Greetings from sunny Florida!!!!

Well, we packed up the car and headed out about 8pm Wednesday night. I don't know if I have mentioned before but Paul's parents are accompanying us on this trip. They are so excited to experience Disney World with Avery and we jokingly tell everyone that Paul and I need someone to watch Avery while we are riding all the roller coasters! We drove all night all night long (usually everyone was sleeping except for the driver) and arrived at our first destination at 6am: Mobile, Alabama.

For those of you that don't know Paul is a history buff. He loves the History Channel and anytime he gets the opportunity to visit a historic site we must do it. That is how we found ourselves outside of Battleship Memorial Park in the wee hours of the morning. Luckily they had a little cafe next to the park where we had a long leisurely breakfast. After we ate we visited the park and checked out some of the memorials and displays then it was on to the main attraction: a tour of the battleship USS Alabama. I have to admit it was very interesting to actually be on a vessel this size and read about how the seamen lived on this ship during the war. The tour was self guided and we actually spent about 2 hours checking things out and reading the history. Avery was in heaven just running around after being in the car for so long.

Sandra, Cliff, Paul, and Avery outside the entrance to the battleship.

My big kid checking out the big guns!!

I just had to check out the beds the crew slept on. They were hanging either 3 or 4 rows high in various parts of the ship. This ship had a crew of 2500 when out to sea.

The USS Alabama......sorry for the color quality, the sun was so bright that morning and shining right down in my frame.

After our tour we loaded back up and headed to our next stop: Destin, Florida. None of us had ever been here but had heard the beaches were beautiful so we decided to spend one night there before we went to Disney.

Of course we had to stop at the Florida state sign for a souvenir photo. This was the first state sign we posed in front of because it was dark when we crossed all the other state lines, hopefully we can catch them on the way home.

Little Miss at the tourist bureau. We packed her diapers and wipes in this little lunch sack and she wanted to be the one to carry it anytime we stopped.

Mimi, Poppy and Avery!!!

Soon we jumped back in the car for the last leg of Thursday's journey. We checked into our hotel, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed for the beach. It really was as beautiful as we had heard. The sand was soooo white and the water soooo clear. We waded out about waist high and could still see our manicured toes!! Avery was not quite sure what to think of the salt water and big waves but she had a good time.

Avery's first trip to the coast.

Paul, Avery, Sandra, and Cliff posing in the beautiful water.

Avery and Poppy hanging out on the beach.

After spending a little time there we headed back to our hotel for a good night's sleep on real beds!! We all slept like rocks and were well rested when we woke up Friday morning for our final destination: Walt Disney World!!!!! It took us about 6 more hours to make this final leg of the journey. We checked into the condo we rented for the week, unpacked, and then headed out for groceries. Once again we all got a good night's sleep and we are now getting ready for our first day at the parks. We are visiting Animal Kingdom today!!!!

Thanks for checking in!!! Have a great weekend!!!!!