Traveling to Flordia Dec 21-22

On Friday, December 21st, we all awoke with excitement because we were leaving for Florida that morning. We went downstairs to eat breakfast and got dressed. We were suppose to be at Leslie’s house to leave for Florida at 9:30 since we were all going to caravan down together. Around 8 we got a call from Daddy to let us know everyone was up earlier and that since there was suppose to be a bad storm along the coast, we were all going to try to go down interstate 85 through Atlanta vs. down 385. The new plan was for us to wait on the group at the Mauldin Rd. exit so we left the house around 8:45 and headed by CVS in Mauldin to pick up a last minute item, to the gas station, and then we headed to wait on the exit ramp at Mauldin Rd. Around 9:15, we got the call that Leslie, Katrina, Megan, Blake, and Daddy were getting ready to pass the exit so we looked for the van (since Marna, Jim, Mason, Sydney, Sophia, and Lilly had flown to Orlando; they were driving Marna’s van). Soon we saw Marna’s van passing by so we pulled off the ramp and headed for the interstate. After months of talking about our trip, we were finally off and running. All the girls were in good spirits and playing in the back seat. Emily was mainly watching Dora the Explorer for the first part (Dora has recently tuned out to be one of Emily’s favorite shows and books after Mom got here some Dora movies for her birthday) and the little ones were playing with various toys I handed them. For this first leg of the trip all was well, is was drizzling and a little cold outside, while the babies drifted in and out of their naps, while Emily watched Dora. She seemed to be so excited and keep asking us wear we were going. We explained it to her that we were taking a very long drive to Florida and in Florida was Disney World were Mickey lives. After a great few hours, we stopped in on the south side of Atlanta at a mall to have lunch and take a break. While we were there the little ones rode the carosel on our way out. They seemed to have a great time. For the next stretch, we drove for a little over an hour before the other group needed to stop for gas. After this brief pit stop we kept on to Valdosta, GA where we all stopped at Chick-fil-a around 4. Ansley, Bailey, and Emily all ate and played, while the others tried to get on the internet and played some. They were ready to call it quits for the day. Since our group was doing well and we figured it would be easier to keep going in the evening, we kept driving. Around 7, we decided it was time to call it quits for the evening, so we stopped around Ocala, FL. We were in luck that there was a Comfort Suites with availability. I checked us in, we unloaded our necessary items, and made our way to the room. The next morning we got up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and started down to Orlando. Since we were not going to be able to get into the condos until 4, we decided we would go Disney for the morning. We had spoken with Marna the night before and they were thinking about the Magic Kingdom, so we headed there. We arrived around 10, and all the girls seemed to be very excited. It was a little nippy, so we bundled up and headed for the tram. From there, we took the Ferry Boat over to the Magic Kingdom. It was all buzzing with excitement with the Christmas holiday. When we first came in, they were having a show at the castle, so we stopped to see that. Emily really wanted to see Cinderella, so we stayed there for a little while after the show. After that we headed back to Its a Small World. Luckily they had a pretty short line vs. the other rides. The girls all stared in amazement as we went through. After that, John took Emily to the Pooh play ground while to changed the girls. We then met up with them. After the girls played a little while, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side that would not let up (It was due to an ovarian cyst. I have had these on occasion since I was in college.) It quickly got very bad, so we hoppled out of the park it what seemed to be the longest journey and headed for the condos. We hated to leave so soon, but even the happiest place on earth could not make that better =) After this rough start, we hit some luck in that we were able to check into the resort early (around 2:30) and spent the rest of the day at the condo.