Easter Egg Hunts + Art

I can't believe Easter is here already. This year is going really fast. Anyway, Owen has always loved the Easter egg hunts. I know some neighborhoods do their own, but there are some great, and free public ones also. Here's some info:

Winter Garden Lions Club Annual Egg Hunt:
Saturday, April 7 at 1:00pm
Newton Park, 29 West Garden Avenue

Winter Park 58th annual Easter Egg Hunt
Saturday, April 7 at 9:30am
Central Park in downtown Winter Park

Also worth checking out:

Eggs-cellent Easter Adventure at the Orlando Science Center
Saturday, April 7, 10am-2pm

There are a lot of cute Easter egg decorating ideas out there. I personally love these Eggheads on the picture above – via Sweet Paul.

Happy Easter!

SeaWorld

We had a great time at SeaWorld yesterday. We got there a little after 10 a.m. and it was about as crowded as I've ever seen it. We were not surprised, being that it is spring break and easter. Still, I think we are theme park pros because we did pretty much all we wanted without dealing with the crowds. The easiest way to do this at SeaWorld is to turn right when at the start. Most people turn left, towards the dolphins. By turning right you get a clear path through the Water Front and across the bridge all the way to the Wild Artic. If you keep going that way you'll find Shamu's Happy Harbor — the playground, rides for kids, and most importantly, the baby care center. At lunch, we headed to the Seafire Inn Restaurant, and once again avoided the crowds by ordering at the front booth, instead of getting in line to browse and pick an item. We sat on the outside porch, which is open but has a system to keep big hungry birds away from your food. It was nice. We also found out yesterday that they're redoing the whole penguin area. Antarctica is scheduled to open in Spring 2013. I'm excited to see what it'll be like.

Storybook Circus at the Magic Kingdom

So, the first phase of the new Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom is now open. I still don't feel very at ease with the fact that Mickey's and Minnie's houses are no longer there, however, I really do like the way everything is looking so far. We were there about a week ago and encountered some big lines – it's spring break! That didn't stop Owen and Will from flying over the water aboard the new Dumbo though. They loved it. The Barnstormer looks fun too.

Winter Park Art Festival 2012

I'm glad we had a chance to go to the Winter Park Art Festival this year. The Children's Workshop Village was a lot of fun. I would love to have some of those big wooden easels in our backyard...

Weekend Happenings

I was looking for things to do this weekend and found out that quite a bit is going on in the Orlando area. I collected some of the things that looked interesting to me and decided to do a post about it. Maybe I should do this every Thursday...

Click on the titles to find out specific information on each event:

1. Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. Through May 20th. We havent been this year, but we really enjoyed it last year.

2. Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. Friday through Sunday. I love the idea of the Children's Workshop Village.

3. Cruz-N-Car Show. Every third Saturday. It says 6PM-9PM, but we went there once at around 4PM and the cars were already there. If you or your kids are into cars, you'll like this.

4. Orlando Science Center. A few things at the Science Center this weekend: Bob the Builder exhibit, St. Patrick's Day Workshop, and Fossil Fest

5. St. Patrick's Day Storytime. Saturday at the Winter Garden Village Barnes and Noble.

6. Lyle the Crocodile. Saturday and Sunday. Orlando Repertory Theatre. (Image via Victor Davila)

Enjoy!

Legoland

The trip to Legoland was a happy one. I had a smile on my face the whole time. The rides are all new and shinny, and most of them are geared towards little ones. 36 inches seems to be the magic number. We only waited in line once – for about 15 minutes. The weather was awesome. Since the park is located on what used to be Cypress Gardens, the trees are grown, and there's even a few water falls. And if you walk through the part labeled "Cypress Gardens" you'll get to see a really amazing giant Banyan tree.

Owen is a big Lego fan, so he of course loved it all. And, baby Kellan didn't really get to ride on anything, but he loved the Baby Care Center, where he could enjoy some alone time with mom and eat in peace. I do wish some of the rides would allow for babies to ride on your lap, like at Disney. But no biggie – Will and I just took turns riding with Owen.

After a full day there, we decided we were likely to be back before the end of the year, so on the way out, we upgraded our tickets to annual passes. We did one of them as a "Plus" so it'd include parking. Since we had our receipt in hand they refunded us for that day's parking. A friend had also given us the tip to google "Legoland coupon" before we went. I don't know how long that will work for, but our child's admission was free that day thanks to that.

As far as favorites for me, I'd have to say Miniland USA. It was noon, and seeing all those cities built out of Legos made me forget how hungry I was. Only something really amazing can do that.

BTW, I think the Legoland website has lots of good info, but I don't think the pictures and videos there truly reflect how nice it is.