Arriving Florida - DownTown Disney

Day 2 continues....
If you read this we left off in Mobile Bay. Next up will be Pensacola Bay.

The Florida welcome center had cool star wars posters and Harry Potter posters. Pictures were in order!

I remember when hurricane Andrew took out this bridge. Wow, was the road construction on this a bear to get through! I'm sure glad this is built and finished :-)

Texas and Florida are BIG states!! We finally made it to Gainsville by 10:30pm. Loosing that hour didn't help. The kids wanted to swim but it was late. Guess we shouldn't have stopped at the outlet mall in Gulfport, MS!! But I must say, we only stopped for 1 hour :-))

I planned ahead of time to stop in Gainsville. Rooms were already reserved. See, Gainsville is only 2 1/2 hours from WDW! Makes a great place to spend the night and have fresh start so you have an entire day for Downtown Disney.

A hidden Mickey while driving on I-75 is always a good sign, right?!?

And this, this lets me know that I'm officially home at WDW :-) I love being a DVC member!

WE got checked in at 10am and we knew the condo would not be ready. That was fine. We had a full day planned at Downtown Disney. We rode the ferry from Old Key West over to DTD. Rain Forrest Cafe is our tradition, they have good food and the atmosphere is fun. Then We explore shops, the Pin Traders, World of Disney, and AJ's favorite, LEGGO Store!!! Goofy's Candy Co., the Scrapbook Store, and Christmas Store, plus the water fountains. Believe it or not, Downtown Disney was empty. I've never seen it so empty. It was awesome!

Ashley, Amelia, & AJ

Conrad, Zach, and Tyler

Donna and Carrie!

Here are some of the store pictures:

This is soooooo me! I have many many many completed scrapbooks!!

Anytime I see something with Doc, I have to take a picture! Just comes with the territory! Do you know how hard it is to find things with Doc? I usually have to custom make T's. Doc is really under represented! 

AJ liked the sign in the Goofy Candy Co. I'll show you why!

AJ has PI memorized out to about 25 decimals! AJ is all about Star Wars, Leggos, and PI !!

The new Leggo store was truly amazing. So big, so much to see, computer building stations, play stations outside, and the new displays ~ awesome! AJ had saved up his allowance most of the year. I was so wrapped up in seeing everything in the store, I forgot to take a picture of him checking out! The one picture shows him with his bag, but below is a picture of all the boxes of the sets he bought with his own money!

And he ventured away from Star Wars! Only 1 SW set this time! I have more pictures of DT Disney and Pleasure Island, but I think you get the gist, that we had a great time. The older kids all split off, and did Disney Quest so I don't have pictures of them. I'll close with a ferry picture!

Next, The Condo!!

Cozyflier

The American Adventure

When I was a kid I remember road trips! Going cross country and driving to a destination. Seeing this country for what it was. Now a days everyone seems to jump in a commercial airplane and get there.

Well not with the price of airline tickets! So, our adventure began with 8 of us, 2 cars, OK OK 1 van and 1 car, a cargo carrier and we were off to Walt Disney World.

This is Donna, the other Mom that went with me! Her son, Conrad also went along.

Zach and Tyler. Both turned 21 this year. They have been friends since high school. Zach and his sister Ashley moved in across the street about 7 years ago and have been great friends to the kids.

Conrad and AJ, the 12 year old boys! and in the far back, Ashley under cover, and Amelia! They all ended up switching places more times than I can count! But this is just one pic!

The inevitable PIT Stop!!! Let me tell you, with 8 people pit stops are NOT fast!!!
Oh, and filling up 2 cars across the country, my Credit Card company called me to make sure my card hadn't been stolen! I forgot to call them and tell them I would be traveling. I guess gas and 3 hotel rooms red flags the account!!
Texas is BIG,  it takes 9 hours to get from where we live to the state line!  Add stopping at Braums in Dallas for Dinner and it was Dark thirty before we got to Louisiana!

Ashley was still asleep! Amelia and AJ are always up for a picture!

Conrad joined in on the fun!

Yea! We finally made it out of Texas!!! Of course the big boys said NO! NO pictures at state signs. I didn't push it!

