No Floo Network Here, Sadly

(So, this is a long post, and I’m sorry about that. Also, several of these pictures are from my cell phone. Sorry about that part, too!)

I already shared a ton about our trip out east, visiting family in Virginia, next up was more road tripping, this time to Florida!

The husband wasn’t able to go with us on the Virginia trip, as he only has so many vacation days available. (That’s one of those great advantages to my job this time of the year!) I was looking at a week or so in Orlando to attend the IRS Forum, so we started looking at partnering that up with visiting some family in that area, and a trip to Universal Studios for the kids. (And us. We love us some Harry Potter.)

The timing worked out pretty well, so fresh off the highway from our VA trip, we unloaded and reloaded the van and headed back out to the interstate!

The Orlando area is about a 17 hour drive for us, but we’re lucky to have a great pit stop in the Nashville area (thanks Dad!) so we headed out mid-afternoon on Saturday, drove that first 5 hours and crashed out at Papaw’s. By Sunday night, after another 12 hours in the van, we were at our hotel with antsy kids and tired butts. (For the record, *just* the to and from’s of our travel over that three weeks totaled 56+ highway hours for the kids and me. TIRED.BUTTS.)

We spent the earlier part of the week doing very little – I had meetings, the huz & the kids hung out in the room and at the pool. (I’d take over pool duty after meetings were done for the day!)

We had a kitchenette in our room, so even most of our meals were right there at the hotel. (Hello, budget saver!) By Thursday, the last day of my meetings, we were ready to head out and hit the town a little bit!

Off we went to Downtown Disney, where we did some exploring in the different shops and enjoyed a lakeside dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.

 

Friday we visited with family – my mother-in-law wasn’t far, and my aunt and uncle, plus my cousins and their families, are all near Tampa, so we saw LOTS of family we hadn’t seen in a couple of years!

And then?

Then it was Saturday.

And Saturday will be a whole ‘nother post.