Top 10 Vacation Mini-Moments

Today we headed out for the long, looonnnggg, loooonnnnnnnnggggggg drive home. It's always the moment when you really question your sanity about taking a trip so far away.

The week has been a great get-a-away. We have covered many miles, traveled through nine states up to this point, and have done some "big" vacation things.

There have also been a few smaller moments along the way that I want to be able to remember and laugh at years from now.  We'll call them "mini-moments".

Here are 10 that come to mind:

1) One of the best things about big vacations is having the boys learn about various parts of the country. For example, our youngest thought all the waiters and waitresses in Tennessee had to talk in a southern drawl type of accent for their jobs.  He was shocked to realize that was their normal way of speaking.

2) Throwback music. My husband raided our CD collection to stock the car with music for the trip. A better idea might have been to hand the 12 year old an iTunes card and had him load up the iTunes account.  Instead, we were serenaded with Rich Mullins, Ray Boltz, Wayne Watson, Michael W. Smith (from 1990) and Fernando Ortega for miles and miles. I'm not sure we've purchased a CD in over 10 years.

3) Florida stoplights - The longest we have ever experienced. No need to text and drive in Florida. You have plenty of time to keep the conversations going at every.single.light.

4) RaceTrac Gas Stations - We really need these where we live.  Ten flavors of soft serve ice cream and a toppings bar like we've never seen. Weird to have in a gas station, but we managed to look past that. Yummmm.

5) Always, always, always check the reviews of hotels before you book. This one we actually didn't learn the hard way...sort of. We booked a resort a long time before vacation. Four days before we left, I ended up reading some recent reviews. Elevators broken, restaurant closed, swimming pool dirty, terrible service...there was not one positive review in the last three months. We canceled, scrambled, and found a new one. A little more money, but we were so thankful we switched.

Except for...

6) Florida water.  Gross. The water at our hotel smelled terrible. At first I thought it was just at our location. However, at a restaurant they brought us water that tasted just like our water smelled. No thanks.

7) Funniest Car Comment from the youngest son: "That's what boys do, mom, they go crazy over stupid stuff.  No wait...that's what girls do." I'm not sure whether to laugh or be offended.

8) ALWAYS check to make sure there is toilet paper in the stall before using the restroom. Being the only female in the family makes it difficult to call in backup to come in and hand you some. This may or may not have happened to me today.

9) There are scary gas stations that need to be avoided in Montgomery, Alabama. My husband took the boys in to use the restroom, and by the time he had them inside, he was panicking that he left me alone outside. It takes a lot to panic my husband. We got out of there in record time.

10) Toll Roads - Guaranteed to cut your vacation budget in half. Florida definitely has figured out how to fund their roads.

Speaking of toll roads...I have a question. What does one do when the GPS takes you on an unexpected route and you happen to be on a toll road you weren't planning on, and you happen to exit on one of those "Exact Coins Only" toll booths? No change. No toll booth worker. No options. No warning. No nothing. What are you supposed to do?? Hypothetically speaking...of course.

The week is coming to an end. We have one more day of driving, and I am hoping for smooth and boring. After today's traffic issues and monster rain storms, we do not need any more memories to be made.

I would much rather just click my red shoes together and say the magic words...

There's no place like home.

We Are Turning Into Raisins

Day 6 of Vacation...More Water.

I literally could have packed a few swimsuits for each person, a couple of sets of clothes, and called it good.

Yesterday we headed to Aquatica.

Where it rained.

In case we weren't wet enough.

Thankfully, rain doesn't always mean lightening here, and the water was warmer than the rain. The wave pool was a favorite. Not of mine...Child #2 was seriously scary in there.

The big kid really wanted to ride the rides, but after this long line, he couldn't convince either of his sons to stand and wait and wait when there were things to do with no wait time. 

Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in the rapids, the lazy river, and the wave pool. 

And when the second rainstorm rolled in, we headed back to the hotel.

 

 For...yes...more swimming.

I thought these snorkeling things were pretty unnecessary when we got them, but as it turns out, they are pretty cool.  Granted, there isn't much to see in a hotel swimming pool, but the boys are having fun trying them out.  It is so strange to see them be able to stay under water for so long.

