March 27

Today started too early but realistically too late.....does that make sense to anyone else??  We slept until 9:00 and the kids and adults were all out of our groove....moving very slowly and inefficiently....leaving Orlando today to head over to Mims to see NASA and spend the night at a new KOA there.....maybe we will find better internet service there????  One can only hope....We called Bill to connect with them and tried to figure out our day.....Today is the first day that we are actually veering off of our carefully planned itinerary and at this point, none of us really cared!!  So shooting from the hip, we decided to go to the back lot of Disney to the employee store with Bill, Vic and Jenna to do some more shopping....the girls were all excited...Christian not so much!!  We found some killer deals on sweatshirts, $15 marked down from $60, WOW!!   Christian got excited when he saw the t-shirt and shorts that I found for him and when we were checking out he found a couple of pirate play figures that he begged for...so by the time we get home, he may actually enjoy shopping since we apparently seem to be doing a lot of it.....the kids have been writing postcards as we journey through all of the states and we are trying to keep in touch with cousins, friends and family with those....trouble is, we keep checking in and out of our KOA’s after hours and it is hard to find post boxes so forgive us if you get a postcard that we wrote in one state with a postmark from the next state!!  It’s all good....after our foray at the Disney back lot, we decided to take the kids to lunch at....wait for it, yes, you guessed it right....TACO BELL!!  We promised the kids about a week ago to get them Taco Bell and we just haven’t got there yet, shame on us!!  So this is the perfect opportunity, being that we are here with Vic and she is the new manager of the Downtown Disney Taco Bell store.....the kids acted like we were taking them out for fine steak dinners, aren’t kids funny??  It was fun to see Vic’s new store, it is huge and beautifully remodeled....I’ve never seen such nice art work in a Taco Bell, it is all different scenes or posters of Disney characters and parks.  Kind of fun!  Now it was time for the dreaded goodbyes....never my favorite part of visits, especially since it will be an undetermined amount of time until we see Bill, Vic and the kids again.  It is so hard to live so far apart....the kids were sad, too.....Jenna and Christian really had a great time being together these last few days and have a great rapport going.....we all hugged and kissed and Bill grabbed me so hard he cracked my back about 6 times.....something he has always done since I’ve known him.....the kids all loaded into the RV and I found Christian in the back crying....sad but cute that he knows that he really cares about Jenna and will miss her.....he asked me if he could facetime, skype and text her...technology!!!  So, they WILL keep in touch....and Jenna is saving her money with a plan to come visit, We hope she does.....on to Cape Canaveral....

we got there after the museum was closed but we got to see things on the outside (a recreation of a space shuttle, rocket garden and the Mercury/Redstone 1^st US Space Manned Vehicle). 

Mercury/Redstone Rocket

look closely.....the kids are there

Rocket Garden.....

Along the road in the canal, the kids spied a couple of floating alligators so the day was a hit!  When we arrived at the KOA, the kids and Pam got hooked up while Brookie and I started the laundry...ooops we didn’t get back to the laundry room until a few minutes after closing, so our clothes got locked in for the night, no big deal for the rest of us but Pam’s jammies were in the drier...funny!!  As we were going back and forth to add quarters to the drier, we met a nice golden retriever who looked so much like Arrow....we enjoyed petting him (Comet was his name).  Luckily, we haven’t seen too many bugs and the mosquitos are out and biting but now as bad as we thought there would be.  Something we are all grateful for, the ones who do have bites are itching like crazy!!! 





 There are many squirrels here and they are very brave, running over the path very close to us as we walk or sit around the campsite......

March 26

 OOOHHH………so painful when the alarm went off this morning!!!  Today is WATER PARK DAY!!  We promised the kids that we would take them to one water park…..so we still couldn’t decide which one to go to…Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach (both Disney) or Aquatica (Sea World)…..Aquatica won out…it is a little cheaper, closer and it has dolphins to see and slide through the tank….Gracie was so happy when she saw those dolphins!!!!  We all had a great time riding the slides and floating through the lazy river…the little kids really enjoyed soaking each other on the water playground….

