Our Magical Birthday Tradition - Pt 4
*We've taken each of our kids to the World for their first birthday. This trip was for our DS' first, but we celebrated 4 birthdays during the week; June 1-8.*
Cast of Characters
Me, Susan, 33, 9th trip
DH, David, turning 29, 7th trip
ODD, Sammie, 5, 5th trip
YDD, Lily, turning 3, 3rd trip
DS, Joey, turning 1, 2nd trip
My Mom, Connie, turning 63, 3rd trip
My Dad, Sam, 66, 3rd trip
Day 4: Fort Wilderness and Travel to St. Augustine
We were up at 7:45, but the kids were in no hurry to get out of bed. However, this was our last chance to swim, so we finally convinced them to get into their swimsuits. The busses were very slow, and it was 8:45 before we got to the pool. It didn't matter though, the pool didn't open until 9:00. That wasn't good, as we still had to tear down camp so that we could check out at 11.
The kids had a blast playing in the kiddie pool, and after putting lifejackets on, the girls REALLY enjoyed going down the slide in the big pool. ODD, who has a major fear of water in her face, even "swam" the length of the pool, wearing her life jacket, something she never would've even attempted before. We stayed as long as we could, promising to plan a day just at the resort next time (whenever that might be).
This time, the bus driver explained how much easier it'd be to walk to a different stop and not have to catch two busses, and shaved 10 mins off our travel time. We got back to camp with 45 minutes to pack up. Mom and Dad were almost finished, so I cleaned out the tent, while DH packed up the gear. We sent my parents to check out for us, while we dropped our tent.
I was determined to get a shower and get the kids a shower before we left. Our kids hadn't had a shower in two days, and I didn't know how nice the next campground's facilities would be. I wanted to take advantage of Disney while we were there!
It took a good 45 minutes, but I managed to get myself and all 3 kids showered in the handicapped stall. I was quite happy for the larger room to keep them and our clothes out of the water. However, as I was trying to brush my teeth afterward, DS managed to fill my toiletry bag and all its contents with water. I finally took him to the door, held him out to DH and went back to finish up.
I'd wanted to let the DDs ride the ponies, but everyone was hungry, so we just went ahead and left. (Mental note for next trip). We drove off property, through DTD, and wound up eating at the huge "world's largest" McDonald's over by Universal. It definitely wasn't on purpose, it just happened to be the first one we found off property. (I'd wanted to go to Earl of Sandwich... ). It made me think of a sleazy, Las Vegas meets Chuck E. Cheese version of McDonald's, and the other customers there were rude. We ate and quickly left.
I convinced DH to do the driving, as I'd done almost all of it so far, and I spent almost the entire trip switching back and forth between apps on my phone, trying to update the trip report, navigate, and find places that everyone else wanted to go.
Our first stop was at Walmart, as we needed to buy food for the rest of the trip. We got that night's meal (salad, corn on the cob, new potatoes and vidalia onions, and pork chops), and the next morning's breakfast (eggs, toast, bacon, and link sausage), plus a few other cooking needs. DH and Dad got some fishing gear, as they planned to pier fish each day. And of course, we had to buy enough ice to fill the coolers. Fort Wilderness was stingy on ice, so we waited.
Then we checked in at Anastasia State Park at 5pm. I had booked the site in April, as it was one of the only two left during our stay. (We'd originally planned to stay at Panama City, as we were familiar with the beach there, but it was full by the time I tried to make reservations. In hindsight, I'm very glad we were forced to stay here. The tourists here are of a different sort, and we felt like we were in a camping community, instead of party central... except for one night). It didn't take long to check in, and we were soon pulling into our site.
This part of the trip was to be the relaxing part, but DH and I really wanted to catch the sunset on the beach that night. There was a chance of rain the next 3 days, and we didn't want to miss the only non-rainy night. (It turned out that the only rain we encountered was while we slept on the last night, but still).
We set up camp, this time also setting up our cooking area, and had plenty of room in the site for two tents (6 man and 8 man), a pop-up over the picnic table, our cooking area, and both vehicles; with room to spare for the kids to play. We were just two sites from the comfort station, and other than being drab and not having a handicapped shower stall, it was much like Disney's... okay, it was a Days Inn version of the Ritz Carlton. :)
We helped prepare dinner and then left my parents to actually cook it, while we headed to the beach. Our site was about a half mile from the beach, or a quick 2 minute drive. We didn't take anything but ourselves, and DH and the DDs walked almost a mile, looking for shells. Just as the sun was about to set, I got some good silhouette pics of us. Sunset was at 8:30pm, and we were back at the site by 8:45.
We ate, then the adults sat around and talked (Dad slept), while the DDs played in the sand and DS slept. We went to bed at 10pm and set no alarm.
