t be predicted and it didn’t turn out that way, I am so happy for these moments. Glimpsing the kind of love and camaraderie that can last a lifetime. I still have cousins with whom I can pick back up where we last left off. We can reminisce about our lives and they know me in ways that so many others don’t.
Family has always been an important component of my life. These two would pick back up on their fun when we traveled back to my hometown of Naples on the third segment of our summer trip. They already have years of memories to reminisce about and many more to create.
Let your light shine!
Amy
*also submitted for weekly discover challenge
Not only do I love that first door, but the entire store front. Wonderful! 🙂
It definitely was an eye-catching storefront! 🙂
Really lovely post about family as first friends, and how nice to take a friend 🙂 I had two cousins close in age on each side, I seem to only have one now, but you’re right, that was a great part of childhood.
The storefront is really neat! I love all that vintage stuff. And the big red bus! Love it!
Thank you! 🙂 My dad has a lot of family on both sides so there were also many distant cousins that were my age running around family gatherings! I speak to only a few on a regular basis, but enjoy hearing about what all the others are doing through FB.
I really like the vintage feeling that they’ve created in the bustle of that area of Orlando.
I have a pile of cousins, but most were adults by the time I was born. They were more babysitters than playmates 😉
I haven’t been to Kissimmee since…high school!
Lovely post. Looks like you had a really special time. I grew up with a lot of cousins on both sides and our kids have 12 on my husbands side and on my side the first one is due in December! So exciting to have my sister have a baby. I know what you mean, I love seeing the kids form those special bonds that are forever.
We had a lot of fun. We traveled down the state in phases! I grew up off and on with 9 of my cousins, but there were many distant cousins of the same age that were at the regular family gatherings.
We have an older nephew that lived with us before going into the Marines and they are close with him as well. I love watching bonds form 🙂
Sounds as if you had a wonderful time making memories, Amy. Family is so important and what can I say? I love vacations! 🙂 I also love the big red bus door, although the other ones are wonderfully quirky.
janet
Thanks! We had a lot of fun. Family is so important….vacation too, or at least a break from the every day! 🙂
I love that top British Store door! I’d be in there buying tea, and biscuits.
I rarely see partnered doors like those!
Cousins. Mine were hundreds, and thousands of miles away, and very few. I see them rarely. My kids only have 2 cousins whom they see rarely. I wish it were different too, but it is what it is. Thankfully, my kids were happy hanging out together.
#1 Grandson has more cousins on his father’s side which has been really a nice for him. I hope they always remain close, and pick up where they left off.
I don’t think I’ve seen partnered doors like that either!
One set of my cousins traveled back to our town once a year. Most others lived in the same town until I was a teen and then some of those moved away.
I had local distant cousins that would gather for holidays at my great-grandparents and other sets that would meet for a large gathering when my great-aunt would travel down from Vermont.
I had my kids close in age in the hopes that they would enjoy hanging out together. That’s the case most of the time 🙂
Looks like a lot fun, I love bumper cars!
They had a great time! I didn’t participate, just enjoyed watching. I’m a big lover of roller coasters though!
I like roller coasters too, just don’t put me on anything that spins.
Wonderful post Amy 🙂
I have 14 cousins total and I have been very close to 9 of them for most of my life. Now that we’re all grown up and living our own busy lives, it’s wonderful that we still make an effort to get together a few times a year. It’s really like having extra brothers and sisters isn’t it?
And you’ve got some awesome doors in this post too – I really like that first one 😉
Thanks! I really like that first one also! Cousins really can be like extra siblings. I always looked forward to family gatherings when I could visit them. It’s great that you have so many that you stay in contact with! 🙂
Looks like so much fun. i have family in that area. 🙂
It was a lot of fun. I prefer less busy streets for daily life though!! 🙂
I agree. 🙂
What wonderful memories you’ve brought to mind for me! Great post!
Thank you! 🙂