......checking out the slides before we start some serious slipping.....



.....tired kids after sliding all day at Aqutica.....

Gracie watches the dolphins....soooo happy!!!

the Commerson Dolphins at Sea World Aquatica......

Bill and Vic caught back up with us and they came bearing gifts (again)…Out of Uncle Bill’s trunk came walking sticks and all kinds of musical instruments from Animal Kingdom, a hat for Pam, numerous personal hygiene items for Tim when he gets here, scrapbooks and cereal!!  You rock, Uncle Bill!! 

making music with the new instruments from Auntie Vic and Uncle Bill....

We went to dinner at an all you can eat” pizza buffet and it was fun for the kids to get to try all the types of pizza and as much as they wanted.  The chicken alfredo pizza was yummy!!  We did some shopping and enjoyed the outdoor entertainment at Downtown Disney for the rest of the evening and pretty much closed the place down….so surprising, isn’t it.  We had fun snapping up some cute Disney memorabilia…..

....making friends with POOH and Tigger...

......don't give me any lip.....

...checking out Downtown Disney.....

....cool t-shirts from the left hand store.....

...avoiding the spitting water from in front of the Disney Store...

Christian, of course, was soooo excited to shop, hahaha...NOT!! He is being stretched beyond the normal capacity of shopping patience during this trip.......Uncle Bill had his back and took all of the little kids over to the LEGO store and he had a blast checking out all of the cool LEGOS and the things made out of LEGOS......he made me take pictures of every single statue....

bye Mickey......

as we loaded into the cars, Pam realized that the keys to the RV were in it back at the KOA……uuuhhhoooohhh….no problem, we placed a call to AAA again and when we got through the guy informed me that I might not have the right coverage (in Florida you have to have an RV plan to get help with an RV)…WHAT??  Ok a few tense moments later he assured me that even though we are from California that they will help us…..we would, however, have to wait at least an hour so we all loaded back into the cars to avoid the night chill…..my little kids were so tired by this time that even though the car full of teenagers were laughing so hard and ridiculously, they slept right through it….Jenna joked that Christian had fallen asleep at the wheel since he was sitting in the driver’s seat in Bill’s car…..we waited and waited, almost falling asleep ourselves as we sat in the cars…...out of nowhere a small white car sped up and slammed on the brakes and jolted us all alive!!  Yeah, our help had arrived, finally at 1:30ish....unfortunately, it wasn’t to be....The man jumped out of his car and asked where the vehicle was, we gestured to the RV and he became quite worked up, claiming he could not work on RVs and that they aren’t covered by AAA and he would not be able to help us......trying to remain calm, I answered the phone that happened to be ringing at that moment....guess what, it was AAA just checking in to see how we were doing.....so again the AAA rep assured me that it was no problem and asked to speak to the locksmith.....He tried to calm him down and ok for him to help us....No matter what he tried (slim jim, air pump, etc...) nothing  worked and at one point he walked over to his car, climbed in and just sped away without saying anything.....we all just stood there watching him leave and looked at each other with bewilderment....NOW WHAT???  My resourceful bro had already been  trying to get in with a makeshift tool that he had jimmy rigged out of Vic’s really cute Mickey Mouse umbrella (now ruined) but it wasn’t working so again we surveyed the RV and Brittany (after some hard pushing and pulling) was able to get the back window open....Bill could not get the screen out without cutting it so we did that and picked the smallest of the crew, Gracie, to put through the small space.....she was so proud to be the savior of the day and joyfully opened the front door to let us in......

Gracie going through the window to unlock the RV..

....happy to have the keys...