This is how AJ was sleeping! However he found out I was taking a picture and smile went on!

We had left Lubbock at 12:30, just after noon. By about 1:30 AM the drivers were getting tired. Not sleepy, but tired of being in the car, sitting. So, we pulled off in Opelousa, LA and I found 3 rooms in a hotel. Since it was soooo late I got a discount :-) We all napped until 7:30 am and hit the road with full tummies.

I also wanted the newbies who had not made this trip to see the Mississippi River in the dayligt, the Mobile Tunnel, Mobile Bay, Pensacola Bay and such during the day. Oh, and the USS Alabama. The sights were too good to go through at night.

Mississippi Bridge. Note, I'm driving, Donna is taking pictures for me!

Downtown Mobile, AL

Entering the tunnel. So cool! Makes me think of the movie 'Daylight"! Just not a long enough tunnel!

In the tunnel!

Everyone thought the tunnel was really cool! Then we came out and there was the USS Alabama, WOW! And the bay is beautiful. Since Lubbock hadn't seen any rain since last October when we left, seeing all that water was a magnificent sight! Such beauty.


Well, picture upload is giving me a hassle. So, I will end this blog and continue trip details with another blog. There will be many blogs about this trip adventure! We spent a week at WDW and then made a mad dash home driving straight through because we had to get home for open house for school!

Did you ever take a great road adventure? Aren't they great? I think they are. The kids learn a lot :-)

More to come,
Cozyflier

Vintage Pearl Giveaway

http://www.thevintagepearl.com/blog/2011/08/faith-and-fortune-cookies-a-giveaway/#comment-45473

ReBath your Bathroom!

Note, this is not a paid advertisement!

We have lived in our home 19 years, it is 25 years old. Not ancient, but things do need to be repaired. I dream of remodeling the kitchen someday, but that is another post! Today's post is about bathrooms. We decided it was time, actually way past time to do so up keep on the old homestead. the guest bath is still down the road a bit, but we did the kids tub/shower. Amelia and AJ have a Pullman bath or a Jack & Jill bath.

The tub got a new liner, all the tile came out, the plumbing was replaced, and shower doors were replaced, and all the fixtures were replaced! The great part, their bathroom only took 2 days! WOW! Demo and done! I was amazed. My master shower took 3 days because of all the angles!!

So, do you want to see pictures? Oh, come on, you didn't think you'd get by without em did you? Not on my blog!! John, the contractor was like, you in here taking pictures again?!?

I did before and after, so here it goes!

Before, old brass doors, tile in the kids shower.

Demo!!!

The tub liner! 

Some sheet rock had to be taken out.  New water resistant sheet rock was put in that had a water membrane in it.

Old pipes!

Going to raise the height of the shower head!

Glue for new tub.

The new tub!

New sheet rock.

The walls go up!

New pipes!

New Doors!

New soap dish, shower head.

New towel rod!

Now for My Bathroom by Rebath.......

Our shower door gave out quite awhile ago.  Shower curtains are great fixes! The old door rubbed in the end.

Demo!

Dust and debris!

Raising the ceiling.

Putting in new pipes

Spouts for jets and water resistant sheet rock.

Where the faucet will be.

Jets will go there on this wall too!

The walls go up!

Gizmo checks out the new door!  I love the Rain shower head.  And the jets are awesome!

Gizmo is thinking about a shower!

We can have just rain, just jets, or a combination!  I'm in heaven!!!!

Should I turn on the water?!?!?

I was nice, I didn't!

The soap dish tower is awesome!

All this was done last week, with my Mom in the hospital, my brother and his wife in town, and my sister and her husband in town. To say that life was CRAZY is an understatement!!! Today, all 5 sinks are getting new faucets in brushed nickel. And in a few months hopefully I will be showing you a new guest bathroom.

We are really impressed by Rebath. The work is guaranteed for life and they are quick and clean workers. If you are thinking about having your bathroom done, give them a call, hey mention my name, Carrie Funk, who knows, maybe I'll get a towel rod or something! :-) Everyone in the family wants to use my shower now because I had the jets put in! But, if they use it they have to squeegee! Tell me what you think, I love them, would love to hear what you think!

Cozyflier