Off we go!

This set of posts is, well..., 2 months late. But frankly just getting through the pictures and digesting all of the memories was a very large job. I get weepy every time I see the Disney commercials now and honestly cannot quit reliving the experience with anyone that will listen. So here goes.

We took off on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st, and our goal for the day was to make it to Mobile, AL. The boys rode in Dad's car and all of the girls and the kids were in our Suburban. Allison decided that we needed a portrait of us at the start of our long journey, but could never get all of us in. I love Cooper's face in this shot. Thank the Lord for DVD players in the car!

The drive was quite entertaining. We drove though areas that were new to us, so that made it better. By midday, we crossed the Mighty Mississippi.
After about 10 hours of driving, we arrived in Mobile. As we got close, we were all on our phones scouring for the nearest Cracker Barrel. Thankfully, there were several to choose from. And weren't we lucky to stop into the one where Mrs. Claus was hanging out.
We got up Wednesday morning, ready to finish the final leg of our trip to Florida. We realized we'd be driving right by Tallahassee and couldn't pass up the chance for Allison to stop by and see the campus. She had just received her Masters degree from Florida State University a few weeks before, but had done her course work online, so she'd never seen the campus. It was really beautiful and we were all very glad that we took the chance to check it out.
One of the wonderful perks of stopping in Tallahassee was our discovery of the best cupcake of my life! I am not exaggerating! We stopped in on the way out of town and then couldn't resist stopping on our way back through on the way home to Texas.


We pulled into Orlando that night after eight hours of driving, We were tired, but beyond excited to finally be there! Dad did an amazing job finding us a condo that was perfect for our week's stay. It had a large living area and kitchen. We even headed out to Walmart (with the rest of creation) and got a Christmas tree. It was a place we would have been perfectly happy hanging out in all day, but-no- we needed to see Mickey!