Houghs, Whites, and Water Shenanigans

Hi gang.

So, seeing how it's May and everything, it only makes sense to post a few entries detailing the annual Hough Family Florida Vacation.  As you all know, every year Dad and Cindy come down for a week or so in May and stay at a fancy-pants resort to get their 'Florida' on.  This year that was at the Lake Buena Vista Resort (I think that's what it's called - the one with the big-ass pirate ship pool), as the Whites came down as well.  And just like we did two years ago when everyone was down, Dad and Cindy treated everyone to Typhoon Lagoon.

And so here's a buttload of pictures from our morning/afternoon under the baking Florida sun.

Enjoy:

Fighting our way through Disney's new 'Magical Balls' (I'm not sure that's what they're really called - don't quote me on that.)

Posing in front of a surfing alligator.  Because those guys are everywhere.

Taking a second look at this ship now, having just posted this, that boat doesn't look to be full-sized.  I mean, I guess it could be if it were manned by dwarfs (midgets, whatever.)

Our older daughter no longer fears poorly-paid park employees dressed up in sauna suits.

Abby watches the wave pool. . . in horror.

Having small, cowardly children, we're pretty anchored to the kiddie zones of the park whenever we hit this sort of place up. . .

We're not supposed to let our kids climb on the rocks, but. . . screw it.

Dad, Kris, and the Whites skipped off to the waterslides right away, leaving Cindy and I to wrangle the girls in the kid section of the park. . .

Okay, nobody expected the girls to try this one out (as I said before, they're cowards). . . but holy shit did they take to this tube ride.

They went up and down this slide/ride/whatever a half dozen times before Cindy and I were able to tear them away from it.

They tried this one a few times, but it didn't prove to be as popular.  I blame the water jets along the side, which have less water pressure than a weak kitchen sink.

Back towards the main wave pool, off in the zero-entry kid area, there's two other waterslides, which Abby hated right away.

. . . the Cannonball, however, was a big fan.

It usually takes Abby a solid two hours to warm up to wading in the water past her knees.

Hough Headquarters.

Alayna has recently been introduced to pop.  She likes Sprite, but we're not down with the whole 'giving sugary chemical shitstorms to kids' thing.

We briefly attempted to get the girls out into the wave pool (which is, more or less, the coolest thing at the park), but they weren't having any of it. . .

Another break

Some of the Cannonball's artwork on the edge of the zero-entry pool

After the kids had eaten lunch and gotten their second wind, we decided to hit up the Lazy River  (my personal favorite attraction at Typhoon Lagoon)

Setting out. . .

This definitely seemed to be more of our kids' cup o'tea.  What can I say - laziness is in their genes.

These double tubes suck.

Preparing to go underneath the waterfall (always a blast when traveling with kids who are deathly afraid of water.)

After the Lazy River, we decided to treat the kids to some ice cream sundaes. . .

. . . and by 'sundaes,' I of course mean 'gigantic buckets of ice cream and toppings.'

Passing the S.S. Midget on the way out of the park. . .

. . . and the surfing alligator.

And now it's time for some aloe. . .

- Brian