By March I need sun. So much so that I'm willing to drive my mom van south, with three children, by myself. We started our month long journey with an overnight stop in Columbus for a game of marbles and St Patrick's Day celebration with Martha and Granny. Granny is surprisingly Irish. A fun time was had by all, but I'm not sure they were sad to see us drive away. This would become a theme.
1. First stop Columbus
2. Columbus to Columbia, SC- The kids were awesome in the car. The driving has been the easiest part of the trip. Three kids strapped in seats with unlimited screentime and junk food? Not so bad. Trying to check into a hotel with three kids under five? Challenging. We stopped at several rest stops to stretch our legs/play power ranges and ended up spending the night outside Columbia, SC
3.) Charleston- the next day we arrived in Charleston, SC for a visit with my old friend Katie and her family in their new home. They have a 3 month old. Showing up with three young kids to stay for two nights shouldn't be allowed when you have a newborn. I knew this and did it anyways. As I said she is a very good old friend. I probably wouldn't do this to you. We had an awesome time just watching the kids play in the backyard and by watching I mean telling them to stay outside so we could catch up inside. It sorta worked. We checked out their local beach, taco place, an awesome park and had an epic dance party to the Trolls movie. Such a fun stop, but I left sort of sad. I wish I could gather all my favorite people and live in the same town. Like the olden days. Seeing our kids play together was too much fun to only happen for two days every year. We miss you Gillig family. We will keep our dance moves hot for our next visit.
4.) Boynton Beach- next stop Nick's grandmother Barbara's in Boynton Beach. We have made this additional stop the last few years while at my parents. It has become a fun tradition that I hope to continue. Kathy and Barbara are fun hosts- planning nature walks, beach outings, sing alongs and read alongs.
5.) Vero Beach- We then traveled to my parents in Vero Beach for a little over a week. We all decided it wasn't our favorite visit- we were plagued by illness and agreed we have outgrown the condo rental. However there were lots of fun events like a boat ride to see dolphins, nature hikes to spot manatees, botanical gardens, after dinner ice cream walks and park visits. Mostly Fisher and Gracie just wanted to be at the beach and pool swimming and riding their boogie boards. Fisher can now comfortably swim the length of an Olympic size pool unassisted and Gracie can swim the width. Not bad for a three year old. This makes all the hassle of weekly lessons seem worth it. Hooray for water safety. And hooray for patient grandparents who welcome grandkids on their otherwise calm and relaxing retirement season.
6.) I was kind of a Disney hater. I no longer hate Disney, but don't feel the need to go back anytime soon. Maybe it's that as I type this I still smell like the Magic Kingdom, but probably not. We had a great time- we rode rides, saw characters, laughed at our Little Mermaid themed hotel room. It was great. For 36 hours. It is equally great to now be headed to our next destination 6 hrs from Orlando. The best part? Nick flew down from Michigan for a week of vacation. We were all happy to see him.