You can be assured that we immediately went to the front seat and got out the “extra” keys (that Dave had made for us and told us about....we forgot about them until now) and put them in our respective camera bags so that this situation will not happen again....you learn something new every day....... Poor Bill, Vic and Jen

na...they had an hour ish drive to get home and didn’t get there until after 4:00 am.....again the internet was working weird and I fell asleep again trying to communicate with y’all......

March 25

The kids with Little Poppa and Charlotte

Got in a little late last night after the drive from New Orleans….drove through 2 states, more rain and LIGHTNING, and, here’s a new one….toll roads…..Finally arrived to a mediochre KOA right off of the 4 and 27 freeways, got to bed and the alarm went off at 5:00 (Florida time….we still feel in a time warp having lost another hour on the way here)….Bill, Vic and Jim and Charlotte got here about 7:15 to take us to breakfast before we went to spend a “MAGICAL” day at the Disney parks…



The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Beautiful weather, hot already…..We went to the Golden Corral Buffet and Christian was so happy, having recently discovered that at a buffet, he can eat as much as he wants!!!  We had a nice visit with Jim and Charlotte and had to say goodbye to them….I wish we didn’t live quite so far away (we only get to see them once a year on their trip to Santa Rosa and we will miss that this year since we are on our trip, glad they were still here when we traveled through)…..and the race began to see as much as we could at all 4 Disney parks…..some say that we are CRAZY but hey we are only here for two days, ok……

Looking out at Expedition Everestt

We started at the Disney Animal Park on the safari ride which was really cool and then on to ride Everest Expedition (very fun!)….we watched the Lion King show (very impressive just like anything that Disney does)….we ventured over to Hollywood Studios so that the kids could ride Tower of Terror (even Christian went this time, this is Gracie’s absolute favorite ride) and we tried to get fast passes to Rock ‘n Roller Coaster and the new Toy Story ride (we got passes for one and they were all gone for the other)…..on to Epcot to explore some science and countries…..we ate at Mexico and rushed back to Hollywood Studios to ride the coaster…..awesome ride and we all had a blast!!!  When we got off of the Rock ‘n Roll Coaster, Gracie begged me to do an activity that we were passing, so we slowed down to check it out and we started chatting with the cast member that was there….he asked us where we were headed next and we told him we were hoping to get on the Toy Story ride even though the wait was super long…not condusive to a one day trip…..so he starts to reach into his pocket and pulls out two  pieces of paper and says, “Well, would it help if I gave you these passes? They are good for up to 5 people on any ride…”  WOULD IT HELP?? WOW!!!!  Would it ever!!!!!  So, thanks to Arrin from Minnesota, we got to get onto the Toy Story ride that we would not have been able to ride….YEAH!!!  That made our day!!  From there we rode the monorail to Magic Kingdom in the hopes of seeing the Electric Light Parade and the Fireworks show…..halfway through the fireworks, I realized that we had not seen the princesses yet so Vic and I quickly figured out where they were stationed and I headed over there with Gracie while the others went to do some rides……being evening, I never thought that the lines would be long but when we got there we discovered there would be a little wait….oh well, a trip to Disney is not complete for my little girl without seeing the princesses so she and I waited…..Meanwhile, I am still nursing my stomach along and all day I have had stomach cramps so by this time I am doubled over at times…..not so fun…..when it was Gracie’s turn she was so excited to see that Aurora was first, she is her favorite!  Next was Belle and then Cinderella, who was impressed with Gracie’s shirt because her picture was on it!!!  She complimented her on the shirt and Gracie was beaming!!  When we exited we came upon the Electric Light Parade on Main Street so we watched a little of it and Gracie commented, “Hey, how did Cinderella get into the parade so quickly?”  ooops…..of course, by this time, my cell had died and so had Vic’s….Gracie and I went in search of the big kids and they were  not at the appointed place of meeting……drat!  We spent the next hour or so looking for them and they did the same…..Gracie got to ride the teacups and cars and we finally found them…..Not exactly how we planned the time at Magic Kingdom but it was still fun and the castle all lit up at night was so pretty, Gracie loved it!!!!  It is so much bigger than Disneyland…..We gimped back to the ferry to ride to the cars (me doubled over in pain and Pam hobbling on her foot….she had stepped off of a curb the wrong way and hurt her injured right foot)…..Are we getting old or what???  When we got to the cars, it was goodbye and drive to the KOA…..did I say car?  Yes, Bill graciously gave us his car to use while we are here and what a blessing that is not to drive the RV in Orlando!!!  Thanks Bill!!!  Of course, the minute that we got into the car every head hit the back of the seat and passed out….including Pam!  I was fighting sleep big time and was so happy to pull into the KOA…tried to work on the blog but the internet is so slow here that it takes a long time to load one pic at a time…..fell asleep waiting for it to load…..sorry friends…..zzzzzzzzz

