Summary of Our Road Trip to Florida

This is a big post, but lots to tell!  Mike, the girls, and I went on a road trip to Florida.  The biggest reason was to attend Mike's dad's wife's 60th birthday bash near their place in West Palm Beach.  We decided to make a road trip out of it and visit family and friends along the way.  We departed late Wed night, 1/23.  We ran into some snow in Virginia and spent the night at a hotel.  The next morning, we finished our first leg to my high school friend, Elena's, house near Greensboro, NC.  We had a nice visit with her family.  That Saturday morning, we departed for Charlotte, NC to visit Mike's friend, Ron, and his family.  They have two girls about Cally and Maya's ages.  Cally and Ella (above) played nonstop (Cally was so excited to play with all of her princess dress-up clothes); Maya and Kiera sat together alot playing their IPads.

On Monday morning, we set out for Palm Coast, Florida to visit Uncle Ted.  It was nice to see the temperature reading on the car slowly rise.  Our GPS searched out a fun place to eat for lunch.  Mudcat Charlie's is on a back road off of I-95.  It borders a river and has a small marina of boats.  We arrived at Uncle Ted's that afternoon.  That night, the boys enjoyed a little drink and a cigar; they got up early the next morning to play golf.  The girls fed the fish.  I pushed them later that morning on the jog stroller.  I could feel the heat, so I kept the run short.  I also kept it short because the tires on my stroller were soooo flat!  (Uncle Ted quickly pumped those up for me later!  "Wow!  That was fast!"



Early Tuesday afternoon, we left Palm Coast for Orlando.  On the way to Orlando, we stopped at a National Park with a natural spring fed river (Mom, Dad, and Ashley have been here) to see the manatees.  It was a warmer day; when we arrived, there were only 4, but we got to see them all - 2 Mamas and their babies...as well as 2 alligators and lots of fish.



We arrived in Orlando that evening.  We stayed in a time share that Mike's brother has.  What a step up from a regular hotel!  Two bedrooms, two full baths, a living room, dining area, kitchen, and washer and dryer!!!

On Wednesday, we went to Magic Kingdome.  What a fun day!  The temp was in the 80s.  We took the monorail in; as soon as Cally saw the castle, she yelled, "That's the Disney Junior Castle!"  (The girls watch the Disney Junior channel more than the Disney channel - too funny!)

This was Cally's favorite part of the day...meeting Ariel.  Cally was a champ and went on a bunch of rides.  Maya's inconsistent napping was starting to catch up to her, but we were able to go on rides such as "It's a Small World".  The wait wasn't long; the girls tolerated the Haunted Mansion.  We saw a show at the castle and a parade later in the day.

On Thursday, we went to Epcot.  So much fun!  We all went on the Nemo Ride.  Cally and Mike went on it twice!  Following the ride, we sat in a theatre where Crush, the turtle talked to us.  We went on a bunch of rides around that area.  Mike was ready to head to Palm Beach, FL, but I wanted to walk the Countries.  The girls were tired, so I thought a stroll around would help them nap.  As we approached Canada, Mike said, "I wonder if they have beer."  O Canada!  They did.

Mike is happy.  Next stop, England.

 

I needed to make a quick phone call.  :)

Mike got a Guiness.

French beer?  Light.  Not bad.

 

One more at Germany.

The most anticipated stop... Norway.  The last two trips I have been to Epcot, I went on their boat ride so many times.  Cally went on with me; it was so neat to share her first experience on that ride with her.  Another memorable spot is the bakery outside of the ride.  My friends in high school hit up this ride and bakery every night on our band trip; I made Kelli go on this and have a pastry last time we were here for the Disney marathon.  :)

West Palm Beach with Mike's family was great!  On Friday, we went to a beach - beautiful water but too windy.  We went out to dinner at this neat place in town with a bunch of restaurants and stores. Saturday night was the party.  Great music and food.  They had a photo booth.  Check out Cally's poses!  LOL  The one of all of us was after some tears by both girls.  Maya was tired; Cally tripped and fell skinning her knee.  The bottom pic of us our illustration of the end of a 10-day road trip!  :)  We drove back up to Uncle Ted's Superbowl Sunday, and then drove back to PA Monday.  We had such a good time together as a family, and the girls overall were great!  Good memories!