Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Trip Report Day 1

 
The Cambas Family's 2009 Vacation with the grands
 
Saturday June 27th
 
              I left here at 9 am and met Mom in Whitesburg.  We went to Douglasville and met the kids at the mall picking up Andrew and Courtney.  As Sylvia kissed the kiddos bye Andrew was so sweet and patted the seat next to him telling her there was room for her to go with us.  What a sweetheart he is.
              Had lunch at the Seabreeze restaurant.  Mom and I shared the Tilapia (YUMMY) and the kids shared a kids shrimp plate. We were waiting on our food and Andrew said "hey where's there bread" .  I think we eat out too much.  :)   
               We picked up moms car and all of us came to Newnan.  The kids played in the pool while I got the van loaded.  Mom and I went down to our neighbors veggie stand to get her some stuff to keep her busy while we are gone.  After she left we just played in the pool and had dinner of hot dogs and chips and pickles.   Baths and a movie before bedtime.  The grands were asleep by 10 or so.  James and I both got some sleep but Curtis NEVER went to sleep. 
 
Sunday June 28th
                James and I woke at 2:30 or so and decided to go ahead and get ready.  Curtis was bouncing off the walls.   We pulled out at 4 am.  Andrew woke as we loaded him and he got as hyper as his Uncle.  Courtney just opened her eyes and smiled.  :)
                We made it to Baxley GA by 7:30.   Made a stop at McDonald's for breakfast.
McDonalds                     
Pancakes
Saus Egg Mcmuffin meal
chicken bis meal
1 small coffee
2 small cokes
Everyone enjoyed our little breakfast and then went outside to play on the playground a bit.  Mom called me at 8 am.  :)  We sure were missing her already.  I called Billy to see if they were awake yet.  I think I beat his alarm clock by seconds.  :)  While the kids were playing Courtney looked at me and asked "where's Kncle Billwee"?
So we gave them their 5 minute heads up and then went to see Billy and family.
 
                We made our family visits short and sweet this year.  Limiting us to about an hour at each place.  Enjoyed our time with all of them and wish we had more time.  I was not ready to leave at the hour mark but we really needed to stay on track in order to have happy kids on the road. 
                 We were back on the road here by 9:15 or so.  On to Waycross.  Got to Bonnie's house around 10:15.   Enjoyed our time here and showing her our grands for the first time. 
 
                  Loaded kids up about 11:15 and handed out snacks to everyone.  Snacked our way to the Florida State line.  :)   Curtis still has not slept.  He keeps saying he doesn't want to miss anything.  :)   I finally got him to chill and nap a bit so he could have fun at the next stop.  
                   Stopped in Saint Augustine to show the grands the little house made out of a log that sits outside of Ribley's Believe it or Not.  We love this town.  We stopped here each year just to wander around and look at the shops and such.  I think we really need to take time to spend a couple nights here soon.  Kids got to burn up a little energy and then needed more snacks.  
 
                    12 hours after leaving home we arrived at Hard Rock Resort.  Bellhop unloaded car and said all rooms were ready so he would have our stuff up within 10 min. of check in and showed us where to park. 
                     As we are getting out of the van all of us were so darn excited to be here and poor little Courtney wet herself.  I had to laugh cause well Mom you remember the first trip you went with us to Disney and I was so excited to show you around.    
                        
                        Check in went smooth and we were sent on our way to our room.  I had requested near the elevators in order to save my old feet the LONG walks that can happen at these resorts.  We were on the 3rd floor (lobby level) room 3096. Our rate was for an obstructed view so I was a little worried just what we would be looking at, out our window.  But loved our view.  You could see parts of the pool and the ping pong tables and shuffle board courts through the trees.  I loved our view! The obstructed part was pretty to me, trees with pretty orange flowers of some sort on some of them. 
                         We got our clear back pack ready to go and headed to the park.  We rode the water taxi over to City Walk then picked up the kids tickets and entered Universal Studios.  Andrew and Courtney were so excited just on the water taxi.  ;)  We rode Jimmy Neutron (boys loved this ride) Courtney and I had to sit in the stationary seats, saw the shrek 4D show (we all love this one), rode Men in Black (had to use child swap here but we love this ride), the Simpsons (another child swap one and a favorite), and Jaws (the grands did not like this one at all)  then ate dinner at
International Food and Film Festival 
Fruit plate
pepperoni pizza
refill soda
stir fry beef place & rice
                        We got so much done in just 3 hours this night.  Was back in room by 9 and kids in bath.  We did not do a stroller for this night and poor little Courtney got blisters.  A couple of funny things said during trip.  Andrew kept asking as we traveled if I was going in circles.  He said he saw that sign already many times.  :)   He also made it clear when he needed to stop and get out a bit, he would say "how much further, my butt is cracking".  Curtis was a hoot.  He is always excited before a vacation but the excitement of showing the grands for their first time really got him wired.  He read, he took pictures with his DSi, he played games, he tried to sleep, he told silly jokes all the way there. 
Andrew was totally blown away by the parks.  His most used comment all week "It is so amazing".  I wish I had got that recorded.  Courtney loved everything as well.  But she kinda just went with the flow.  She had her special moments at Magic Kingdom.  :) 
 
 
I have pics on my facebook account if you want to see them.