Florida 2014: Roadtrip

We recently returned home from the Sunshine State.  We spent a week in Florida with my sister and her family.   We all decided to drive and it went really smoothly.  The kids were great in the car and they actually slept!  Layla and Grady are not big car sleepers so we were shocked when Grady napped consistently in the car and both kids fell asleep at night.  Ryan and Layla are ready for another road trip.  Grady and I may need a few weeks to get on the road again. Layla did ask me when we would start flying places again.  I told her maybe when I head back to work!

 

6 A.M. departure.  This was a very early jump for our crew.

 

First stop was a visit with Superman.

 

 

After the visit with Superman, our stops on the way to Florida included gas stations and parks.  

We packed a cooler with food and drinks.  It was nice to get out and stretch our legs a bit!

 

  

  

We consumed a lot of sandwiches on this trip.  Maybe one too many.  Ha!  

My sister liked to refer to them as soggies!

 

I even drove for a bit! 

 

Another key to happy road trippers?  Snackeez!  They hold a drink and snack in one container.  These were a gift from my parents to the four oldest grandkids for the big trip.  We used them just about everyday on this vacation.

We drove a long way on our first travel day.  Much longer than we had expected.  The kids were sleeping and Ryan was feeling good so we trekked on to meet up with my sister and her family at a hotel in southern Georgia.

2AM in Georgia!!  The kids were very excited to see Cassie!  They did go back to sleep, but I am pretty sure Ryan and I were asleep first.  They were doing a lot of giggling about the hotel being stinky.  I would agree that it was a little bit on the icky side (notice I had already removed the comforters from the bed)!

We only had three hours the second travel day to get to our destination of Orlando.  So the next day we quickly made it into FLORIDA!!!  I love the Florida Welcome Center.

 

We all enjoyed some Florida orange juice.

        

Tried out some face cut-out signs.  We were a bit giddy!

 

 Our way home went just as smoothly but included a lot more fast food.  Everyone was pretty exhausted from our week in Florida so the car was pretty sleepy on the way home.  

On the way home, we stayed the night in Paducah, KY so we explored the town before leaving for home. 

 

A favorite sign from our drive through Atlanta, Georgia! 

And that was our road trip!  Mostly.  Include in a lot of potty stops and silly texting 

with my sister's car and you have our road trip!  

There are many pictures from our days at Lego Land, 

the Magic Kingdom and Cocoa Beach still to come!