Florida or Bust!

So we had an unbeatable opportunity for vacation this year.  We had been discussing when we thought the best time to take the kids to Disney World would be...and had decided we should wait until Grant was just a little older, so he would remember it.  Obviously we're not going to be able to swing such a vacay several times while the kids are little...so it would be best to time it where everyone was big enough to have memories of it.  Well, that changed when our good friends the Coppernolls asked us if we'd like to drive down with them and stay in a vacation property owned by their family...for free.  Ummm....yes, please!  So it was decided to move the trip up on the family calendar.  :)

First long stent in the car....to Millstadt...
and yes, that's a ziploc of butter pasta
he's eating from...classy.

The Sand Lot....always good for 90
minutes of distraction time

There was discussion of flying, but it was decided with the kids and all the baggage they require that driving would be easiest...notice I didn't say EASY, I said easiEST.  So we drove down on June 5 to spend the night with Phil and Kristi at their brand new house...that's right, that was June FIFTH, as in our ninth wedding anniversary.  The plan was to be on the road by 4:00 and we left the house about 6:30...true typical Kutscher fashion, especially when such a detailed amount of packing is involved.  I tell ya what, packing kicks my butt every. time.  However, a bonus for Chad, with our late departing time he got to have Jack in the Box for our anniversary dinner.  His favorite.  (mine, not so much)  He couldn't have been happier.  Nothing says Happy Anniversary like deep fried tacos from a drive thru sack.  Bleck.  We got to Coppernolls about 8:30 and saw their lovely new home, and got to bed about midnight with plans to leave the next morning bright and early....okay, early enough that it's not bright.  Our alarm was set for 3:30....and Chad chose to wake us up to 'Party Rockers' to set the vacation tone off right.

Took awhile to get the kids down because they were excited to see each other...we kept our fingers crossed that this would play out in our favor with our 4 a.m. departure time

So we made it up and out and had somewhat uneventful drive...Lowlights being:

Landon getting carsick and throwing up all over yellow blanket and his jammies on the Kentucky, Tennessee border.  Sweet.  (mental note...I need to get a bucket for our car...permanent fixture...this isn't the first time we could've used it.  Seems like this kid needs something in his tummy BEFORE car rides...although last time it wasn't a bad parenting move on our part, he wasn't allowed to eat before his scans at the hospital)  And there are no pictures to commemorate the sickness.  You're welcome.

Then in southern Georgia Phil and Kristi had a flat tire on the interstate.  We turned around to help out...called the highway patrol to come assist the changing of the tire because we were so close to the road.  Then the boys made us girls evacuate the scene with the kids in our car...giving Charli one of her highlights of the trip...riding on our cooler for a mile to the next exit.  Here we are at the gas station waiting to hear from our knights in shining armor...who did not even wait for the frickin' highway patrol...they just changed the tire dangerously, James Bond style.

After the tire and puke and driving for nearly 12 hours we were all spent and crashed in the Quality Inn in Macon, Georgia...which was deceivingly nice from the outside but was showing a little wear on the inside.  We changed our plan from getting take out and eating at the hotel...eh...not such a good idea, to eating out.  Couldn't find anything that looked fantastic, so settled for a place called Buffalos, where they were having a trivia night apparently,  a loud one, and where Blake gagged on his food and threw up at the table.  It was at that point, where we all just didn't care anymore.  We were done.  We probably weren't that friendly to our waiter, but frankly we didn't care...he didn't bring my food with the rest of the party's anyway and after our day, congeniality wasn't top on the priority list.  Upon returning to the hotel, we cashed in.  EXHAUSTED.  We all slept like rocks, including my two handsome princes.

The next day it was back on the road again.  We made it to the house we were staying in around 4:00 and Kristi and I left the kids and the boys to the pool and we headed to the store to buy some groceries.  We grilled some dinner that night, and started working on getting all the little ones to bed.  Landon asked for Little Guy and he wasn't handy...so I told him he was still packed up somewhere and returned Yellow Blanket to him (puke free now...yay!) and he was out.  I, however, had a sinking feeling in my gut that I definitely did NOT remember putting Little Guy (Landon's beloved stuffed dalmation) in the car from the hotel....and one phone call to the Quality Inn confirmed that he had indeed been left in room 128 in the covers of the bed.  :(  :(  :(  I'm not going to lie.  I cried.  I was sick.  I was so upset I made Chad call back and talk to the check in man, Mr. Dunn to make sure he understood how important it was the we have Little Guy returned.  Mr. Dunn made a big impact on the boys when they checked in the hotel...he had them waiting in the lobby for quite some time because apparently he was the only one working the front desk and he was in the restroom, and then he pronounced Phil's last name with such a deep southern drawl that Phil (the man who had road grime all over him from laying on Interstate 475...in a hill of fire ants (true story) ) corrected his pronunciation and Mr. Dunn was confused about the possibility of a hyphen in CoppERnoll.  We're banking on Mr. Dunn's word though at this point.  He's promised to keep Little Guy safe for us until Saturday when we drive back through Macon.  If he comes through on his word, I'm feeling the need to buy him some sort of gift of appreciation....along with the housekeeping girl who didn't just throw the pathetic looking thing in the trash.  Landon asked a few times in passing about Little Guy, but it wasn't until Tuesday evening of the trip he really ASKED and WANTED him.  I had to tell him what happened, and told him not to worry, that Mr. Dunn was keeping him safe until we returned.  As I'm typing this (on Tuesday evening)....I'm so hoping that he comes through on his word because Landon says after I explain the situation:

'You know why I love Little Guy so much?  Because his paw fits perfect in my hand, and when I hold his paw I know I won't have any bad dreams'  (Choke.  Gasp. )  I almost wanted to drive to Macon and back tonight myself.

Here's Landon's journal pages from the first night on the road.  Funny what he thinks to write when I say write about anything that happened today.  This one is "I went to Buffalos.  PS  Not Buffalo Wild Wings and then I colored."  Then when I said it was time for lights out he HAD to have five more minutes...

and he cranked out this baby...'Another PS I got sick on the trip.'