Florida 2008

So, I am going to write one REALLY long post to let you know what we did on our vacation.



Day 1

We left home at 10:00 pm on Thursday, May 15th, hoping the kids would sleep through the night in the car. They only slept about three hours. Did not go the way we planned. We arrived in Daytona around 6:00 pm, checked into our hotel, and went out to dinner. Everyone was tired, so we unpacked and went to bed.


Day 2

On Saturday, we had a beach/swim day...just lounged around. It was great!

Day 3

Hubby, Punky, and I traveled about two hours to Lakeland to visit our Aunt, Uncle, and cousins' church. We spent the day with them swimming and talking and then spent the night. GiGi is just Punky's age and Gannon was so fun to play with. Punky had fun swimming with them in their pool.

Day 4

Hubby, Punky and I spent the day in Orlando at the Florida Mall. It was huge and a lot of fun. We later met up with the rest of the fam at the Adidas Outlet and then to Downtown Disney...DD is one of my most favorite places, especially at night. The kids seemed to like it and we bought a few cool souveniers. The kids are just too cute.

Day 5

We had another beach day. We took some really cool pictures that morning, but not like what I wanted. I wanted some good family pictures, but Punky would not cooperate...they are the ones of her in the white dress.

Day 6

Disney World! We had such a great time! Even though it was about 95 degrees, the kids loved it. They met so many of the characters (they thought they were the REAL people) and had fun. I think they were the perfect age to go. The adults had fun too!

Day 7

Our last day there, we lounged some more and did a little shopping. We went and saw Indiana Jones in the theater. It was pretty good, but different from the rest (and Harrison Ford has definitely aged in the 20 years since the last one). It was so hard to pack up knowing we had the long car ride ahead of us!

Day 8

We started out around 9:30 a.m. leaving Daytona. We made our way home with a few stops along the way. The kids did not want to ride in the car, but overall did pretty well. We stopped overnight near Clarksville (I think) and then headed back out on the road Saturday morning. We arrived home around 7:30 in the evening, and we were all glad to be home! However, Punky did ask a few times to go over and play with Buddy on Sunday...I think they missed each other!

All in all it was a great, relaxing trip. I love the beach...I could go there every summer! I am very thankful for safety and good health (some of us caught a cold) and family fun.

We're Here!

Hey, we have arrived in Florida (about 6:30 Friday night). We have already had so much fun...here is a recap:

• Left home at 10pm Thursday with two tired kids and six tired adults.


• Car #2 hit a deer laying in the rode...no damage that we see.


• Kids did not like the idea of sleeping in the car...only got about 4 hours of sleep the entire 20 hours we were in the car.


• Our hotel room is awesome...the resort has four pools, a lazy river, water slide...and THE BEACH! The kids loved it.


• Ate dinner at Bubba Gumps...was yummy!


• Traveled to Lakeland to see Dave, Lori, Gannon and Gianna. Swam in their pool and had fun catching up with them!

Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom...hope for good weather (and happy kids)!

Florida here we come...

I am so excited...around this time tomorrow we will be getting ready to get in the car for the very long (and expensive) journey to Florida. I am so ready. I have a ton of stuff to do to get ready and even more to get done tomorrow at work before we leave. I am feeling the stress of the pre-vacation blues. I hate packing and getting ready to go...sometimes all of the effort at work to get ready to go makes the trip not even worth it...but I am sure this one will be great! We are so excited, and Punky cannot stop talking about the beach and seeing Cinderella's castle.

Graduation!

Today my dad graduated from Seminary with a Master's Degree in Counseling. We are so proud of you! After 7 years of hard work (and too many papers to count!), it is finally done! I am the one that has typed all of his papers, so I am VERY glad he is done. It was a nice ceremony and we had a great turn out at the open house.

We love you, Dad!