{"id":5075,"date":"2016-02-14T12:32:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-14T17:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hayesvision.com\/home\/?p=5075"},"modified":"2016-03-03T21:28:02","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T02:28:02","slug":"shopping-cocoa-beach-disney-cruise-ship-trains-fun-valentine-birthdayfest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hayesvision.com\/home\/shopping-cocoa-beach-disney-cruise-ship-trains-fun-valentine-birthdayfest\/","title":{"rendered":"Shopping in Cocoa Beach, Disney Cruise Ship & Trains – A Fun Valentine Birthdayfest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our long weekend shopping in Cocoa Beach, watching the cruise ships at Jetty Park, and a\u00a0Sunrail trip to Winter Park, all got started Sunday morning as Emily prepared her delicious Chocolate Chip Scones and I went to get her morning go-juice from the local Starbucks. \u00a0I returned home to the delicious aromas of baked breakfast goodness. \u00a0To accompany her tasty scones, Emily also made her famous homemade vanilla whipped cream for a perfect topping. \u00a0There really isn’t a better way to get the day started then warm chocolatey breakfast. \u00a0She prepared a half recipe for her parents’ to enjoy for their Valentine breakfast as well, and she even texted our neighbors and had me deliver two across the street.<\/p>\n

After we all enjoyed our breakfast goodies, we gathered up our Valentines’ cards and gifts and headed to the family room to exchange. \u00a0The boys got some fun books books and candy, while Emily and I exchanged some fun cards and small gifts. \u00a0Every year since I can remember, Emily gets me something that fits in a pretend cereal box of a cereal called “Smoochies.” \u00a0Every year she repairs the box and then saves it all year to use again. \u00a0The boys were most excited about\u00a0the Lego Mini figures awaiting them at the bottom of\u00a0their Valentine bags.<\/p>\n

Because we had worked the previous day on cleaning the house, we agreed that today was going to be a fun day out of the house. \u00a0After doing a little (and I mean little) research earlier in the week we saw a website for the Cocoa Beach Village Shopping area that, in our almost twenty years living in Orlando, we have never made the trip to see. \u00a0According to the images online it looked to be a pretty nice place to spend the afternoon. \u00a0After getting the family dressed (thanks, Grandma, for the awesome shirts!), the photo gear charged and bagged up, and a cooler of snacks, we were ready to go.<\/p>\n

\"Valentine's<\/p>\n

Of course we had to snap of photo of the boys in front of their doors because the night before they had been “heart attacked” by Emily. \u00a0This is a tradition of Emily’s where she puts all of the things that she\/we love about the boys on hearts and decorates their doors. \u00a0I had to chuckle because she was seen taking down the prior year’s hearts about three days before Valentine’s Day this year (they got an extended stay last year). \u00a0Hunter is getting harder to surprise as well, because he was still awake when we were taping them up this year. \u00a0Oh well…. he pretends not to know and we pretend to be stealth.<\/p>\n

\"Road<\/p>\n

It was about a 40 minute drive to the shopping center in Cocoa Beach where we arrived and “dropped the median age by about 20 years” according to the girl riding shotgun in our car. \u00a0The area was nice but didn’t exactly resemble the photos on the website that we reviewed (amazing what some good photography can do).<\/p>\n

Cocoa Village Shopping<\/h3>\n

\"Annie's<\/p>\n

After finding a parking spot at the end of the main drag, we got out and began to explore. \u00a0The boys, who weren’t overly excited about the notion of spending the afternoon shopping, found a bit of interest when the first store we came across was Annie’s Toy Chest<\/a>. \u00a0This was a neat toy store that was built in an old two story house. \u00a0Although there wasn’t a huge selection of toys, there was a small section of Legos where the boys located some surprise pack mini figures that they wanted to use their Valentine’s money from Grandma Jean and Papa Don for. \u00a0Being that it was our first stop, we encouraged the boys to hold onto their money and see if they found something else during our shopping trip that they wanted, and if not, we could stop back at the store on our way out. They reluctantly agreed and we continued on our tour of the Cocoa Beach Village area.<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/p>\n

The shopping area was historic and had a few bright spots but not a ton. \u00a0There were a few antique stores that I would have sworn had calendars on the wall indicating\u00a0it was 1955. \u00a0I was waiting for Doc and Marty to show up and start rigging up the clock tower. \u00a0After we left the store, Hunter muttered to Emily, “I do not have a preference for antique stores.” We found the Taylor Park area which was on the water and had some playground equipment and amphitheater. \u00a0We explored a bit but the boys weren’t too fired up to play on the crowded playground, so we walked down by the water and snapped a few photos.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

We headed back to the main road to continue our Sunday shopping as Emily had her sights set on the Mint Mermaid, a shop that she had researched online. \u00a0 The store was probably the highlight of the afternoon for Emily as she was able to find a couple souvenirs to take home.<\/p>\n

Having not seen another toy store, or any store for that matter, of interest to the boys, we made our way back to Annie’s Toy Chest to purchase a few Lego mini figures for the boys. This was the highlight of their afternoon as we opened the packs in the car before heading to our next destination.<\/p>\n

Jetty Park, Cocoa Beach, FL<\/h3>\n

\"Jetty<\/p>\n

We set the GPS for Jetty Park, a spot we had not been to in several years. We picked Jetty Park because we wanted a spot that had a beach and a great view of the cruise ships departing Port Canaveral. \u00a0 We arrived at around 3:30 so we had some time to kill before the ships set sail from Port Canaveral. \u00a0We grabbed our shovels and buckets and headed over to the Jetty Park beach area. \u00a0As you can see by the photo it was a chilly, overcast day, but the boys had a blast digging in the sand. \u00a0I, of course, love the beach no matter what the weather so I was in my happy place.<\/p>\n

\"Waving<\/p>\n

As the time reached about 4:15 we headed back to where we parked the car, which was the perfect spot to watch the ships sail out of the port. \u00a0We got to see three ships, the last of which was the Disney Magic. \u00a0Having been on\u00a0five Disney\u00a0cruises, it was bittersweet to see it depart. \u00a0It was really neat to watch it up close from the shore, but you really can’t argue with the view from the top deck either. \u00a0Emily brought some Mickey gloves for the boys to wear as we waved at the passengers and wished them safe travels. \u00a0When we are on the ship and her parents are able to drive over and watch us go, her dad always brings the Mickey glove he uses to greet passengers at the airport to wave at the ship. \u00a0It makes them really easy to spot on shore, so we were upholding the tradition. \u00a0A couple hundred photos (and some tears from Hunter because we were not ON the ship) later, our stomachs were ready for some dinner.<\/p>\n

\"Mexico's<\/p>\n

One of the traditions we have added to our list over the years is having Mexican food on Valentine’s Day for dinner. \u00a0You could argue that this stemmed from my lack of planning Valentine’s Day dinners and thus resorting to Mexican\u00a0restaurants because they are the only ones that would take us, but I digress. \u00a0Emily found a highly rated place in Cocoa Beach called Mexico’s Grill. \u00a0It was in a Publix strip mall, but we were so hungry we were ready to eat anything. \u00a0With the limited menu, we ordered our food and I headed over to Publix to get the boys something they might have an actual shot at eating. \u00a0Overall the food was decent\u00a0and a great end to a really fun Valentine’s Day, 2016. \u00a0Below is a fun video of our day in Cocoa Beach, FL.<\/p>\n