Well we arrived in Florida! I drove the kids down to Florida to visit my family this week. We had planned on leaving Wednesday, but due to various storm patterns that were approaching the Northeast, we decided to leave on Monday. The plan was to have me take my time driving down to my sister's, have Andy fly down and meet us on Saturday, and then we'll take the kids camping at Disney's Fort Wilderness. It was a good plan, but it was quite a bit harder then I expected.
Monday we got a late start (10 am) and only made it to Delaware before stopping for the night. I planned on making sandwiches for lunch and stopping at a rest stop to let the kids run around and eat a nice healthy lunch. There was only one problem - it's January - so all the rest stops our first day were covered in snow and COLD! Oops, should have thought of that. I also made a second mistake, I decided that due to our late start, I'd drive for a bit after dinner before getting a hotel room. Well, both boys fell asleep in the car after dinner so by the time I stopped and got a room, they had had a nice nap and were now wide awake! It was 11 pm before I finally got all the kids settled and in bed.
Tuesday we made it to the southern part of North Carolina. When we stopped for lunch at a rest stop in Virginia there was no snow (yeah!) so the kids were able to run around for an hour before getting back in the car. I also stopped for dinner and got a hotel at the same exit - wanting to avoid yesterday's mistakes. I forgot, however, to stop in the afternoon to let the kids run around. The result: two VERY active boys who did not want to sit down for dinner and took great delight in not doing anything mommy asked. Halfway through dinner I paid the waitress, stuffed everyone's food in to go boxes, and we finished in our hotel room. Luckily the kids went to bed around 9 pm and I stayed up working on a magazine article about family road trips with children.
Wednesday we stopped in Georgia - only 30 minutes away from Jacksonville, but Christian had decided that he couldn't spend another minute in his car seat and since we weren't in a rush (my sister wasn't expecting us until Friday), I stopped. We had two good rest stop visits - one for lunch and one in the late afternoon. I had the kids running around for about 45 minutes each time and things went quite well. As the kids were all asleep by 8:30 pm I was feeling quite good - until I woke up around midnight with food poisoning. After spending 2+ hours in the hotel bathroom (being oh so thankful that I had chosen decent, clean hotels!), I decided that travelling alone with four young children just isn't for me.
Thursday we didn't leave until noon as I was still feeling a bit under the weather. We crossed the Florida border and I thought about heading to a hotel on the beach so I could relax and let the kids play on the seashore. Then, reality hit - I wouldn't be relaxing on the beach, I'd be running all around making sure one stopped throwing sand, no one was going too deep into the water, etc. What I needed was a family-friendly stop where I could relax and the kids could play. I grabbed my cell phone and called Disney. They had an opening that night in the All Star Movie resort and so I booked it. It was exactly what we needed! The kids were excited to see Mickey everywhere, it didn't matter if they were loud in the food court - because all the other kids were loud, and they spent a ton of time and energy walking all around the hotel and playing in the playground. It was fabulous. Both boys were asleep by 8:30 pm and the girls and I watched Princess Diaries in bed and then fell right to sleep when it was over. Oh, I do so love Disney!
Andy got in fine Saturday - I was so glad to see him! We have spent a wonderful weekend visiting my family and a dear friend from college, Michele (and her mother and almost 6-year-old daughter). I even got a 6 mile run/walk in - my first in two weeks. The weather has been perfect here - in the 60s with lots of sun.
We leave for Ft. Wilderness tomorrow. I'll post next week on how camping with four small children in a tent goes. Well, camping at Disney - how hard could that be?
... to be continued...
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