It's a good thing we had the pool all to ourselves. Other people may have thought these children were crazy.

We are obviously not from around here.

You Might Be A Tourist If...

There have been so many times on this trip when we have felt like complete hicks from the Midwest.

In fact, just tonight, my oldest son said, "Dad, do not turn around on this street one more time. We look like complete fools!"

If you ask my children what they did on vacation, they may say, "We turned around a lot."

Most of it was minor...trying to find restaurants, or Walmart, or the right parking lot for where we were going.

Yesterday the plan was to head to the beach.  We had heard over and over how beautiful the gulf coast beaches were, so we set out to head west to play in the Gulf of Mexico.

A couple of miles down the road, I opened my weather app to check out the details for the day and saw this.

High rip tide warning for the entire day.

     

Being from the central U.S., I technically have no idea how major that warning is. Is it like a thunderstorm watch in Kansas? If so, not such a big deal.

Is it a warning mainly for those who would be farther out in the water than we would be? If so, not such a big deal.

However, our lack of knowledge, combined with the fact that we have a son who thinks he's invincible and part-fish, caused us to decide to turn around (we're pretty good at that) and go to the other coast.

So we reprogrammed the GPS for Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.

It may not have been quite as beautiful, but the beach was nice, and now my kids can say they have seen both oceans. 

See the flippers in that picture?

There's a little story there.

He so badly wanted flippers and a snorkel for the gulf coast. Before we left, we ran into Walmart and bought him a very cheap, plastic the only set they had available in his size.

He was thrilled.  He didn't care that we changed our minds and went to the Atlantic Ocean instead of the gulf. He was determined to wear those things into the water.

Two minutes later...a big wave came crashing in...and he only had one flipper.

Literally, two minutes.

Picture the little guy and his father searching for his missing flipper -- in the ocean.

Needless to say, they did not find it.

He actually handled it very well.  He played, swam, and built a little sand structure.

About an hour later, while playing in the sand, my husband looked down the beach and saw a lonely flipper that had washed up onto the shore about 100 feet away.

I wish I would have had a picture of my son's excitement.

All in all, it turned out to be a great day. The boys saw Cape Canaveral, the ocean, the NASA launch area, and a Disney Cruise ship docked for loading.

Travel Tip #7: Sunscreen. Use it. Lots of it. Several times a day. Ouch.

SeaWorld

Day 4 of Vacation - SeaWorld.

This was the first picture we took upon arriving at the park. You can't tell it here, but just minutes before this, the youngest saw the huge Manta roller coaster and went crazy excited about wanting to ride it.

Then he found out that he is too short. It was very difficult for him to understand how he could be going into FOURTH GRADE and still be too short to ride the roller coaster. This was just days after being too short to drive go-carts in Chattanooga. We really thought the boys were the perfect age for this trip.  Turns out they are...they're just not the right height.

This smile came after some serious begging and talking to.  Why is the oldest barely smiling? He's lecturing his brother on why he should smile for the camera. Go figure.

SeaWorld was HOT. And muggy. However, hearing of the heat index back home made me not too sad to be in Florida.

It was still worth it in spite of the heat.

The dolphin show was hands-down the best show at the park.

But this one was pretty amazing as well.

 

This quickly became the favorite ride of the youngest...after suffering the heartbreak of learning that the other big roller coaster had the same height limit.

Lots of waiting in lines. Lots of water. Lots of heat. Lots of fun.


And in other news...

Swimming at the hotel.

 

Again.

Take a Moment

What an amazing reminder of God's beautiful creation.

Our first stop in Tennessee was at Rock City. Granted, there has been plenty of intervention by mankind at Rock City, but I was still in awe of the vast beauty of the world we live in.

I am often guilty of living life in my own little rat-race in my own little corner of the world. I don't take the time to stop and ponder how much more is out there.

It was overcast the day we were there, but from Rock City, you can see 7 states. Yes, seven.

Here they are.

That was incomprehensible to me, but I guess I have to believe it.

They made a stone and everything, so it must be true. In spite of the haze, it really was beautiful.

It was also incomprehensible that we could be suspended on the edge of a giant cliff like this.

We look all calm and natural...but, we might not have been.

