Florida or Bust!!

Husband's friends are snowbirding in Florida. We haven't seen them in about 5 years, so when they called and asked if we'd like to join them last minute it was a no-brainer. Partially also because we are impulse travelers.

You've heard of impulse shopping? Well, we are tightwads at the grocery store but have no conflicts about blowing the budget on a mini-break. And since Florida is right around the corner (ok, so a 10-hour drive but whatev) and our region has been sitting under a dense damp cloud hovering just above freezing, the Florida beaches sounded mighty tempting. I told you it was a no-brainer!

We started out driving through the night to Orlando. Rascal is old enough to take in the Magic Kingdom and as we all know, he's a fan. Husband made some vague noises about shopping for a plasma TV, but then shocked me by deciding to join us after all. He "wanted to see what all the fuss was about". Riiiiiiight. I suddenly understood Rascal a lot better. Interestingly, Rascal didn't want to meet the princesses, but had a jolly time chasing after Captain Hook. Husband approved.

After a few days in Orlando, we headed over to Naples to visit our friends. Although the kids had slept through 90% of the first leg of our trip, the 3 hour drive during the day was torturous. Then Kye surprised us. He's been picking up an enormous amount of vocabulary lately. He started out complaining, "I out! I out!"

He realized he wasn't getting anywhere when we attempted to placate him with granola bars, gummy bears, and pretzel sticks. Shortly afterward, his tune changed: "I stuck! I stuck!" We pulled over and I got out to examine his seat. As I unbuckled him to get a closer look, he squirmed away and shouted with delight. Frowning, I manhandled him back into his chair to his protests of "Hey! HEY!"

As we pulled back into traffic, he was so furious that he filled his pants. Now we had to stop, just a few miles short of our destination. Crap.

Once in Naples, we had a fabulous time. Our friends' children are around the same age as ours, and they got along famously. We stopped for dinner in a pedestrian zone, perched at the closest table to the thoroughfare. We enjoyed our fish 'n chips while the kids ran around like wild apes, hooting and hollering. We endured the stares of fellow diners imagining to ourselves the quiet ride home as the monkeys zonk out in the back seat.

Following in brother's footsteps...

We hit the interstate later that evening, intending to power through the night and crash at home. While the big kids fell asleep almost immediately, Kye was wired from overexcitement, disorientation, and too much soda. We had to stop at least once every hour because he was stuck (and subsequently, full of poo).

Eventually we made it home, where Husband and I lay comatose in various locations around the house. Kye was so thrilled to be back in familiarity that he eagerly accepted a long nap, while Tweenie caught up with BFF and wistfully reread her Princess autographs. Rascal spent most of the time trashing the house unimpeded since Husband and I weren't up to parenting properly. Eventually he got bored and pounced on us. Once fully awakened, he announced:

"Let's go back to the beach now!"

This impulse traveler is glad to be grounded, at least until we recover from our last vacation.