Florida Bound!

Wow it sure has been a long time since I posted!  We were busy preparing for our drive to Florida and the time just got away from me.

Wednesday we started our journey south at about 5pm.  I was very nervous about the drive.  Our van is old and rusty so I was afraid something would break and we would be stuck on the side of the highway.  It held up great though!  I drove the first 6.5 hours or so and we made it through New York State, Pennsylvania, and into West Virginia.  A couple of hours into the drive we passed a sign that made us all laugh.  It said something along the lines of Correctional Facility Area - Do Not Pick Up Hitch Hikers, a few seconds later we passes a massive jail!!  It was a pretty uneventful drive after that.  I didn't love driving through the mountains at night but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  At about midnight we stopped for gas and to switch drivers.  Adrian then drove the rest of the way through West Virginia and North Carolina and into South Carolina.  We switched drivers again at that point and I drove through South Carolina and in to Georgia.  We stopped in Savannah for gas and lunch then Adrian took over the driving again for the rest of the drive.  Everyone behaved until the last couple of hours or so when Anna started with the "Are we there yet" questions.  With many pee stops and a couple of food and gas stops it took us just over 24hrs to get here.

Yesterday we went to Universal Studios and Island of Adventure.  At the Universal Studios side we went on a few rides and some simulator type rides.  It was alot of fun.  Then we went over to Islands of Adventure which is part of Universal Resort.  It is where we got to go to Seuss Landing which is all Dr Seuss rides, shops and activities.  Adryanna loved the rides and even Christina got to go on a few.  We then headed over to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!  This is what we had been waiting for all day!  It was amazing!!!  I felt like I was in the movies.  We went into some of the shops and rode a couple of rides.  The best ride was a simulator ride inside Hogwarts!!  You "fly a broom" all around the castle grounds.  It was awesome.  While we were in line for the ride we were walking through the castle it was just like I thought it would be.  There were talking and moving pictures on the walls that looked so real.  It was great.

Today is just going to be a quiet day, a bit of shopping then a big turkey dinner to celebrate our Thanksgiving.  Tomorrow we're headed to Clearwater Beach for the day.  It will be Meag and Christina's first time to the ocean.  Anna went once when she was 8 months old but obviously doesn't remember so I guess it will be like her first time too!  Well I guess it's not actually the ocean, it's the Gulf of Mexico but it's still salt water!!  I'll post some pictures tomorrow with my beach blog.