Valentines Day in the books

We had a good one. how bout you??? We have a tendency to stretch out our fun...

We started last thursday. I woke up to flowers. And not the standard roses (not that there's anything wrong with roses, I love them!) But this was a sunny mixed flower bouquet of orange lilies, multi-colored gerbera daisies, little purple flowers, and lots of green. Very me. Then, it was a japanese dinner. We're big hibachi fans, but rarely go. The evening was finished up with a little dessert of italian ice at the beach, even though it was a little chilly ;)

We decided, a little late, I guess, that we were going to go away for the weekend. Both of us were off on Monday and we mulled over where to go. We live in FL now, so there are lots of things close by. We decided on an old favorite we hadn't visited in a while...Universal Studios. We got tickets through the base, which is a deal, and decided to splurge on 1 night in a super nice hotel (yep, that's right, we live close enough to Orlando to go for the day!). We stayed at Universal's Royal Pacific Resort, which ended up being the best deal of all. I have quite an affinity for tropical decor and this hotel was awesome! The rooms were beautiful. I want their vanity in my own house! They had a great lounge area, appropriately called the "Orchid room" where they had breakfast, and on the evenings had a sushi bar. We drove down Saturday afternoon and checked in late in the afternoon. We hit up the hottub and the pool before heading out to the hotel's river taxi City Walk for dinner at HardRock Cafe. We walked around the city walk for a while, enjoying the concert going on there for the Mardi Gras events there. We went back to the hotel and had a fun frozen cocktail amidst the orchids.

The next day, Sunday, we got up to hit the parks. The weather was gorgeous! I wore a tank top and capris and was very comfortable. It actually got pretty warm in the afternoon. We were able to leave our car at the hotel, and take the river taxi again to the parks. Then, we utilized the best deal of the weekend...our room keys were express passes for every ride. We got to skip all the lines! We were able to ride everything, at both parks that we wanted, and some things twice! We even hit it on the right day... we were there at a time of year when it gets dark earlier, and on a holiday weekend, where they stay open late, so we got to ride the Hulk, their big roller coaster in the dark! I don't know anyone who's done that. It was a long day, but super fun!

I highly recommend the little vacation we took. Like I said, we splurged a bit on the hotel, but only stayed 1 night, and still were able to take advantage of the perks! We're spoiled, aren't we?