fireworks at Magic Kingdom

Gracie rode the teacups in honourof Daddy...

...learning to drive

Electric Light Parade, one of our favorite things to see....

showing Cinderella her namesake on Gracie's shirt...

visiting with Aurora...

hugs from Cinderella

....I love you Belle...

...here we are at Magic Kingdom, just like Disneyland but bigger...

the Rock n' Roll Coaster

...in front of Hollywood Studios

...at EPCOT

the fireworks at Magic Kingdom...

the toy soldier from Toy Story

getting tired so Auntie Vic got Gracie a stroller

....getting ready to ride Tower of Terror...

March 24, 2012

Alarm went off at 5:30, OUCH!!!  Well, we have three states to drive through today and many hours ahead of us…..Pam and I got up and got going, unplugged and took off.  This RV was full of sleeping children and they did not start to open their eyes for a while…..

....leaving New Orleans....

Thank you for phone calls to make sure that we are safe when you noticed we missed a couple of days adding our blogs in…..we just either haven’t had wifi or were so tired we couldn’t function at the end of the day…not to mention my stomach issue…..

........entering the state of Mississippi.....

One quick stop to see the coast of Biloxi, Mississippi (we jumped

.....seeing the Gulf of Mexico for the first time......

out at the beach and collected some sand and a few shells….very pretty beach with white sand and water as far as the eye can see, although Christian swore he could see Florida and its giant peninsula).....

not far from the border of Alabama is Mobile and we found the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park and Christian was so happy….It was an unexpected nice surprise that it was right off the freeway and this unplanned stop turned out to be quite the hit with Christian!!  He ran all over so we could take pictures of all of the cannons, boats, and tanks….then we were back into the RV to drive some more…..as soon as we got back into the RV, Christian ripped open his new military play set (complete with army guys and vehicles) eager to check out his new guys….so funny!!   So today’s recap would be:  many miles, lots of gas, potty breaks where there were no working women’s restrooms, gas tanks without working computers and the worst of all, THERE IS NOT A SAFETY SEAT IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA!!!  What kind of state doesn’t have safety seats in the restrooms???  At one of our gas stops we found yet another malfunctioning restroom and we all needed to go….so we ventured over to the Holiday Inn Express and Suites on Spooner Rd. in Quincy FL….the gentleman at the front desk was very agreeable to us using the restrooms and even gave the kids fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies!!  I Highly recommend this hotel as the stopping point to spend the night if you are ever driving from New Orleans to Orlando.  It is the midway stop and it is very clean!!! Wish we could have stopped and slept but we have places to go and people to see.....

