The last you heard from us we were packing for our trip. We're back home now and we had a great time! Everyone traveled really well. The only thing I think I would change about the trip was to make it a bit longer. We were gone for six days and drove three of them. At least the trip was bookended by two weekends at home.
SUNDAY. We left Sunday morning to drive through Alabama to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. It was a nine hour drive. Ben and I were to stay with our cousin, Sara Letsinger (I call her Aunt Sara as an affectionate title). When we got there Aunt Sara's son, Joe, and his wife, Karen, had driven in from Niceville and fixed us a wonderful supper. Their two kids, Kayla and Mike, are about the ages of Jenna and Ben so the kids had some playmates for the evening. After supper was over Vicki, Pauline, Jenna, and Nate drove to their hotel in Destin. Unfortunately, Karen and their kids did not get the Columbus Day holiday the next day due to Hurricane Ivan so that was the last we saw of them.
MONDAY. We did the beach this day. Usually the Gulf of Mexico is really calm but we had met Tropical Depression Matthew on the way down and the strong wind had the water really churned up. We got into the shallow water but had to be very careful as there was a serious rip tide. Nate especially loved the beach and showed no fear of the water. The kids really enjoyed sitting in the shallow water and letting the waves wash over them. That night we took Aunt Sara out to eat at a local restaurant.
TUESDAY. We said our goodbyes to Aunt Sara and headed out for Kissimmee (south of Orlando). This was another nine hours on the road.
At one point Ben said he had to go to the bathroom. We were still about 20 miles away from a town we were planning on stopping at so we said he'd have to wait. In sympathy we all let him know that we were ready to stop as well. It was then that Pauline, Vicki and I saw Nate with this smug little grin on his face. It was as if he completely understood the conversation and was gloating while relieving himself in his diaper. We got a good laugh whether or not this was true.
WEDNESDAY. We were tired from the road but got up early to be at the gates of Disney World's Magic Kingdom when they opened. We had a wonderful day but were ready to go home after the awesome fireworks show was over. I wore a pedometer which recorded over 22,000 steps. Normally this would be about 10.6 miles but I figure my distance was a couple of miles so less due to shuffling in lines and riding a few bumpy rides.
Jenna and Ben both said their favorite part was the Buzz Lightyear ride. Pauline enjoyed the Carousel of Progress and Vicki liked Mickey's PhilharMagic show. While Pirates of the Caribbean remains my favorite the part that was the most fun for me was seeing the kids enjoy themselves.
THURSDAY. We slept late this morning. When we did get moving we went shopping at Downtown Disney and then went over to Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob's. While visiting them we went swimming. They fed us a delicious steak dinner.
FRIDAY. As with anything our vacation was over. Thankfully we had an uneventful trip home. We pulled in about midnight. With all the stops we made we spent about 15 hours on the road.
DID WE GET CLOSE? The one bad thing about the timing of our trip was that Jim and Dianna had already planned to be on vacation for the last two weeks. They were traveling in Pennsylvania and Ohio visiting some of Dianna's family so we didn't get to see them while we were in their neighborhood. They were due to get home Friday as well. I kept wondering if they took I-75 home and where we unknowingly met them at if they did.
Anyway, as nice as it is to get away, it's good to be home.
DISAPPOINTMENT. Yesterday Jenna and Ben asked if they could go out to play. While they were putting on their shoes Nate slipped on a pair on Ben's shoes as well. Since neither Vicki or I were going out we told the kids not to let Nate go out so they stopped him at the door. When they shut the door in his face he came back in the room where we were with a pained expression on his face and said, "Outside, no!" It just crushed the poor boy.
Joe
