Road Trips

This past fall we may have spent a little time on the road. We drove to our magical vacation to Disney World (14+ hours away) and also drove to Mn to visit family over Thanksgiving (10+) hours. Having  spent a lot of time in vehicles over the years, we really don't give it much thought to load up and jump in the car and drive several states away…it's really day three of a road trip that everyone starts to get antsy. Not sure of what kind of post this is, but just thought I would share what gets us through the trips and highlight some of what we did on our way to Florida.

For the boys we make sure they have their electronic devices complete with various games and a charging source. Food and drink are also a big plus….but sometimes can slow the travel down if they input too much ;)

We try to stop and stretch our legs every couple of hours, preferably someplace that the family would enjoy and find interesting. Hubby has new found interest in cooking over the campfire and thought we would check out the deals on cast-iron along the way.

Unavoidably we always run into a traffic jam, thank you Atlanta. Thankfully we had planned on hitting it and had a hotel reserved for just an hour further up the road.

On our trip to Florida we planned to hit the beach midway through the drive the second day. The boys were really starting to get antsy, but knew that there was a big treat of going to the beach.

We picked a beach that had restrooms/changing area, a good beach, and showers to rinse off at.

The sand bar went pretty far out, which was really nice for the boys as well.

It was slightly colder then they would have liked it, so they spent most of their time in the sand…maybe stealing other peoples buckets and shovels since we hadn't thought of that.

J was a good sport and let them bury him as well.

It was a very relaxing day at the beach…and our only day at the beach while in Florida.

We have a creative bunch in our house.

Once done at the beach we headed to Disney and our hotel, Shades of Green. Unfortunately our middle one may have gotten car sick (episode #1) due to salt water swallowed, stop and go traffic, and sitting in the back of the van. We really thought he had grown out of that, but once again he will be sitting in the middle row when we go on long trips. Thinking it was a fluke the first time he sat in the back on the way home, not a good idea…poor guy! We trucked along and decided to drive straight through to sleep in our own beds that night.

A couple weeks later we then headed up to Mn, from sunshine and shorts to snow and parkas. Once again we took two days, since we left after school/work. We were welcomed by cold, ice and snow….and also breathtaking sunsets and sunrises.

We saw some familiar sights.

And avoided incidences like this at all cost!

We drove the truck this time, supposedly to even out the miles on our vehicles…but really I like how fast it heats and knew we would have a load of stuff to take to Mn and also back home. It still amazes me that within a month we saw the beauty of the ocean and frolicked in our swimsuits at the beach to trudging through snow in our winter gear. 

Our Magical Halloween Vacation Part 2

So where did I leave off….since I'm a bad blogger that never comes back and updates anything! So we were going back to October and our trip to Disney…and I said I was going to finish the rest of our trip. I left over with us going to the special Halloween Event (we went on the 28th), the following morning we ended up heading over to The Animal Kingdom and started the day with the Safari. After doing some research, we decided that we were going to park hop after Animal Kingdom to the Magic Kingdom and to save our FP+ for the later. It meant we waited for all of our rides at AK…which it isn't as long as the lines at MK.

The boys loved having their unactivated and passed on iPhones to take pictures of the animals that they saw on the ride.

It was a pretty long line, and we went straight there, but I hear that the animals are less likely to be out in the afternoon so we stuck it out.

Another long line was the Kali River Rapids…and yes, you get soaked.

So waiting gave me some time playing photographer. 

Vacation looks good on him...

J having a good time next to the Tree of Life ;)

That darn Stitch just keeps popping up all over the place!

We took a break mid day and did a sit down meal at Yak and Yeti, which was yum! The boys ate so well and everyone got the clean plate award for that one!

Our two favorite rides in AK were Expedition Everest and Dinosaur.

The boys loved EE with the reversal in the ride and Dinosaur is like the DisneyLand ride with Indiana Jones except with a Dinosaur theme.

After exhausting the AK park we hopped the bus over back over to MK and picked up some of the rides we hadn't had the chance to experience yet.

We had a FP+ for the Haunted Mansion, which given the time of year was one of the most popular ride and were glad to have made the selection. We also did FP+ for The Pirates of the Caribbean, and Big Mounter Thunder.

We spent more time using our photo pass, some scoff at the price, but it beats having to lug the camera around and the boys cooperate a lot more for a random photographer then having mom saying cheese all the time.

The line for Splash Mountain was reasonable and got to once again see Brer Rabbit outwit Brer Bear and Brer Fox.

We finished the night taking in the Lighted Parade and seeing the normal light and firework show at MK….fabulous!

The next day we had an off day and bummed around the hotel a little, we lounged and played at the pool at SOG. When we finally went off property the boys wanted to hit a Gamestop, and we grabbed lunch at a yummy Cuban restaurant.

J decided to surprise us with a fabulous night at Downtown Disney and purchased us tickets to see the Cirdue Du Soleil-La Nouba. It.was.fantastic! We had great seats, J almost got ran into by one of the bicycle acts…but not really. We enjoyed some drinks from the boardwalk and called it a night.

On our last day at Disney we started the day at Hollywood Studios. 

First thing we did was wait in the long line to sign the boys up for the Jedi Academy…for later in the afternoon…the spots get filled fast! We then divided up our FP+, N wanted to see a Disney Jr show and the big boys went to Rock 'n' RollerCoaster and Tower of Terror.

Yup, those smiling faces are worth it!

We had a little time to spare before meeting up, so Noah and I got to walk around the park a little.

That crazy Stitch popped up again too!

After we meet up (and took more pictures) we had lunch at Mama Melrose sit down…which was ok…overpriced for sure!

We used our FP+ and rode Star Tours and The Great Movie Ride.

Before we knew it the time came for our little guys to become Jedi's.

There is a great story about that silly kid in these pictures…notice his shirt…he wasn't sure what side he wanted to be on ;)

It was J's second time participating…and was a pro up there.

It was N's first time getting to participate.

M must be a Master Jedi by now…having done the show twice before in Cali.

Again not sure if he wants to fight or help Darth Vader.

Yep, he takes this stuff pretty seriously!

Each of them receiving their certificates, completion of Jedi Training.

I finally got the chance to go on the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster as well with the older boys.

J took all three boys back on the Tower of Terror…I like to sit that one out.

Feeling like we had exhausted HS we hopped back to Epcot for supper…seriously good food during the Food and Wine Festival.

We also took advantage of the photogs once again….

the shear happiness these boys had on our trip (at least while at the park) was awesome.

Unfortunately that was the end of our trip…well except for the long drive home that happened the following day…with a car sick kid…not so much fun at all!