disney: the drive there

So, I'm really sorry, but I didn't take any pictures on the way to Disney.  I think the camera was buried in a bag somewhere.  The van was pretty full, so I was just thankful to know that the kids were accounted for.

We left home at 3:00 in the morning on Saturday to make the trip.  We decided to do all of the driving in one day.  We figured we could do it with some planning, and we did!  Unfortunately, it rained for at least 8 hours on the way there.  This slowed us down quite a bit.  There were several accidents on the interstate, and we're pretty sure that people from Georgia have no clue how to drive in the rain.  I think we saw about 10 accidents in our first hour in Georgia...what???!  

At one point, there was a semi that had slammed into the concrete wall through the center of the interstate.  There were chunks of cement all over our side of the road, and it took us about 30 minutes to drive 2 miles.  Thankfully, this was close to lunch time.  We had prepacked lunches in the van, so we ate.  

The following information is not funny as a statistic...just funny as a typo in light of the events we saw in Georgia that day...

When we crossed the state line into Georgia, there was an overhead digital sign that informed us that 701 people had died in traffic accidents on Georgia roads in 2013.  It reminded us to drive safely.  Like I said earlier, we saw accident after accident in Georgia.  About an hour into GA, we saw another overhead digital sign that informed us that 801 people had died in traffic accidents on Georgia roads in 2013.  It was obviously a typo, but kind of funny... 

I knew Meredith had the potential to get car sick on the way there, but I didn't know if it would be an issue.  After the girls woke up in the morning and had their donuts and orange juice, she started complaining about her stomach hurting.  She thought she was going to throw up.  Oh no.  Thankfully, we found a little grocery store off the interstate and bought some TravelEase for a whopping $3.88.  It was by far the best money spent that day.  Add to that a little Duck Dynasty in the van, and we were definitely cooking with peanut oil. :)

So, a couple of weeks before our trip, we finally told the girls that we were going on vacation.  However, we told them we were going to Myrtle Beach...not Disney.  They were pumped.  We wanted to surprise them, and I didn't want to hear them ask a million questions about Disney before we left.  Seriously, the two week waiting period was long enough as it was!  We stopped for gas, the bathroom, and a snack at one point and pulled out some t-shirts that Uncle Andrew made for them.  The shirts had Minnie Mouse ears and each girl's initial.  Josh handed them their shirts and had them open them all at the same time.

They were awfully clueless.  Josh said, "Why do you think we got you shirts with Minnie Mouse ears?"  They didn't know. :)  We said, "We're not going to Myrtle Beach.  WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!"  Meredith gave us one of those hands-on-your-hips, head-cocked-to-the-side, questioning looks.  I think she thought we were kidding.

Then, Amelia started jumping up and down excitedly.  They were all pretty excited once we got back in the van.  Amelia soon asked, "Do we have enough dollars to go to Disney World?" :)  

We could not have asked for better travelers in the girls.  They were absolutely outstanding.  I did a lot of planning for the driving part of our trip which I'll post about in the future!