Florida Vacation, Day 0 (On the Road)

This week our family took a trip to Florida to visit with Travis (the not-quite-so-crazy uncle) and his family: Aunt Margaret, Camryn, Ethan, Sloan, and Isaac.  The purpose of this trip was to allow Camryn and me to go to TeenPact Congress! :D  To make a crazy road trip even crazier, we had two extra passengers along: John (a friend from our homeschool group) and Adam (a "random stranger" whom we had not previously met, but who was going to Congress and needed a ride).  It was a blast! 

6:00 on Saturday morning saw us (most of us, at least) up and rushing around the house trying to get ready to go!  Meals had to be packed, last-minute baggage had to be squeezed into the van, small children had to be dressed and fed and stuffed into car seats... it was a beehive of activity. 

Bjorn looking cute while everyone else rushes around...

Gloria taking a load out to the car

The plan was to head out by 7:00 sharp.  We actually drove out of the driveway at... 7:15!  I think this is a record for speed... :O

We took a picture of Freda at every gas station we stopped at, trying to make each one unique.  It took a little ingenuity from everyone. 

Gas station #1

Gas station #2

Gas station Ninja

Gas station #3

We brought along our big bag of hymnals so that we could do our evening singing time... and why not do it in the car?  It was a little difficult to hear each other, but it was still great!

We finally arrived in Orange Park, Florida at about 10:00 p.m, had baggage unloaded in record time, and all headed to bed.  Well... uh... all except for Ethan, Knut, Adam, John, Camryn, and myself.  We meant to go to bed, but then we started talking about books, and then Ethan and Knut started swordfighting, and then we started up a game of Ninja, and then we had to move outside since we were "banging around" too much... and then, when we came inside at about 1:00, Uncle Travis came down and got out the snacks... so as it turned out, we stayed up until about 2:00.  We hadn't seen our cousins in four months; what else were we to do?? ;)

Posts about "Day 1" coming soon!