Summer Vacation

My family and I went to Orlando for Mary's family reunion.

We had a wonderful time staying in rented houses and visiting with all of the siblings, kids, cousins and uncles and such. Really good to be with those folks.

I have one brother, and Mary has 3 brothers and a sister. That makes for much different family dynamics! Mary calls it "critical mass". When my family gets together, we just never get to that point, because there just aren't enough of us. But Mary's family gets there quickly! It is always a good time to hang out with them.

We did some of the "touristy" things. My thing this year was going to Epcot Center. I've been wanting to go since it opened, but this was the year that I got to go. We also went to Weeki Wachee Springs. That was pretty cool. It was a kinda interesting show, the kids seemed to enjoy it, and we then all went to Buccaneer Bay (the waterpark area) and had some fun on the water slides and swimming in the fresh water. Really nice.

Most of the rest of the time we spent hanging out at the house, watching the kids swim and just being together. Really good family reunion.

We got back home last night after about 16 hours in the car. We did stop a few times for breaks, and meals, but overall it was driving. I much preferred the driving all day coming home to the driving all night going down there, but that is just me. Driving all night did make it so that Mary could spend more time with her family, and less time spent resting in a hotel. Mary was fantastic, and did take her turns driving. I couldn't have done it all myself, especially driving all night. Daytime driving is easier for both of us, I think.