Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Florida Trip: Part 1, Graduation...

We just got home from our cross country trip and are excited to share all the amazing and memorable things we did! It will take several posts to get through the 16 day trip, especially since we took thousands of pics! Don't worry, we'll try to narrow it down to the good pics and not bore everyone! :)

We headed out on Friday, December 13... yes, we aren't superstitious, but the date did make us cringe a little. All was fine. :)
 
We left Maui in the late afternoon and 4 1/2 hours later we arrived in LAX... half an hour early! This was AMAZING news, since we had to grab our luggage and recheck it in for our next leg to Dallas, then Orlando!




 
We are so lucky that the kids are fantastic travelers. Kenny slept while Cade watched iPad. Despite the next two turbulent flights, we arrived safely in Orlando Saturday around noon. We spent Saturday catching up on sleep and relaxing in our condo. 

We were up bright and early Sunday morning to drive 2 hours to Gainesville, FL for Lisa's MBA graduation. 
 We requested a van with a dvd player so the kids would be entertained during the long drive. 

 
Lots of farmland and overcast skies!

 
The graduation ceremony was in a large auditorium that looked like a church! It was beautiful!

 
Lisa's cheering section!

 
I had so much fun dressing Kenny up for the slightly cold weather. The day of graduation was about 60 F, so the boots, tights, and sweater were perfect to keep her warm! For a couple months prior to leaving for our trip, I frequented Savers and found a lot of new/barely used warm clothes for her and Cade, for very cheap!

 
Lisa's boyfriend, Brent, and the two Cades. Yep, Brent has a nephew named Cade as well! :) It was funny because anytime someone called "Cade", both would look. We eventually had to start using last names or initials. 

 
So proud of her accomplishment!


 
Nearly impossible to get all of us to look at one camera! Maybe someone else has a better pic!

 
The kids saw squirrels for the first time! Garrett and Kenny stopped to watch two squirrels "playing"... um, yeah... we quickly realized it wasn't G rated!

 
After graduation we walked to the arena area for a lunch reception hosted by the school. We passed the University of Florida football stadium and couldn't resist posing with the gator. 




 
The kids had fun running around together to get out some of their energy... especially since we had a two hour drive back to Orlando!




 
Garrett "needed" coffee and just so happened to stop at a Dunkin' Donuts! You'll see a lot of food pics this trip!