The Long Drive Home

This is actually a photo of granddaddy’s new ride taken a few days before, but it illustrates the view we had this entire day. Our hotel reservations ran through Saturday night and the boys had to be in school Monday morning, so we had to make the drive home in one day, something we had done many times before. The 800 mile drive usually takes 13 to 14 hours with stops, but we had trouble from the start. The interstate was a parking lot for a couple of hours due to a gruesome accident just south of Ocala. By lunch we had only made it as far as Gainesville. The afternoon flowed better, but we only made it as far as McDonough, just south of Atlanta by suppertime. After a quick meal we pushed on and were delayed again south of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It was so late on this Sunday night that we breezed through Nashville and had almost made it home when we were stopped by an accident right on the Daviess County line where a car was on fire. After a 30 minute delay, we continued home arriving at 1:30 am. It had been an 18-1/2 hour drive. We won’t be doing that again.

Orange Blossom Cannonball

Everybody who knows us knows our boys love trains. They have seen trains in 38 states and ridden trains in many of those locations, but they had never ridden a real, full-sized steam train until today. Grandma Karen made special reservations for us to ride the Orange Blossom Cannonball. We originally planned to catch the train in Tavares, Florida, but a festival caused a traffic stalemate, so we drove on to Mount Dora to board the round trip. This tourist train runs between the two cities. It was a beautiful day and the temperature was just right for this authentic open air passenger coach. It gave us a real sense of the excitement of 19^th Century travel.

Pirate's Dinner Adventure

This morning we attended one of those presentations where Hilton wanted to sell us a timeshare, and one of the parting gifts was dinner at Pirate’s Dinner Adventure. I was really excited by this opportunity because I fondly remember visiting a pirate themed restaurant in Florida when I was about 7-years old. This place was fun! Guests are seated around a replica 18^th-century Spanish galleon anchored in a 300,000-gallon indoor lagoon with sky lighting. The show includes a dozen actors, singers and stunt performers engaged in a bounty of action-packed exploits. It was loud and entertaining! The boys loved it!

Happy Birthday Sandy!

One of the best things about spending Spring Break in Florida is the opportunity for Sandy to celebrate her birthday with her parents. This was our last day at their house, and we spent the day by the pool just unwinding and relaxing, which is something that Sandy truly needed. The grands treated us to a nice dinner at a seafood restaurant and then cake and ice cream back at their house. Sandy’s sister Kristin even called her with birthday greetings. It was a wonderful day!

Airboat Ride

Grandma and Granddaddy Roe planned an exciting adventure on Wednesday when they treated us to an airboat tour through the everglades. Caption Bill of Marsh Landing Adventures took us out from Shingle Creek on a 6-passenger boat into the swamps to find alligators.  Along the way, he stopped at various intervals to share Central Florida history and point out various varieties of plants and wildlife. The boys were excited to see several nests of baby alligators and we were all thrilled to see a few of their granddaddies measuring some 14 feet in length. It was a great day!

Lego Land

On Tuesday we visited Lego Land, which is just a few miles from the grandparents’ home. This was our second visit to this park, which we first visited almost exactly three years ago. Just the four of us went this time as the grandparents had a few previous appointments. It was interesting to see the difference in the boys approach to this park. Where they were tentative as 4-year olds, they were daring as 7-year olds, which made the experience much more enjoyable for them this time. Before long their adventurous spirit will take them to extremely thrilling rides to their great delight, but they’ll have to go alone. Daddy personally draws the line at entry level roller coasters.

A Day at the Beach

On previous visits to the Roe grandparents’ house in Florida, we visited the beach at Saint Petersburg on the Gulf side. Over Easter dinner the idea emerged to visit the beach on the ocean side, allowing the boys their first dip in the Atlantic. Grandma Karen suggest going to Vero Beach, which was about 100 miles southeast. It was a great idea and choice. On the day we visited the crowds were minimal, the weather was wonderful and the surf was exciting!