ORLANDO

Prepare for a lengthy post....!

Eddie has a client, Melvin Ingram, who plays for the Chargers. Melvin was invited to the Pro Bowl last year, and Eddie went and had the best time... Melvin's family made him promise that if they were to return to the Pro Bowl, Eddie needed to come back and bring his family. We were on board. 


So last Thursday, we checked out of school a little early and loaded the car and hit the road. Now, I should say we weren't too pumped about driving, but last minute flight were CAH-RAZY. And, I also should say I am the first to say when my kids are being annoying or less than enjoyable. They were SO SO SO good on this drive. Like, shockingly good.

Thank God for little boys.....

We drove to Jacksonville on Thursday, stayed the night in a hotel and then got up early on Friday to drive to Orlando in time for practice. Nug held out until about 10, then snoozed for a bit, bless his heart.

We got to Orlando early and checked into our hotel- we stayed in the players hotel which was really cool on so many fronts. All these famous players are just walking around- literally everywhere you look.... and the hotel was not open to the public so there was not one fan in there, so these guys all had their guard down and were totally comfortable. It was all players and their families. Melvin's family rented a house, so we were his family in the hotel. Because of this, we had to submit stuff ahead of time to have our credentials checked. Seriously. So when we checked in, we had to collect our badges and they had to be on at all times- and this was super strict. Even the most famous players had to have their badges on. The boys thought this was really neat:

After we checked in, we headed over to the ESPN center for the practice. It was very cool out there, although the sun felt good.

  The practice was cool, but after the practice, we got to get on the field and meet a bunch of players, so that was realllllly cool:

After practice and field time, we headed back to the hotel.  Melvin was in the lobby bar so we chatted with him a bit before heading up to the room real fast.

 Cal was bummed with Chiefs lost because he wanted them to go to the super bowl, but then he learned that meant that Patrick Mahomes would be at the pro bowl- and he realllllly wanted to meet him. Well, we happened to hop in the elevator with him! Not sure if you can tell from the pic, but Cal was about to pop. He was super friendly and happy to take a picture. 

We geeked out a bit more, seeing some players (Cal somehow knew every single one of them....and most of their stats....),

 Then we headed over to Melvin's family's house they rented- it was massive and really nice! This is his niece and she LOVED Andy! These two were side by side the whole rest of the night.

The next morning, we were hitting Disney! We had to sort of take plans minute by minute because we were supposed to stick with Melvin and fam but then things sort of fell apart, so we took the tickets and hit the park!
While we were waiting for the bus in the lobby, Emmit Smith was standing behind us... had to take a pic... pretty cool.

We loaded the bus and headed to Disney!

 Here we are!

The park was crowded, somewhat... but not too bad! And that's good because all fast passes were filled up... peeps do that way in advance! WOW.... noted. 

We explored, rode some rides, waited in some lines... and got a sick hat. 

 It was cold on this day. Like, really cold, especially for Orlando. I think it was 48 with the wind chill- and it was blowing....! I threw a vest in my bag for me in case it got cold, and Andy ended up wearing it- haha

The park is so pretty at night. We stayed until the fireworks show and then scooted out. 

 It was a really fun day- wish I had planned some fast passes in advance, but lesson learned for next time! I loved this time with my people,

We ended the night with warm showers and room service. It was pretty great!

Sunday was game day, so we had a lazy morning in the room... goofy was still....goofy. 

Then it was time to get game ready. Sadly, it was POURING out. And blowing. So it was raining sideways. Ugh. We layered up....a lot.... And stayed goofy (he loooooooves his hat. LOVES.)

 

We got some Melvin Pro Bowl shirts to put on and we were ready to go!

 (hat still on....)

 Melvin has a good fan club!

The game was....wet. There are no other words to describe it. Well, wet and cold. And sideways blowing- there was just no way to stay dry.

 We poncho'd up, but with the wind blowing the rain, we were all pretty wet quickly.

 We made it to the third quarter before we decided to head on out. It was fun, but reallllllly cold, hahaha!

We got in the car after the game (after changing in the hotel bathroom!) and started driving to get a head start on the trip home.

Once again, the boys were beyond good in the car, thanks Apple. Also, the look like teenagers back there.

 PHEW what a long post.... I withheld posting ALLLLL of the pictures, you're welcome.

Can't wait to do it again!