A Week in Kissimmee

On Friday the 11th, we headed 85 miles over for a week at Sherwood Forest RV in Kissimmee, Florida. The 11th was also my last day of full-time work, only 4 hours a day from here on out!

Another big milestone from that weekend? We officially have a teenager - Porter's 13th birthday was that Sunday.

Morning Snuggles

For his birthday he wanted to go snorkeling, but since we were in the middle of Florida (read: no oceans) we opted to postpone that and instead we went to Kissimmee Go-Karts. It was a lot of fun - racing go-karts, a full arcade, and they have alligators you can feed!

Bring it!

The weather was beautiful the entire week so we were able to spend lots of time at the pool and the boys got in a few games of outdoor chess.

Seriously strategizing going on here

It's always been our tradition that we decorate for Christmas after Porter's birthday. We like to keep the two separate in the hopes that he never feels like his big day is anyway overshadowed.

We didn't really bring much in the way of Christmas decorations with us though, so we ended up having to grab quite a bit of stuff in order to decorate.

Sidewalk chalk trees count, right?

This is the first year since our boys were born that we haven't made a day out of going up to the snow and picking out a tree. It was definitely a bitter sweet thing - especially when the tree this year was a pre-lit fake thing. I really do think it turned out well though!

Isn't she cute?

And I did bring our stockings - but with no fireplace mantle, we opted to hang them in the window :)

And the stocking we hung...

Thanks to a good deal on Groupon, we went to see the Pirate's Dinner Adventure. If you've ever been to a Medieval Times - same thing, but with pirates. It was a lot of fun and they even had an entire gluten free dinner and desert for Porter!

Hudson rowing his heart out

Pirates sing, right?

We considered doing the amusement park thing while we were just outside of Orlando. But we just couldn't justify spending almost a thousand dollars to spend hours standing in lines. Especially when neither of the kids seemed to really care about it. We did opt to head over to Disney Springs for a few hours on the 17th though. Just to get a little Disney feel.

On the 18th we drove 149 south to the Southbay Campground. It was just a stopover point, but we really enjoyed it. It was nice and quiet - which isn't something you can really say about the Orlando area.

The view directly behind the RV

We didn't do much of anything, but we did have an epic round of Jenga.

BOOYAH

Sometimes just hanging out is what the doctor ordered.

What?

There were little alligators around the park too. And boy were they cute!

George McChompy

Goodnight Florida!

Bombing Down to Florida (aka It's Really Cold Out You Guys)

So, don't get me wrong - spending our first holiday on the road with family was wonderful. But you know what Maryland is in November?

Cold. It's cold.

And I didn't decide to travel so that I could be cold. That, I can get back at home :)

So after the Thanksgiving shenanigans were completed? We bombed straight down to Florida. It is, after all, the sunshine state.

This meant some quick traveling. Our first stop was at Picture Lake Campgrounds, which was about 211 miles over to Petersburg, VA. We honestly didn't do a thing, I don't even have a single picture from the days we were there - November 30th to December 2nd.

Our next stop was actually planned for another place, but we saw South of the Border from the highway and decided to pull over. It was 243 miles over to Hamer, SC and I think we were just done. We only stayed a single night, but as far as quick stops go, it wasn't bad. Fake donkeys to sit on? Yes, please!

The next day we went another 220 miles down to Savannah, GA. We stayed just the one night at the Biltmore RV. The office is actually a cute little antique/tchotchke shop and the ladies there were super sweet. The spot itself was an overflow one - in a grass field with only a chain link fence separating us from a busy road - eek! But we got another sticker for the map, so I was happy!

FIFTEEN!

On day five after leaving Maryland we made it to Florida, and it felt soooo good. From Georgia it was 211 miles down to Ormond Beach where we stayed at Sunshine Holiday Daytona for a full week- December 4th through the 11th.

There's just something to be said for swimming at 10:30 in the morning - in the outdoor pool - in DECEMBER!

It's a hard life

I do have to say though, this is not a place for the more OCD of us. This is a shot of the RV - parked perfectly straight in the spot. Totally lined up with all of the hookups.

And the concrete patio? So very not straight.

Why is the happening?

Just around the corner from the RV park there was a GIGANTIC Harley Davidson - Bruce Rossmeyer. We walked all around and saw some great older bikes.

Uh, uh, huh

We had a super yummy inner out at Houligan's, an Irish pub/restaurant.

Cheese!

Flagler Beach was the only nearby dog friendly beach, so we headed over there one day - and it was gorgeous! Keep in mind this is December people!

YES!

Le poseurs

Maryland

We headed 95 miles into Maryland on November 19th to spend Thanksgiving with family. Jason's sister lives outside of Baltimore and let me tell you, finding an RV park is no small feet. We finally settled on a place called Bar Harbor RV Park in Abingdon. It wasn't bad, it was on the harbor and we had a nice view, but it was definitely on the spendy side. I guess you can charge what you want when you're the only option around.

Feeding ducks right outside the RV

And most importantly - another sticker for the books!

Fourteen!

Jason was able to take Emma out hunting again - which made both of them happy. They brought home five chukars, and I lucked out because sis-in-law cooked them. I'm just not about touching things that were walking around earlier in the day.

