On The Road Again

Hard to believe we are back on the road and about 330 miles from our destination in Florida!
A lot has happened since out last post...

We left Minneapolis at 4:05 pm Tuesday nigh in the rain - we lucked out and missed all of the snow.
It is hard to believe all of the "stuff" we were able to pack in the car.  Thanks to family and friends who loaned us their vehicle and cargo topper.  If it weren't for the larger vehicle and roof storage, Lucy would not have been able to bring along her 5 pairs of shoes and princess wand!

By the time we reached St. Paul, Jack and Lucy managed to get every entertainment item out of their backpack.  Books, crayons, paper, Leapsters, movies, etc. continue to litter the floor of the car.  We're constantly reminding them not to go thru everything right away, as it will be a long trip.

Rain followed us through Madison but the drive was pretty uneventful.  On a side note, outside of the Chicago area, Illinois is really an uneventful state! The amount of groceries we brought along is unbelievable.  Grandma teases that if we run out room, we can sell them back to a grocer. The groceries do come in handy - we are able to eat meals and snacks in the car.  Or if we are ready for a break, we set up a picnic at one of the numerous roadside rest stops.  What is the point of stopping to let the kids get their wiggles out if we stopped only to try and contain them at a restaurant?

We did not intend to drive straight through the night, but that is what we did!  Based on all of the crazy looks we received from friends prior to the trip, I was starting to wonder if I was nuts?  How would we make it 1/2 way across the country when we cannot event make it to St. Paul without the kids fighting and asking "when are we going to be there?".  The trip took some mental patience preparation for myself!  The kids have been great so far so it has been hard to stop driving when all is going smoothly. Yesterday Lucy did have one request, "can we sleep in a bed tonight?"

Thanks to Jack, who has kept us on geographical track, we made it thru Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee before checking into a hotel yesterday in Macon, Georgia.  It wasn't until we were stuck in Atlanta traffic at 4pm that Jack was the first one to finally asked, "when are we going to be there?"
After unpacking the car we stretched our legs a bit by walking around the Cherry Tree festival downtown.  We capped off the night with in-room pizza and a 6 pack split between the 3 adults.

Fully anticipating that the kids would be exhausted from travels we settled in for an expected good night of sleep. Ellse, however had different plans.  She was up until 2am and back at it at 6am this morning.  Joel took the late shift with her and I took the early shift allowing for me to get a quick workout and load of laundry in while she was nestled in her strolled.

After a well earned dipped at the hotel pool, waffles in the hotel lobby and re-packing all of our gear, we are on the road again.  The kids are passing time by listening to books on tape, reading, playing their Leapsters and magnet boards.  They have only watch 2 movies the entire trip.

Tomorrow is the big cruise day.