Not lost, just relaxed

Hmmm...I think I may have mentioned something about blogging our vacation. Why was I more motivated to do this last year than this time? Not sure. I think part of the reason is our vacation house's computer room is in the lower level and I don't pass the computer much and think "blog this memory". Or something.

ANYWAY, we're here! The drive down was fine, no one threw up, Eric and I got a few hours of sleep each as we drove straight through and arrived in foggy -- BUT WARM -- Florida in the early morning hours of Saturday. My brother and his family were either behind or in front of us (not on purpose!) most of the way but we didn't see each other until we got to the rental house. My favorite memory of the drive is watching the kids skip and run and have a great time at 3:30 a.m. at the Florida Welcome Center rest area. They had just woken up a bit so we took a break as they enjoyed their first time ever in the state. "Take our picture by the palm tree, mom!". They got a lot of smiles from the surprisingly-many other travelers who were taking a break at 3:30 in the morning. At least I just chose to notice the people who smiled at us.

My mother's family that lives in Florida came to the house today to visit with us, and we had a great time catching up with them. It was about 80 degrees and nice and sunny here today, and the kids swam about three different times and will sleep well tonight. It's really a good setup for the 16 of us (except for the inexplicable lack of chairs/seating?) and we are so thankful to enjoy this surreal Christmas week. I try not to even think about the cold and wind in Ohio, but someone is checking the northern weather around here about once an hour it seems. I guess that's part of the fun of spending a winter week in Florida.

I'll post some pics tomorrow. Good night!