Inappropriately, one of Bella's current favorite songs is "Five o'Clock Somewhere," along with "Pencil Thin Moustache" and "Margaritaville." Can you tell that the radio stays on Radio Margaritaville a fair bit? It has been our reminder for the past three weeks of clouds and rain that Florida sun and beaches were right around the corner. I think Jack and I were more excited than Bell - it has been a long winter and a stressful spring. And you know, other than a quick weekend away last fall, it has been a long time since we had a true vacation. Last summer we went to Grand Lake for three days, but I was sick with a migraine half the time and it rained the other half. Otherwise, the last vacation was fossil digging and state park geocaching in Mineral Wells FOUR years ago. Our only other big trip ever was a week in Colorado 11 years ago. We just don't do big vacations. Until now.
Bell has known for months that we were going to have a beach trip as soon as school was out, but she didn't know that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at aunversal existed, much less that we were going there. Everyday when we got Bell out of bed and she moaned and groaned, we had to say "just 22 more days," then it was 21 and 20 and 19 until it was 3 and 2 and 1. Jack bought our tickets back in November and we have been very good secret keepers, lest something go wrong and vaca get cancelled. Tuesday we finally gave her the owl that came in the mail and showed her pictures on line. The plan is 4 days in Orlando and then a few days on the beaches around Destin on the return trip. Yesterday was teacher check out day for me and laundry and packing day. I came home from turning in paperwork and locking my room and just wanted to sit - Jack was in "let's pack, let's pack, let's pack" mode. I piddled at packing all day because I knew once I was done, I would want to get in the car and go, despite takeoff day still being a day away.
Sometimes, I have to really work to like Bell - she can get in such a unmotivated, blah, only want to sit and be plugged mood. That drives me nuts. I want to jog and take walks and go explore and sometimes I get soon tired of how much effort it takes to get her into whatever new thing we want try. I tend to be very motivated, no matter what is at hand, no matter if it is a hike or something mundane like weeding the garden. Anyway, I was expecting a morning of crankiness - last time we went somewhere, it was Great Wolf at her behest and getting her out of that recliner and into the car was a monumental effort that left all of us out of sorts.
This morning I woke up at 5:23 to quiet noises in the house. I woke up to investigate and found Bell up reading. We had coffee, milk, and donuts, washed the breakfast dishes, finished packing, and were out the door by 7:14. We were hoping to be gone by 8 but only really expected to leave at 9 or 10, so 7:14 was resounding success . . . until we got to OKC and realized that Jack left his phone at home. We could lose two hours and go back and get it and drive through rain the whole day. Instead, we opted to forge ahead and beat the rain to Arkansas.
We have driven by towns with funny names and old men on motorcycles with crutches in saddlebags, over flooded rivers and past dozens of soggy fields, through hills and forests of the biggest pine trees, and finally over the Mississippi and past the pyramid into Memphis and then south into the edge of Mississippi.
Bella played a little in a frigid pool at the hotel - I am waiting for warmer temps before I plunge in. We snagged a Mississippi geocache and drove back over the border to claim one in a weird little pet cemetery (I wondered at a family who managed to go through 12 pets) in Tennesee, and we are calling it an evening. We are not to beaches and and yet or even Hogwarts, but tomorrow, we will forge ahead to Alabama and then Monday we will arrive in Orlando.
I am equally excited about boat drinks and sand as I am about the world of Harry Potter; however, I am not sure either can beat the fun of watching Bell and Jack laugh and joke as we drove today. The two of them are magic and I am so looking forward to family time with them.
