Florida Vacation--It's a Loooonnngg Drive

I have been planning our Disney vacation for months.  So, you can imagine how excited I was when the day of departure finally arrived.  Actually, it was a morning of departure.  We decided to give 3AM another try.  The last time we left at 0300 was two years ago and it was a disaster!  The kids never really fell back asleep and were tired and cranky the entire drive.  But, they are a little older now, so we decided to try and drive straight through and start early.

The night before, we put the kids in their comfiest clothes.  They knew we were leaving in the middle of the night and were anxious to start the vacation.  In fact, when I went and checked in on Jack around 8:30pm, he asked me if it was time to go.  Eventually, we all fell asleep.  Thomas' alarm went off at 0215.  We showered, finished packing the car and then went to get the kids.  I woke up Anna first.  I tapped her shoulder, and said it was time to leave for Florida.  She literally jumped out of bed, grabbed the bag she had prepared for the drive and ran out of the room.  All 3 kids woke up very easily, went to the bathroom and threw on their flip-flops.  We left by 0315.  At 0324, Kara commented that Daddy was right, "it is a long drive."  We were afraid for what was in store.

The treat bag.

However, the fear was unfounded.  It was possibly the greatest drive ever.  Well, maybe not the greatest drive ever, but it was far better than I had anticipated.  We drove for 5-straight hours before stopping.  That made the day go by quickly.  We watched 2-movies, listened to lots of kids cd's, and periodically handed out surprises from a treat bag.  We had figured the drive would take about 16 hours, we did it in about 14:30, which included a nice picnic lunch at the "Welcome to Florida" rest-stop.

We drove straight to my Dad's house and then we all (my Dad, his friend Maggie, and the 5 of us) went out to a pizza buffet for dinner.  It was hard to get the kids back in the car, but I was excited to see the changes in my hometown--namely the addition of Legoland.  After that we stopped off at my brother's house to say hello.  He has a really friendly dog (Shadow) that all the kids loved.  When we got back to my dad's house, one of my best friends stopped by with her husband and son--neither of whom I had had the chance to meet yet.  It was an incredibly full day, but so much fun!

The next morning, I called my sister to see if her family wanted to go out to breakfast.  Her kids heard the message, so there was no way for her to say no.  After breakfast, we hung out at my sister's house and she finished Kara's Drizella costume.  Then, it was back to my Dad's for a family clamboil.  After the delicious dinner, we headed to our rental house in Orlando.  Originally, we were going to stay at Art of Animation, but after our very successful trip to Lancaster, we decided a house was the way to go.

The house is huge and beautiful!  It has 6-bedrooms, so my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew came up to spend the weekend with us. The girls took over the princess room (complete with carriage beds) and the boys slept in the pirate themed room.   (No one wanted the room with the Mickey Mouse mural.)   It was so much fun!  Kim (my sister) and Dave (brother-in-law) had a date night Saturday and the kids all played so well together.  They really enjoyed the game room and pool.   Sunday, we went to the Orlando Science Center.  We didn't realize it was $5 Walmart day and the place was packed!  But, it was still a lot of fun.  Sunday night, Thomas and I had our date night.  We went to Colorado Fondue.  We had gone there during our weekend stay in Orlando following our wedding.  We even got to sit in the same booth we did almost 9 years ago.  It was a wonderful night.

Swimming with their cousins in the calm before the storm.

Sunday night, Tropical Storm Isaac started his long passage over us.  Despite being way out in the Gulf, we got a ton of rain that last all Sunday night and well into Monday.  The kids enjoyed playing together, and the grown-ups even got to play a game.  My sister's family left shortly after lunch on Monday (we were sorry to see them go, but they had school and work to get back to).   The kids were finally forced into naptime.  Then, another of my good friends came to see us.  Our vacation was off to a great start.

Thomas entertaining the 5 kids.

The house has a game room with pool, air hockey, foosball, and toys.  Made waiting out the storm much more fun.