Springbreak Status

The car was packed efficiently and in a timely manner. The children all executed their school dismissal plans letter perfect and all seven of us were seated in a mini-van heading south by 4PM Friday afternoon. The weather co-operated. The traffic co-operated. The kids co-operated!!

Lots and lots of this....

and this went on over the next TWENTY hours!

The driving duties were split between Auntie Peggy and myself and we powered through the night only stopping for a 30 minute nap just north of Atlanta waiting for sunrise to help keep us from getting hypnotized by the headlights!

We knew we were conquering the 1300 miles as the morning dawned to Spanish Moss draped trees...

and blooming azaleas! Bummed to have missed my absolute favorite signs of spring as the Redbud trees were not visible in the dark ): but surely the trip home will reveal a purple haze spread across a Tennessee mountainside!

Then before we could be camera ready it happened!?!?!

We officially were welcomed by the state of Florida!!!

Before you knew it...okay four more hours of driving into Florida...we found my Dad pretty much in the same spot we left him when we left Sarasota last fall!

We emptied the car and fixed dinner and spent the first, of what we hope are many, evenings watching the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico!!!

Then we went for a night walk in the neighborhood

and now one by one they have crashed into their beds were I will be a nanosecond after I hit the publish button on this post!!