Just before arriving at Kath and Ian's house, Alexis got sick in the car. This was not the start that we wanted, but it was not that bad. It was very small and Lex even prevented it from getting on her clothes, ya.
We left Hamilton around 12:30 (with me driving), the kids played at the park while we packed up everything. The van luckily was not very crammed as most of the bags were in the top.
We hit the US boarder, or a couple km away when traffic hit, it took 1 1/2 hours to get through, and then we were on our way.
We drove without any issues until about 5:30 when we stopped at a Cracker Barrel about 90 miles outside of Pittsburgh on I79. The food was good, I had some fish and chips, Miranda had Chicken fried Chicken (she says that it was good), the kids had some grilled cheese, and we all had corn bread and biscuits. The biscuits were really good but the corn bread not so much.
We got some gas and then hit the road, this time it was Miranda's turn to drive. So far the kids have been great, playing with their sticker books, colouring books, and Matthew with his math book (not homework, he really loves math).
Next stop then was a rest station in Penn. around 8:30, kids got there PJs on had a snack and a washroom break, this was going to be the last stop until we switch up drivers in the night. Ian and I had a hard time trying to get the roof top storage open as one of the C claps was closed too tight, had to use the jumper cables as a wrench :)
Hit the road again, this time with Ian taking the wheel, but I do remember him telling me before we left he has a hard time driving at night, hmmm.
Ian was the luck one to drive though the mountains in West Virgina, was lot of back and forth and up and down. The kids finally started to pass out around 10 - 11, Miranda and I attempted to sleep while Kath and Ian were in the front. I really do have troubles sleeping in a moving vehicle :). While driving through Penn. we saw a cool thing, a really big smokestack with a 20 to 30 foot flame at the top, reminded me of the ones in Hamilton.
All three kids slept ok each having there moments (well not Matt, he is able to sleep anywhere). Ian drove until about 2 am when we stopped at another rest stop for washroom break and switch drivers.
I was now back at the wheel, all of us were really tired at this point but we managed to make it all the way to Charlotte were we got off at an exit that said there was a McDs (because apparently no one drinks coffee down here as we did not see any coffee places and had to try a McDs). The McD's took a while to find but we managed to, we went through the drive through and asked for 3 coffees and a Tea (Miranda was telling me to ask for a hot tea, but I did not listen :) and just asked for a tea with sugar and milk.
After trying to figure out what the guy at the drive though said (could not understand his accent) we pulled ahead to wait while they made the coffee and tea (they did not have any made). When it finally arrived (after about 5 mins), it was three coffee's and an iced tea (that is just a sweetened tea, so different lol).
Even though Miranda was tired and the rest of us as well, she took over driving at this point as I could go no further. Around 4 am all of a sudden the Spice Girls music came on, Matt had woken up and turned on his music and was playing Miranda's DS, at 4 am. We managed to get him to turn it off so not to wake the other kids.
We stopped and switched drivers again and Ian was driving again, he took us until the morning and we stopped at a Waffle House on the SC Georgia boarder. Was somewhat clean, but turned out that we were in the smoking area as some of the "good old boys" started to smoke. The food was not bad but my biscuit breakfast sandwich was fried, a little greasy :)
Ian continued the driving through Georgia when he could go no further so we stopped again and I took over for the final leg of the trip.
We stopped just inside the Florida boarder at a welcome centre and got some free Florida OJ and hit the washrooms and then hit the road. We still had another 3 to 4 hours to go, we managed to make it to Jacksonville before Lex threw up in the back seat. Have I mentioned that it is super hot in Florida and the van does not have AC. So we stopped at a McD's cleaned up Lex and hit the road again. I managed to get us to Orlando and then Kissimmee (the house).
The house is fantastic, we explorer and unloaded everything. The kids were very excited about the pool (which is covered with a screen, Florida has a big bug problem) and the playroom.
Ian and I went out to Walmart to get all the groceries and other required items while Miranda, Kath and the kids went swimming. Matt and Lex jumped right in, Matt literally. Was surprised how quick they took to the pool, Matt was even jumping into the deep end. They loved the pool
Walmart was a very big disappointment, a few things
- Only could find California Oranges, I am in Florida, were is the Florida oranges
- Broccoli cost twice as much as at Sobeys
- and everything else that I thought would be cheap was either the same price or more expensive
- at least the beer and alcohol was cheap :)
Behind our house is a pond and in the pond there are some ducks and a weird looking goose that now comes to our back to visit. No alligators back there but the owner of the house informed me that in the pond behind the houses across the street there is a very big one and small one. We are planning on checking it out on Sunday....
Long drive but love the house.....and the heat.....
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