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".