Emma in her element

Emma found, Jason shot, Angel cooked

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday because we were waiting for Jason's mom and step-dad to drive over from Indiana. It was so wonderful to spend time with family, it's been a long time since we had that!

After diner fire on the back porch

Cheese!

Cousins

Finishing out Virginia and a Day in DC

After Williamsburg we continued our Northern trek 128 miles to Lorton, VA. We stayed at a lovey, and nearly empty state park from November 15th to 19th, the Pohick Bay Regional Park. I have never seen more leaves on the ground than here, the boys were in pile-making-heaven.

A ride through the woods

Our main reason for choosing Lorton was for it's proximity to Washington DC. We had originally planned to visit the White House, but decided to postpone that for another trip. Having a puppy is just a pain sometimes!

We did spend an entire day exploring DC though, and after dealing with parking I totally understand why bus tours are so popular here!

We did a drive by of the White House and then parked (kind of near) the National Mall.

Money shot!

You'd never know there was traffic jams all around

I was really surprised how many people were around, considering it was a Tuesday in November. The Lincoln Memorial was even larger (and more crowded) than I had imagined.

Oh hi there Abe

The Korean War Memorial and especially the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial are very sobering and well worth the trip.

We also walked through a place I had never even heard of - the National WWII Memorial

We found her!

Virginia Take 2

November 5th had us driving back over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (eek!). We headed 54 miles over to Hampton, VA and The Colonies RV Park. It was a cool area right down the road from Fort Monroe, which - I can't lie - has me seriously wanting a place with a moat someday.

Um, yes please!

The RV park was on a little barrier island with a 'private' stretch of beach. It was perfect for taking the dog out. There was rarely anyone there so I was a rebel and let her run around.

Beware rogue teeter-tottering youth

The weather left something to be desired, so we spent quite a bit of time inside just relaxing.

It's a hard life

Mmmmm bacon

We only stayed 3 nights in Hampton, it was more of a stop-over location for us. On the 8th we hit the road again - but only a short 40 miles into Williamsburg, VA where we stayed a full week at the American Heritage RV Park. 

There is a lot of things to do and see in the Williamsburg area. We went to the Yorktown Battlefield and explored parts of Yorktown itself.

This is my BOOM stick

Le Poseurs

Victory Monument in Yorktown

We also went to the Jamestown Settlement - it was really interesting but I didn't get very many pictures. Oops!

A random cross, because I have to put a picture :)

Main road through Jamestown Settlement

On the 13th Jason was FINALLY able to take his hunting dog to get some birds. The east coast doesn't have much public land so we had to go to the Orapax Hunting Preserve. All in all it was a good experience though! Emma had more fun than I can even describe, and Jason walked away with a chukar and three quail. I think the boys favorite park was cleaning the birds, but I'll spare you the pictures.

Get some!

On the evening of the 13th and the day of the 14th I went to a Homeschooling Conference by the ladies at Wild + Free. I highly recommend them if you are a homeschooling mama. I'm still really struggling with the finding the "right" way to do it for our family.

Virginia Take 1

On October 25th we travelled 88 miles into Virginia. We stayed 3 nights at Chesapeake Campground, which was ... not great. It's rare that we've stayed somewhere that I've actually felt uncomfortable, but this was one. We talked about taking off the next day, but I'd had the mail forwarded so we had to wait. 

It turned out for the best because I was having some serious tooth pain. I ended up having one of my wisdom teeth out on the 26th. Not my idea of fun, and I was pretty much out of commission until we headed out on the 29th.

It's only 55 miles to Cape Charles, but you have to take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It's pretty cool, but definitely nerve wracking, and expensive! They charged us $31 for the experience. The bridge is 23 miles across the ocean, with two separate 1-mile tunnels beneath the ocean. 

At Cape Charles we stayed at the Cherrystone Family Camping Resort, which we specifically chose because of the Halloween activities they hold. Cape Charles itself is an adorable little town. We had (for the first time in a loooong while) yummy beer at Kelly's Gingernut Pub - a great little Irish pub/restaurant.

Get in mah belly!

Jason and me had a nice morning coffee date at the Cape Charles Coffee House. Another completely charming little place.

The ceiling/ upstairs of the coffee house

So, we arrived at Cherrystone on Thursday and there was almost no one there. By Friday evening? Place was PACKED. Apparently Halloween is a serious THING up in these parts. There were people decorating their sites for hours on end. I even saw a guy bring in an extra truck load of decorations. 

If you're in the area for Halloween, it's a great place. There was a huge bounce pillow, they brought in a magician, there were costume contests, pumpkin contests, crafts, trick-or-treating, you name it!

Takes after his mom

Hopefully takes after none of us ;)

We also went down to the Cape Charles Beach, which - shocker. Is right past the town of Cape Charles.

Guardian of the beach

Boys being boys

Virginia is for lovers, didn't you know?

By Sunday afternoon the campground was a ghost town again. Which wasn't a bad thing. We spent the next few days just relaxing.

Snugglings my favorite

Seriously, this dog is always ON someone