Whens My Vacation?

So I got my vacation. Finally. We have not had a family vacation in 3 years.. I think it is about time, don't you? We headed out East to visit family and go to Marty's Navy Retirement. I will tell you all about it day by day.

Post 1

Thursday, July, 10 to Saturday, July, 12

We made a final decision to go on this hair brained adventure on Wednesday, even though we had talked about it for weeks, so I had to get up and get packing on Thursday. I got up early and got the kids stuff packed. I started the laundry and went into work. Yes, that right even on the day of my trip I went to work. I am sick and I need help...I know. So after I worked, drove downtown to the state offices and ran about 10 errands we packed the car and left for Toledo, Ohio. Toledo you say. Yes. Our plans had us drive for 24 hours straight to get most of the way there. Our stop was Toledo. We had hotel reservations for the night. Thank you Marriott points!

I took this picture while driving! Dangerous I know! Ahhh! All of the pictures taken like this in the car were taken by me while driving.

The drive started slow. Too much traffic until we got onto I-80. We stopped for dinner at about 9:30 pm, and then I drove on into the night. Everyone was great except for the one time I had to scream at Haley and Jason for playing and being loud. Oh it was after 1 am, and Lewis was trying to sleep so that he could take over driving for me at 3 am or so.

Our car got AWESOME gas mileage. We could go for about 5 to 5 and 1/2 hours on one tank of gas. With the van we needed to refill after 4 hours. We spent much less in gas then we thought. It was still a lot but compared to flying... well there was no comparison.

On Friday we got to Toledo at about 6 pm. We went to dinner and then went back to the hotel and watched TV. Everyone was exhausted except for Jason who had a 4 hour nap that afternoon. He stayed awake for quite a while playing his video games.

Saturday morning we got up, ate a quick breakfast in the car while driving to Hershey, PA. On the way there we stopped for lunch so the kids could get out of the car and have a break. We were about to run out of gas. We had about 15 miles left and the exit we were currently by only had Burger King. I did not want that so I said lets go and try to make it to the next exit. The kids were screaming that we would run out of gas, and Lewis said great and gunned the engine. If we ran out of gas, he said, then he was not walking to get it. Of course not, I would just call AAA. So, yes we made it to the next exit with 2 miles left in gas! HA HA! I will always provide a good adventure that's for sure! (Right DAD? Keep going, we will make it!) So when we got off of that exit the only places to eat were Burger King (!!!) and a place called Kings. So we went to Kings. We chose wisely!! The food was good, and cheap and the kids got these desserts with their meal called Frownies. They were brownies with a frown drawn in frosting. So cute, and so yummy! The kids loved the place and wanted to go back for every meal the rest of the trip.

When we got to Hershey, I went into the wonderful hotel that S.B. helped me get on priceline (thanks!), and there was a little misunderstanding. All of the 2 double bed rooms were rented out for the night! They had overbooked because of a bachelorette party! So since we arrived last we got two King bed rooms. So it was Lewis and myself, our 4 kids, and Katie. {For those who do not know, Katie is Lewis' younger sister, and my b.f.s.i.l. (Figure that one out!) She drove up from VA to visit with us and to spend some time with the kids.} How were all 7 of us supposed to fit into 2 beds? Well they gave us one single roll away for the first night. There were little chaise's in the rooms so Abigail and Jason slept on those the first night. The second night they gave us a double bed roll away for the second room so everyone had a bed, but it was scary that first morning with bodies all over the rooms. There are 5 people sleeping in these pictures. Yikes!

Right when Katie got to the hotel on Saturday we all went swimming. We swam for an hour or so and then went to dinner. We ate at Texas Road House (Lewis' Favorite). We went straight back to the hotel and the kids watched a movie in one room and went to sleep (after a little fighting, wrestling, and playing, all in all good fun and no blood) and the 3 adults watched a movie, played on Facebook, and checked emails in the other room before bed.

All in all not a bad beginning to the trip. The kids were happy, Katie was with us and Lewis was in a good mood.

Coming Soon: Part 2

Hershey, PA Sunday, July 13 to Monday July 14