Colyer Caravan (Part 2)

We got to Orlando on Friday evening in a complete deluge. I mean, it was raining. But the weather the rest of the week was absolutely perfect. We're talking 80s and no rain. It really couldn't have been better. One of the hottest days (upper 80's) was at Disney but it was mostly cloudy the whole day (with just a tiny sprinkle at one point) so it was totally bearable. We rented a house for the week at a pretty low cost once we split it three ways and it was just perfect. Besides the late 80's decor, we wouldn't have changed a thing. There were 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms so each family had their own space and their own bathroom. A big dining room/formal living room and a separate eat in kitchen, family room plus the big patio and pool! Plenty of space for the 6 adults and 6 kiddos.

The "Kid's table" in the kitchen:

Jon found this guy in the road so he spent the next couple days in our backyard and swam in the pool with the boys (you know Kietlyn wouldn't step foot in the pool while he was in there!! And I don't blame her. My sister and I hated the comedy/drama masks tiled at the bottom of my grandma's pool in Florida and wouldn't swim over them. There's no way we would have swam with a weird looking turtle!) And if you're worried about the turtle being in the chlorine, me and Judie were too. But Jon assured us it was fine. If you find a dead bottlenose turtle in Davenport, FL, you can blame Jon and call the animal rights group on him.

Oh, look. Dawson was pouting. Shocker! (This little man does not handle lack of sleep well. So this was pretty much the theme of the week since he was getting 3 or 4 hours a night less than he gets at home :(

 The pool: 

Not to be outdone by his younger cousin, Caleb finally braved the pool without his floaties later in the week and did great! (He and Bennett couldn't be more opposite as far as risk taking goes so it was great to see him conquer his fears! He really could have done it months ago but a little peer pressure can be a good thing sometimes!)

These two were nearly inseparable all week. They got along so well, it was awesome. All the kids did. Dawson and Landon had little spats like normal 2/3 yr olds but overall were totally fine and there were only maybe 2 or 3 times when Caleb and Bennett were upset with each other. That says a lot considering they were with each other for 11 days!!
They had come in from the pool and Bennett followed Caleb in his room when he went to get dressed and they came out like this. Caleb said, "he didn't have any clothes so I gave him some of mine!" They said they were "twins" and were so proud. Bennett even straightened his hair down to "match Caleb".

One of the first days, Dawson and Landon tucked themselves in and were in there for at least 20 or 30 minutes.

It was so heart-warming to see the deeper bonds they all developed over the week. They are all best buds and I hope they still are when they're teenagers!