Day 172 -- The Drive Begins

We started the long drive to Florida. We're breaking it into 3 big chunks rather than trying it all in one day. That will give us the chance to visit some of our favorite places along the way. We were really looking forward to our overnight visit in Maryland.

To help the miles pass more quickly, I prepared a surprise before we ever left home. I put together a set of presents for each of the kids. Every time we crossed a state border, they got to open the present with that state's label. Most of them were either books or small toys, but wen we crossed into the state of New York, they each got their big present for the trip. Maddie got a Bitty Baby and little John got a Build-a-bear with me singing his comfort song on it. In the picture he's trying to push the button to make it sing. They were both so cute about it! I was almost as excited to give them their presents as I was to go on the trip. I'd been putting it together for months.

A few details on our drive for Thursday. We left home at 7:06 AM and didn't pull into Rockville until 3:40 PM. That's 8 and 1/2 hours to go about 375 miles.

If it had just been Jared and me, we wouldn't have taken nearly so long. But, travelling with small children just takes longer. Little John had such terrible diapers, we had to change his clothes from head to toe about every two to three hours.

When we pulled into our old home town, the first thing we did was to go to our old house. It hadn't changed a bit! It was slightly surreal to be back. After a few minutes of blatant gawking, we headed to the Rockville Swim Center. The kids had a blast! They played for two hours and didn't want to leave, but we knew they'd hit rock bottom if we didn't get food and get them in bed at a reasonable hour. We left the swim center around 6:30 and headed to the Gaithersburg Washingtonian Marriott Courtyard. How indulgent! We really like the hotel -- definitely a good choice.

We walked along the lake and met our friends at our favorite restaurant -- Guapo's. YUM! They make the fest fajitas I've ever had. The kids held out and we had a great time. We made it back to the hotel and into bed about 10:30 PM.