Go Ape!

Yesterday's road trip took one hour longer than anticipated due to stops and traffic, which meant we were in the van for a grand total of 6 hours and 35 minutes. The first 30 minutes went smoothly and then Oliver fussed and cried off and on for the next 90 minutes until he finally fell asleep at 2:30. Ian fell asleep at 1:00, which is when Oliver typically goes down for his nap. The smoothest part of the drive was from 2:30-4:55pm, which is when Oliver was asleep. He woke up in a very bad mood. We stopped for dinner shortly after that. I was hoping food would improve things, but I was wrong. He had an all out tantrum in his car seat that lasted until 6:05pm. During this team he not only screamed his head off, but he threw whatever he could (such as he hit my shoulder with one of his shoes and also part of his cheeseburger landed on me). All I can say is, there is no way this child is ready for a road trip to Florida!!!! Thank heavens we didn't attempt that a few weeks ago. We had a little peace and quite and then the screaming started up again and didn't really stop until we pulled into the resort. My parents had arrived before us. They had dinner, went grocery shopping, and had just finished checking in at the resort when we arrived. Our units are located a very short walk from the swimming pools and playground and are very quiet. Our units are on the second floor, and you have to use a key to get into the hallway between our units so we are able to leave the doors open at times and the kids can safely go back and forth between the two units. Perfect!

I think one unit is larger (in terms of square footage) than the first house Paul and I owned. Oliver and Ian are sharing a queen size bed in one bedroom, Nadia and I are sharing a king size bed in the master bedroom, and my parents have their own two bedroom unit. The units are beautifully furnished and include such things as a full kitchen, living room, washer, dryer, and two full bathrooms. And each unit cost $199 total for seven nights. We are actually only staying six nights; so that means it costs about $33 a day. We are eating our breakfasts and some lunches in our units. It's really hard to ever pay for a night in a hotel room when you're used to these luxuries and such low prices through time share resorts! I would definitely stay here again in the future.

When we arrived yesterday, we immediately put on our swimsuits so we could enjoy the pool a little before bed. We needed to do something fun after spending so many hours in the van. I let the kids stay up an hour later than usual. The outdoor swimming pool is about 75 degrees, the outdoor jacuzzi is about 95 degrees, and the indoor swimming pool is about 84 degrees. The outdoor and indoor pools both have basketball hoops inside the the pool and playground balls for shooting hoops. The indoor pool also has large turtles you can climb on and LOTS of bubbles in the water. The outdoor pool has a lazy river and two water slides. They also have horseshoes, ping pong, tennis courts, a playground, etc.

This morning my parents introduced the kids to tetherball, and Oliver played on the playground for a bit before we headed to church. After lunch we came back so Nadia could change clothes. Oliver and Grandpa stayed behind so Oliver could take a nap, and the other four of us head to Freedom Park to do the Go Ape Treetop Junior course. You have to be at least 10 years old to do the main course. There were only two zip lines, but the obstacle course was very challenging. They had two courses in the junior section. Loop one was definitely easier than loop two. I was very proud of Nadia that she did loop two twice! She did loop one five times. Oliver isn't tall enough (you have to be at least 39 inches tall and he's only 36 inches tall), and Ian is not brave enough to do either loop. I took lots of pictures and a couple of videos. I'll share more in the future.

After we got back we went swimming. My dad went and got pizza at one point so we could have dinner by the swimming pool. We spent three hours at the pool before coming back to our units for the evening. We had a great day! Tomorrow morning we plan to step back into time as we enter Colonial Williamsburg. I have to admit that part way through the drive here yesterday I was questioning my sanity in planning to be in a motor vehicle with Oliver for so many hours in one day, but I am already very glad that we made the trek.