Vacation 2012 — Trip Report #1

So no updates since Christmas, as you might imagine, that would because two little boys keep us really busy, but not too busy to go on vacation… and where else to go except DisneyWorld, by way of visiting mom, who now lives in Stuart, FL (which is actually a couple hours South of DisneyWorld.

So on Friday, April 27 with two kids and two kids at heart, together for their first family vacation we were on our way.  We were up at 4 a.m. and had the boys up by 5 a.m. and on our way by 5:45 to Ocala, FL (our first stop). We stopped in Vicksburg, MS and ate breakfast at McDonalds. Shortly after sitting down to eat, a busload of kids showed up. Little did we know, this was going to be the theme of the day.

The next stop, just to get out and walk around was at a fruit stand on the side of the road somewhere west of Mobile. The boys were needing to get out and walk around, and we needed a little stretching as well.

After getting back into the van, we decided to see how close a Chik-fil-a was, so Jennifer looked it up on her iPhone. We were using my iPhone for navigation. If one iPhone with TomTom is good, doesn’t that make two better? Right?

 TomTom sent us through a golf course, that was having a golf tournament, but eventually got us to a Chik-fil-a, about 12:10 PM. The place was packed, but to my surprise, an employee came over and ask me if the empty table behind me was fine for us to sit out? I was holding Caleb (14 months old). I said, “sure, but I haven’t ordered yet.” She replied, “I know, I’m going to take care of you, I take care of my customers with small babies. And she did, we sat down, she took our order and we were eating without standing in a really long line.

Part of the long lines was because of a busload of kids that was there.

We made various stops durning the rest of the day, to get gas, snacks, and supper and made it to Ocala a little later than planned. I will add, we stopped at a FastTrack gas station that had a Wendy’s, Dairy Queen and a Subway in Madison, FL (Exit 258 on I-10). Shortly after sitting down to eat, up rolled a bus load of kids.

We arrived at the Hampton in Ocala about 10:40 p.m. (9:40 p.m. before the time change), but it still was a long day. Both boys traveled really well, and we would have made a little better time without our Chic-fil-a detour, since it took us about 30 to 40 minutes to get back on course.  Ocala was having BikeFeast so the hotel was full of bikers, and everyone we met was really nice.

Go to Part 2

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