Thoughts on vacation

So these are some random thoughts and events from our recent vacation to Jacksonville, Fl to visit Keith's family & go to his 20 year reunion.....

The Beach -
Great when you are staying at the beach, sucks when you have to cart everything a family of six will need for several hours, it all get covered with sand, the car gets covered with sand & your two year old decided upon first seeing the ocean that it is WAY too scary and sits with her back to it the entire time. Bowden and Evynn loved it though. Bowden a little too much, scared mommy several times!!!

The Trip -
- Driving at night (like we did there) is WAY better. Even though they little ones did not sleep the whole time, the baby did and we were not stopping to feed her the entire trip. Plus there is A LOT less traffic. It took us 14 hours. 16 1/2 hours to get home (but take out an hour because we stopped in Tallahassee and dorked around FSU's campus for a bit!)

- NEVER eat at a McDonald's across from a college campus on a Sunday morning... it was the DIRTIEST place I have EVER been in. Apparently all the drunks were there the night before....

- Sign outside a gas station/7-11: "No beer sold between 2am & 6am"

- FSU gives a degree in "Circus". I am not sure what this entails but they have their own permanent big top on campus. Not sure what this says about my husband's undergrad degree... or the Master's he is working on right now....

- Always stop at a place with a play land if you have small children and a baby who needs to nurse. Forcing your children to sit and wait while baby eats when there are no toys and they have been strapped in the car for 12 hours is not good for ANYONE!

-Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays, which I think is great except when my family is traveling on a Sunday and we are trying to follow the above mentioned advice and tired of McDonald's

-The McDonald's in Greysville, AL has the BEST play land EVER!!!!

- babies who may never poop out of their diapers will ALWAYS do it on long road trips, and they will do it one time more than however many extra outfits you pack.

- I wish all the Scriptures filling the sings on the roads would reflect more about God's love and less about his judgment.

-If we ever make a trip like this in a 12 passenger van we will stick the older children as far back as we can so when they will not stop talking for 6 straight hours we will not hear them!

-Evynn spent six hours asking us if it was raining, if it is stopped raining, why was it raining, what do windshield wipers do, why did Mufasa die, is the black lion mean, why are the Hyenas mean, is that Simba, can you get my pink pig, can I have a drink, I need to go potty, is Ariel a mermaid, why is Triton mad, where is Dora going, why is there a cow over there, is that a horse... then she spent the last 30 minutes SCREAMING... can you guess who would get to ride in the back of the 12 passenger?

- Kailyn was riding in the back yelling at her bitty baby doll to wake up... when it lays down her eyes close

- I LOVE the way the fog hangs lowly all over the fields in the early evening and early morning. Beautiful. It makes me wonder what this country was like 250 years ago when people were crossing it in wagons...

- NEVER plan a 10 day vacation to start the day after your mother has spent a week visiting. Both things are good, but our lives have been without routine and order for TOO LONG!!!

We had a good time. It was fun to see family. I was happy to get home. We are ready for normal again! I will post pics tomorrow!
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