Florida trip, Part 1: Jacksonville

Our flight to Florida left at 7:30am. This meant that we had to leave our house at 5:00am to get there on time-- not an easy task for our family, we don't like getting up early. But somehow we made it to the airport on time, and thanks to checking in online the night before we were able to go right to security.

In December we invested in 2 more rolling carry-ons since we now have to pay to check luggage. I was sure that we'd still need to check at least one bag but Derek thought we could get everything into one rolling carry-on each. He was right, we did it! And we didn't have to pay to check any bags at all. The kids were troopers and each pulled their own suitcase and carried their own backpack. When we've flown in the past we each had a full size suitcase and we brought the double stroller too, so it really seemed so easy with the small amount of luggage that we had.

We saw the sunrise on the airplane:


And the sunset on the airplane:

On our 2nd flight we had to made an emergency medical landing in Nashville. Someone on the plane was having serious problems and thought they were having a stroke. We made it to Orlando an hour and a half late, and then drove over 2 hours to Jacksonville where Derek's parents live.

Normally we stay the majority of our trip in Jacksonville and just spend a few days in Orlando, but this trip we opted to stay longer in Orlando and do 2 parks so we only had one full day in Jacksonville.

We visited Castaway Island, a nature preserve right around the corner from Derek's parents' house.

Following the tracks on the trail at Castaway Island

Castaway Island

Castaway Island

Then we headed over to Adventure Landing to feed the alligators:

That night we went to the beach. It was freezing, but beautiful.

Me and my little sister Melodie, she came with us this trip

The kids with their fun Aunt Mel