Christmas Vacation - Heading South

Thursday morning we slept in. We missed the yummy free breakfast at our hotel because we slept in so long. But after two days of non-stop touring and an action packed Christmas weekend before that, we needed it. So we took advantage of not checking out of our hotel until 11am. We made a brief stop at Downtown Disney to trade a few more pins with cast members and then grabbed lunch at the Taco Bell in Buena Vista before getting on the road.

Our next destination? Fort Myers.

We stopped first at our old stomping grounds in Tice, so the boys could see it. Parker was 3 months old when we moved from here and he's only been back one other time in 2008 when Mommy preached at Heritage Sunday.

This area of benches was new to us - dedicated to an old friend of ours who had been Mommy's Trustee Chairwoman for several years.

We also drove past our old house across from the church.

Next up we headed to visit Mommy's former choir director (Barbara's husband) in the hospital. Ernest had knee replacement surgery the day before we arrived and so we stopped by to visit him and catch up a bit. We were also able to see two of our former youth as well, including Ernest's daughter Brittany popped by (she works as a nurse in the hospital where he was a patient).

Then we hit the road again. This time towards the Fort Myers Beach/Sanibel Gateway area to check into our hotel. Uncle Sam and Aunt Sarah were having their American ceremony at a nearby resort on New Year's Eve. But on the way we passed Healthpark Hospital where Parker was born and pulled in so he could see their awesome atrium.

Mommy always loved the music coming from this automatic grand piano.

Both of the boys asked for their picture by this Santa Pelican statue - maybe Fort Myer's version of Ocala's Horse Fever?

After checking into our hotel we met up with Uncle Daniel, Aunt Dawn and their crew. We went together to Men's Wearhouse to get Parker's ringbearer tux for the wedding.

Then we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner - we actually closed this place down!

By the time we got back to our room it was about 10:30pm. The sleeper sofa in our room this time was a single so Parker opted to sleep on the floor (on top of the couch cushion) rather than try to share with his brother.