This weekend we spent some time with Brett’s parents and the kids at The Grove Resort & Waterpark for a staycation. It was only about 30 minutes from our house, which is still considered Winter Garden so, it really was a staycation! We chose it because of all the on-site amenities and things to do, and because it was close to home, to save on travel time. Although it’s super close to the parks and has transportation to them, we wanted a place to go where we can chill there the whole day and still have lots to do.
We got there on Friday after work, the kids had a half day, and hung out by the pool. Mostly the hot tub because it is getting a little chilly for Floridians here! So I was glad to see they had a nice big one. The property had really nice grounds, too. Lots of walking paths, one that was between the three resort pools and water park. Several pretty lakes and a dock that had paddle boards and other water activities available.
That night we went out to dinner at Bonefish Grill, and it was the first time Rylee ordered off the adult menu. *Tear* She is really growing up so fast! And she also ordered the best thing on the menu by the way!
The kids had to get up early the next morning to go to soccer, which worked out great that we were only 25 minutes away. Rylee had one of the best games of her life! She played amazing defense, which is her position of choice, but she also almost scored her first goal on offense! We could all tell that she was so focused and into the game. It was really great to watch.
In between the kids’ games, which we had a two hour break, we went to the Winter Garden Farmers Market to walk around and grab something to eat. The Cuban sandwiches are amazing, and they always sell out before noon! We were glad to grab one. And we tried their special—chicken meatballs, stuffed with mac-and-cheese, covered in Buffalo sauce and topped with blue cheese. Can you say yummy!?
I have no pictures of Reece’s game, because he likes to make sure I am not on my phone and watching. 😉 His team played great, although they lost, it was a physical game but fun to watch, and Reece did score a goal so he was proud.
Back at the resort, we explored the grounds more, went to the water park where Rylee went on the two big water slides. We are waiting for Reece to grow two more inches so he can ride the slides at places, because he really wants to so badly. He was a good sport about it though.
The water was pretty cold in a lot of the pools, so I only stuck to the hot tub and the lazy river. The kids enjoyed the splash park for a bit after we found out Reece was too short to ride the big slides. But after a while, they were getting a bit chilly too.
We found out while we were there, that The Grove Resort was putting on a trick-or-treating event around the property and the kids were so excited! It was really well done, too, and made it fun for the adults. They gave us a map at the activity center and we had to find all the trick-or-treating locations and get a special stamp. Then at the end, if we got a stamp from all of them, we were given a special goodie bag and could enjoy the Halloween dance party! They had games and music playing, it was really fun.
We had to head back to the room to watch the UCF game and eat our dinner which we ordered from Carrabas. And after that meal and a family game of Trouble, we were spent!
The next day, started the day off with a visit to the arcade and played some glow in the dark mini golf which was really fun. Then we spent some more time in the pool and lazy river before getting packed up to head home.
It was time to start preparing for the week, grab some groceries and do some cleaning before watching some of the NFL games on RedZone. It was such a great family weekend at The Grove Resort & Water Park. We just wished there was one more day in the weekend to enjoy it together!
