Florida vacation "Chevy Chase" style

I guess it's about time I posted about our family trip to Florida. We decided a it was time for a family vacation early on in 2009. Tom and his dad are really into running 5K's and his dad had always talked about running the one at Disney. As motivation to me, Tom entered us in the 5K which was taking place January 8th, 2010. (I tried to get motivated about it..I really did. I was on that treadmill most nights and even purchased new shoes.)

Moving onto the trip...
We looked into flying and of course with the economy, there wasn't really any cheap way for all 4 of us to fly. We decided to hit the road "National Lamphoon's Christmas Vacation" style. Us 4, along with Tom's parent, packed into my Durango and headed out Wednesday night (Dec. 30th) after work. Now, I was more than worried how this would turn out. Andon and I are notorious for getting car sick and he'll just spontaniously start puking. So - he's in the back wearing SeaBands on his wrists with a bucket at his feet just in case. We drove through the night and made it into Chattenooga, TN by morning. We spent the day exploring Rock City, Ruby Falls and riding the Incline Train. It was BEAUTIFUL!! It was pretty foggy so we couldn't see far, but it was a wonderful experience. We headed back to the hotel and had a Palmer PJ's New Years Eve party. Ordered in some pizza and attempted to watch the ball drop but fell asleep before midnight. (This was our first New Years Eve away from home in a few years. Very strange feeling...but wonderful at the same time.)

The next morning we continued our journey to Orlando. We arrived at our hotel around 3pm and was rather disappointed with the exterior appearance. There was a dilapidated, run down gas station at the entrance along with what appeared to be an old house. Thankfully the inside was MUCH nicer. I guess this is when I should mention the weather just did NOT cooperate with us while we were there. The week prior to our visit was in the 70's and the week we were there - well, it never reached over 55. So - us Michiganders who mostly packed shorts and tanks were NOT impressed! ha ha We managed and it was more like our average Fall day.

We hit Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and then both Universal parks thanks to Aunt Carol having half off tickets. We spent some time visiting with Aunt Carol, Marlin, Marlins' parents and Grandpa Jim. It was nice to see them all again. Friday morning we got up early and headed to Epcot for the race. They "LIMIT" the participant entries to 5000. Yes - I said 5000!! It was definitely an experience..but I don't care to do it again. We didn't get race chips for our shoes so we had to basically time ourselves. From what I gather, I came in around 45 mins which is relative to what I did in my first 5K back in March.

We started our journey home after getting showered after the race. We stopped in Georgia for the night after eating a wonderful meal at the Cracker Barrel. Note: All the schools were closed that day in GA due to threat of snow fall. Yup - again us Michiganders were laughing. There wasn't even a DUSTING of snow there. But - they have no equipment to move the snow and just the thought of it coming makes them run and hide! ha ha

We made it home just after midnight on the 9th. I'm HAPPY to say our trip was one of the most WONDERFUL, FUN, RELAXING trips we've had. The boys did absolutely AMAZING during the car ride which is what I feared the most. There was minimal arguing and the best part: No one got car sick!!! :-) I would definitely consider driving again...which is something I was totally against a few years ago.