Vacation Day 1: Traveling to Florida

On Friday, I gave you a few hints on where our family went on vacation this month. The answer is. . . . we went on a cruise! My Grandparents wanted to go on an extended family cruise to celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary this past month. It was a really special time together as a family.

Since it would take a really loooooooong time to summarize the trip, I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to break it down by day. This way, you can “come along with us” on our trip via photos and descriptions. J

(4/14/12) Saturday

To start our vacation on the right foot, we had a large, clean-out-the-fridge-of-any-perishables breakfast!

Mikey was ecstatic that he got to spend the week in the kennel. When we drive him to the kennel, he is all over us until we get there!

We’re finally on our way to Florida! After two years of planning, we are really excited about this trip. In this photo, we are on the shuttle bus from the parking lot to the Detroit Airport.

Photo Credit: Mark.

We had a few glitches going through security at the airport, but nothing major. We were quite early for our flight, so we had time to eat lunch at Quiznos.

Ben and Rubia waiting to board our flight.

Unfortunately, our flight left 45 minutes late. A pilot (passenger) was late on the flight, and he needed to catch our flight to Atlanta so that he could fly a plane out of Atlanta (hopefully that wasn’t too confusing.)

While we were waiting, the Captain invited the younger kids to go and see the cockpit! It was definitely a highlight for them, since that type of experience is rare in our post-911 society.

Photo Credit: Mark.

The flight from Detroit to Atlanta was a bit turbulent. Our ears were popping and hurting very badly on the descent. And that’s saying a lot considering we have a pilot in the family and go flying frequently! After a difficult landing, and pain in his ears, Josiah was very upset to find out that we had another flight to go through.

Photo Credit: Mark.

He perked up a bit when we ordered pizza for dinner. J We had about 35 minutes before our flight from Atlanta took off, so we had a short break. Thankfully, this flight took off on time.

I loved watching the clouds and scenery pass outside my window! I especially enjoyed going over the Everglades in Florida!

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on time and claimed all our bags. Getting a ride to the hotel was quite an adventure. J

We were under the impression that the hotel we were staying at had an on-going shuttle from the airport to the hotel. But we couldn’t find it anywhere! So we called the hotel, and they said the shuttle would be there in about 10 minutes. We were supposed to keep our eyes open for the van. We were watching, and all of a sudden, the van sped right past us! The kids took off running with suitcases and backpacks in tow to flag him down. They went to the other end of the terminal as he drove away.

We called the driver again and tried to explain where we were standing. We walked back to where we had been, and who goes speeding by again? The driver from the hotel! We were rather frustrated, but thankfully Ben—who was lagging behind the rest of us—heard our shouts and was able to flag the driver down.

We finally made it to the hotel around 9:00 p.m. We enjoyed exploring the colorful lobby while Dad checked us in.

Photo Credit: Roma.

We went upstairs to say hello to my Grandparents and my Uncle’s family (who had arrived in Florida several hours earlier than we had.) After our little reunion, we decided to go get some more dinner since most of us were quite hungry.

We ended up at a little restaurant called “Dough Boy’s.” It was an Italian cafe within walking distance of the hotel. We ordered several appetizers to split as a family, including an amazing antipasto salad, BBQ chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, and garlic rolls. It was all really good!

I’m sorry the picture is blurry, but this is what our hotel looked like.

After our late dinner, we went back to the hotel to shower up and get ready for bed. There weren’t enough beds for everyone in our room, so I slept on the sofa bed in my Grandparents room. I didn’t make it to bed until midnight! It was a long day, but we were really looking forward to boarding the ship the next morning!

To be continued. . .