This little guy made the whole trip to Rock City worth it for my son.

The afternoon was spent doing a little cave sight-seeing.

Again, the wonders of creation were magnificent.

This was a cave in Raccoon Mountain, right where we were staying. It is the real deal. No man made stuff in there, except for the pathways and lights, of course.

 

Travel Tip #3: When packing for a trip, regardless of how HOT the forecast is for where you are going, always throw in at least one pair of pants and a jacket for each person. The family just might decide to do a little cave hiking, where the temperature is 60 degrees, and where every brochure said to dress warmly. This will prevent you from having to drive to Walmart to buy jeans for your children.

Travel Tip #4: Before you go buy jeans for your children (which we had already done), go check out what all the other people are wearing for the cave trip (shorts), since the cabin in which you are staying is literally within walking distance from the entrance to the cave. This will prevent you from having to drive to Walmart to buy jeans for your children.

Travel Tip #5: Sometimes brochures lie. The cave was not all that cold.

I'm sure this will shock you, but this little guy made the cave trip totally worth it for my little guy. It took everything in his power not to try to catch it.

And finally, Travel Tip #6: Seriously, take a moment to stop and be in awe of the world we live in.  Not the messed up, crazy, divided, agenda-filled world that humans have created, but the beautiful, creative, masterpiece that God created for us to enjoy.  It's breath-taking. 

10 Hours...5 States

Yesterday morning we set out for a fun-filled day of driving in the car.

Yay.

State 1: Missouri

State 2: Illinois

State 3:

State 4:

 

State 5:

 

...Which we crossed into for literally all of five minutes before we curved back into Tennessee for our stay.

Sorry, Missouri and Illinois, we travel to you so much each year that you are apparently no longer picture worthy.

However, we did notice something unique about Missouri. Their tax-payer dollars are at work in the form of driver's education. I wish I had taken a picture of these signs as we flew past them:

"Changing lanes? Show me your blinker!"
"Using turn signals to change lanes...the original instant message."
"It's a passing lane...not a cruising lane."
"Pass on left...drive on right."

I was always under the impression that one was supposed to know these things prior to getting a driver's license.

Maybe not.

We took Missouri's advice, and finally made it to stop #2. Here's our little home for the next 2 nights.

 

Travel Tip #2: Don't forget to pack hairspray. I have no idea how this happened, but it was a sad surprise this morning, especially when traveling to locales with 184% humidity.

And We're Off...

One of my goals this summer was to get back to blogging.

So far, I've been about as successful with it as I have with the goal of deep cleaning my house.

Negative on both.

But what better reason to get back online than to document family vacation?

Today we set out on a 9 day trek to the east coast. Three years ago we went west. We planned that trip for 18 months. Yes, we are that family.

Only this time we decided just a couple of months ago to throw together another "big" vacation. We were offered some tickets to a couple of Orlando destinations, and figured the kids were at a pretty good age to head to Florida.

Day #1 didn't start until 5:00 p.m. Such a mix of emotions today. This morning, we attended a funeral of a wonderful man, who's kids are friends of ours. I didn't know him extremely well personally, but the memories shared couldn't help but inspire a person to live for Jesus, encourage others, laugh often, and love freely. It is so hard to watch someone lose one they loved so dearly.

With a mix of inspiration and sadness, we finished traveling preparations, picked up daddy from work, and headed out to knock about 4 hours off of the first leg of the trip.

There were moments when I regretted that decision. Those same moments, my husband may have wanted to kick me out of the car.

It rained. A lot.

It was hard to see, and I may have suggested a time or two that we were traveling at a higher rate of speed than I would have selected.

He handled it well (both the rain and me) and we arrived safely at our first hotel.

Travel Tip #1: When leaving for vacation, do not wait 4 hours into the trip to check to see if both kids were wearing shoes when they left home.

One guess as to which child arrived with no shoes.

Funny...I was so proud of him at home that he put his pillow in the car and was waiting so patiently (for 10 minutes!) for the rest of us to finish loading up. It never even crossed my mind that he might jump in with no shoes on his feet.

Oh well, it's not the worst thing that could happen.

I'm really hoping to avoid needing the Blog Title: "The Worst Things That Can Happen on Vacation".