March 23.....Nawlins.....(if you are a local).....New Orleans (for the rest)

 Steamboat ride on the Mississippi River

March 23

Jackson Square

After a restless night of intense stomach cramps and the hugest storm (not a hurricane technically but it was as close as I ever want to come to one…the RV swayed and lightning flashed like crazy and what should I say to describe how loud the thunder was?) I felt awful.  Yes, I was really sick.  I gimped around while we got ready and we set off for our 2^nd day in New Orleans….after yesterday, none of us were super excited but we had reservations on the Steamboat Natchez to ride down the Mississippi River.  We got to New Orleans no problem and parked in the RV lot and had to run the many blocks down to the dock.  When we got there, we were just in time but they couldn’t find our tickets…..a few minutes later we were being welcomed aboard by the Captain and his crew…. We were sweaty from running in the humid sunshine, icky!  We kept saying to each other that we are sooo glad that we were visiting now and not when it is really hot.  What a difference between now and last night…….not a cloud in sight!!  It was fun cruising on the Mississippi River and learning interesting  facts …..there is an old Ford factory located there, the 2^nd largest sugar manufacturer in the world is Domino and we cruised past it, we saw the lower ninth ward, where the most damage was sustained during Hurricane Katrina…….. because the Mississippi runs so swiftly there are no bridges built across it from New Orleans down….the only way to cross are on the ferries that are free for pedestrians and $1 for cars to cross….we saw many large shipping freighters, cranes, tugboats, ferries and a large Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force….the engine room was fun to visit and the kids could see how the steam runs the boat…..I laid on the bench with the bags while the rest of the crew ventured to the dining hall for jazz music and a yummy southern theme lunch…….fried catfish, jambalaya (rice with sausage, beans, chicken), cole slaw, and bread pudding….they all tried everything and really like it all.  From there, we ventured over into the other side of the French Quarter near the French Market…..much better than the side we walked yesterday (shops, restaurants, music clubs, street vendors and performers and everywhere there are horse and buggies and pedicabs)…….OK I can see now why people say the Quarter is pretty…..We stopped by Jackson Square to see the statue of General Andrew Jackson and the St. Louis Cathedral ( the first Catholic church in Louisiana established in 1718, beautiful stained glass windows, ceiling paintings and statues)…..the highlight for the kids was to stop by Café du Monde for its world famous beignets (fried doughnuts)….they even got to watch through the window and see how they are made..I obviously did not taste these today.  We left the quarter and headed back to the RV on our way to the swampboat ride that was cancelled the day before because of the storm……out we ventured as far as you can go to the Jean Lafitte National Historical Preserve.  At the end of the a really long road we found a small swampboat tour company where our guide eagerly awaited our arrival, maybe because we were arriving a couple of minutes before the scheduled departure time and we had called them a couple of times when we got lost!! We are not entirely convinced of the effectiveness of Louisiana signage……… As we got out the RV, they said “here come the Griswolds”…..hahaha… …..WOW, I am so glad that we found this place to come to!!! (www.louisianaswamp.com) The swampboat ride was totally worth going to!!!  Our swamp guide, Felix was part Cajun and Creole and told some funny stories about "swamp people".  As we ventured into the swamp, we watched the water for alligators…..pretty quickly, Felix saw two on the edge of a tree trunk sticking up in the water.  They were about 4 feet long and enjoyed the marshmallows that he threw into the water for them. They swam around the boat (about 5-6 feet away) and we could see the teeth when they bit into the marshmallows!! It was very cool, Madison was so excited!!  Our guide basically knows everything there is to know about alligators and he stopped frequently to give us information on the swamp and the animals that live there…..He took us to the area of the marsh where the alligators nest and lay their eggs in September, told the kids the difference between swamps, marshes and bayous, pointed out two bald eagles up in a tower....there  was Spanish moss hanging down from all of the trees, proliferantly green since the storms of this week.  As we were exiting the boat, the guides again said “goodbye Griswold family”……well our trip is not quite the same but it was funny none the less!  Again, navigating to our campground proved allusive as the signage in LA is a little off, so we took a little detour and thanks to both of us with trip tik and google maps going, we finally arrived back “home” for the night.....giving us more fodder for the blog!  Baths, dinner and our first laundry run…….I can’t tell you the relief that I had to fall into the bed and go to sleep, tomorrow is coming very early…………

this is as real as it gets folks.....yes he is looking right at me!!

thanks Uncle Barney and Gram for the head lamps...