Vacation Posts

THE LAST ONE...I know, I know, you're thinking "Finally!"

June 11 - Day 8 - Saturday

One word to sum up this day...L-O-N-G! We left the house in Oyando at 10:00. We were able to put some things in mom and dad's car and a few small bags (which contained all of our food...) in Clark and Kathy's vehicle. Note to self: next vacation, make sure you keep all of your food with you, even if the people who offer to let you put stuff in their vehicle say they're meeting you when y'all stop for lunch! In our case -- Clark and Kathy decided not to stop with us for lunch, which meant we had no snacks or food in our van the entire drive to Augusta - 8.5 hours! Thankfully, we followed or caravaned with mom and dad, and mom is the queen of packing food in the car, so she shared some snacks with us. Which came in very handy since Charis went through an astronomical growth spurt last week and was hungry literally all day long!

We stopped for gas after about an hour. We then stopped in Jacksonville for lunch - about 1.5 hours later. We met our good friend Kim at the Chick-fil-A where she works, and she ate lunch with us. It was great seeing her! The kids stretched their legs a bit in the play area, but then it was back in the van. Things were very loud in our van...all thanks to Charis. Cayman did SO WELL the entire time we were in the van. He is and always has been such a great traveler. Charis is just not at a very good traveling age because she's so busy right now. But Cayman is content to sit in his seat and watch movies, and he did really well napping in the van this time around. Charis took short cat naps every now and then - the rest of the time, it seemed like she was squealing or yelling or fussing or begging for food.

After stopping for lunch, we made plans to stop 2.5 hours later in Metter, Georgia. Last year when Mom and I drove down to Florida with the kids to meet Ian in our new "home," she and I stopped in Metter at a beautiful garden. A family friend designed the garden for a man named Michael Guido - he's famous in the south (or maybe just Georgia) because he wrote devotionals called "The Seed for the Sower." Anyways - last year we stopped at the gardens and it was soo fantastic that I wanted to stop again so Ian could experience it! Unfortunately it was quite different this trip than it was last trip. Last time we stopped in the morning in May, so it wasn't too hot or muggy or buggy. This time, it was hot, muggy, and buggy and there was a wedding beginning just as we got there! So we didn't get to explore all over the gardens like we did last time, but at least I got to take a picture of Mom and Charis sitting in the same rocking chair that they sat in one year ago. Boy how much has my little girl changed!!

May 2010

June 2011

After stretching and pottying at the gardens, we were homebound! Another 2.5-3 hours to Augusta. Finally! We could not wait to get out of that van. But poor Charis was most thankful I believe! We ate dinner and played outside until bedtime! Ian and I completely filled up the bedroom downstairs with everything from our van! No walking space whatsoever! He and I spent the evening sorting through the boxes and suitcases, figuring out what could stay packed up, what needed to be unpacked, what needed to be washed and repacked for him to take to FRL class... We crashed in the bed later in the evening! 

We had a fabulous time on vacation with our family! We look forward to more vacations so all the cousins can spend time together and make memories! It will probably be quite a few years before we drive back down to Orlando with our kiddos.... But we'll make it there eventually, and we'll take them to experience Disney...at a time when they'll be able to actually remember it all! :)