If I had to give a label to this vacation, I would say interesting. It was riddled with injuries and sickness. We didn’t get to do everything we set out to do, and I spent most of it worrying I had a broken ankle.

Here’s what you’re probably not thinking: Wait a minute! Back the truck up! A broken ankle? What are you even talking about?

Basically, I fell off a sidewalk while running. No, it’s true. I went out for my 2-mile run with my mom and about half a mile in, we came across a runner running the opposite way. Well, she didn’t look like she was moving over for anybody so I moved a little off the sidewalk (which is uneven and badly made to begin with) and the middle of my foot hit the edge of the sidewalk, causing my ankle to bend inward and scrapping my knee up badly. I walked the rest of the way home, but when I got home my ankle was badly swollen. Basically, there’s not much I can do unless I know for sure this is a broken ankle because I don’t have insurance. I don’t have money to pay a hospital, especially if they’re just going to tell me to rest and ice it. That’s what I’ve been doing, and it seems to be helping a lot. My ankle, after puffing up to twice the size, is now back to normal. At it’s worst, the pain was about a 3 on a scale of 1-10. But it’s still a little tender and sore so I’m taking the next week off my training to let it heal. (Fingers crossed I can get back to running on Saturday!)

What this meant for my vacation was that we had to nix our Disney World plans. We already had paid for Aquatica and Sea World, so we were determined to get to those theme parks.

We went to Aquatica on Thursday, which was a lot of fun. (Even if I did forget to apply sunscreen, which meant I was Sunburn City after spending a day in the sun.) I don’t think it’s all that much different than Adventure Island, with a lot of the same types of rides they have there. But it’s still fun and definitely the perfect place to take kids! Because of my ankle, we spent a lot of time on the lazy river, just floating along and enjoying the sun. I kept a brace on it until lunchtime, where I took it off and see it had swollen up and was bruising, which worried me a lot.

On Friday, we decided to lay low so I could stay off my ankle as much as possible. We slept in and then went to play putt-putt golfing, which is one of my favorite things ever. (Except it’s only fun when you play on vacation. Am I right?) I just about killed my mom at the game and spent most of the time telling her to “just tap it in.” (Movie reference, anyone?) We came back to the hotel and spent a few hours laying by the pool. We cooled off with a strawberry daiquiri and pina colada. (I got carded. Big surprise. I know I look 14.) We went out to dinner that night, but it was a very low-key day.

Saturday was spent at Sea World and I stand by my declaration that it is the Best Theme Park Ever. I love that place. The shows are spectacular, being so close to the animals is amazing, and basically, you haven’t lived if you’ve never fed an adorable sea lion stinky fish. For serious. Highlight of my life. I really want a pet sea lion.

While the vacation wasn’t everything we hoped for, it was still nice to get away for a long weekend. I love everything about hotels and the atmosphere surrounding them. I love Orlando and the magic surrounding the entire town. And I love being with my mom. She’s my best friend and I have such a great time with her. She’s one of my favorite people.

In other news, I decided to join up with a couple other crazy kids to do VEDA, which stands for Vlog Every Day in August. I’ll try to upload videos on this blog but the majority of them will be on my Youtube page. I don’t even know why I did this, because I’m not any type of video genius. But I think it’ll be fun and something different to do!