And We’re Off……

It’s hard to believe the day finally came. I love love love planning for vacations and such and I had been planning our Disney cruise since basically the beginning of 2014 and it was finally time for us to head to Florida.

I had set my alarm for 3:15……come to find out PM. Thankfully I was a little excited and woke up about 3:25, trying to figure out why my alarm hadn’t gone off yet. At least I didn’t sleep until 6AM!!!

We pulled out of the driveway at 4:15 on Saturday morning. I was the first driver because I knew I would be too wired to go back to sleep for a while. I fully expected the rest of the passengers, especially the 2 smallest ones in their pjs in the way back to fall back asleep, but ha…nope! Mom didn’t want to leave me awake by myself, Matt dozed a little bit and the children, well, I am not sure they ever fell back asleep. If they did, it wasn’t for long. I never got to nap after my driving turn because certain back seat passengers constantly called my name. Such is a mom’s life.

A sidebar…..as we were pulling away, we decided to say a prayer, asking for safe travels. Will spoke up and volunteered to lead it. Wow, I wish I had recorded it because it was the sweetest little prayer. I was in tears a block into the trip!

We stopped at a Waffle House in some small town in SC for breakfast. Someone had driven their lawn mower to breakfast that day!

Matthew had actually done a building design for a bank near downtown Jacksonville, FL. He looked it up and realized it was just off the interstate, so we took a little side trip to see the building.

He had also researched a park that was nearby where we could stop and have lunch and the kids could stretch their legs for a bit. It ended up being the most perfect park with picnic tables and play structures. We had a good time dining on some good ol’ fashioned PB&J and stretching our legs a bit.

The children got a big kick out of the active train tracks that were right beside the park. It’s the little things in life, right??!!

The children did remarkably well on the trip. Especially Avery, who usually can’t even make the 25 minute drive to church on Sunday mornings without announcing her displeasure for riding in the car. I had filled some plastic bins with mainly dollar store items that kept them happy and busy. Will’s 10+ library books also helped!

One surprise in their boxes was a little digital camera for each of them. Selfies all around!! Even Sunny got in on the selfie action!

They were so excited; especially Avery. I may have to do a whole separate post on the pics they took. As the interstate started getting closer to the coast, the landscape started looking an awful lot like the NC coastal landscape we see all the time. But they were still both SO excited about seeing water and took tons of pictures, which cracked us all up!! It was like they were from some land-locked state in the Midwest and had never seen the ocean before!!

Almost 10.5 hrs on the dot later, we arrived at our hotel in Titusville, FL (which was about a 20-30 minute drive away from the port the next morning). We got all checked in and quickly changed into swimsuits and hit the pool. It was a little cool! Especially in the shade. But the kids (and NaNa) still had a blast. I stayed dry. And Matt only got in for a few minutes with Avery.

I actually think the kids had more fun “sunning” after swimming than actually swimming. Will snuggled up in the warm sun for a little short snooze.

Avery played spa. She was pretty funny, as usual. She was even giving out massages, which was nice. Of course she got several herself! As you can see, she is made for a life of luxury.

We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner…..you always have to eat at a Cracker Barrel when you travel on an interstate!! It was a first for both kids. They loved the peg game. I foresee a great Xmas gift (or 2) in the future! Will also discovered chicken ‘n dumplings. More precisely he discovered my chicken ‘n dumplings, so I had to share!

After dinner Matt and I headed to Wal-Mart for some last minute supplies, also known as beer and wine. We were actually excited about our Wal-Mart trip as we figured we would have some great people watching experiences in a Florida Wal-Mart. Not the case at all!! It was more “normal” than a Raleigh Wal-Mart on a Friday night!! So we decided to spice it up a bit and head to a Publix in a questionable part of town to finish up our list. Ha!

Since we had been up for so long, it was a pretty early night for all of us! And tomorrow is the cruise!