Florida Thanksgiving Trip

As we do every year, we came to Florida for Thanksgiving. We left NC early in order to miss the snow and ice. We had a good trip down, staying in a hotel early Tuesday morning. Poor Phillip had to do all the driving this time since my knee can't handle it, plus we drove the F250 which is a stick and would be a little harder for me with the clutch (YES, I can drive a stick, thank you very much). Thanksgiving was nice. We ate at Golden Corral, which was PACKED, but the food was good. Jack and Amanda picked me up and I went shopping with Amanda and her friends Julie. The mall opened at midnight. It was pretty crazy. After the mall it was on to Walmart. We were there for 4 hours before we were allowed to buy anything. At least we got to wait inside. Of course waiting inside caused lots of impulse purchases.....we took turns "shopping" for things other than what we actually came for.....I ended up with clothes, toothpaste, sugar, toothbrushes, tights, ponytail holders, movies, need I go on? Finally at 5 am we were able to buy those items we had waited for. Got to love $2 movies! It was on to Sam's for Julie's Wii, which Amanda was given a ticket for. I was so glad she was able to get that. She was pretty excited about it. Amanda and I took Julie to her car and we went on to Khols and the Oviedo Mall, where Amanda won a gift card! At that point we went back to her house so we could crash. I layed onthe couch and listened to Rachel tell me about dance class and her Christmas decorations and then watched her and Jack put up the Christmas tree. Cappy picked me up from there and we continued to shop until 6pm. Did I mention I had not slept since 9am Thursday and this was Friday? I finally got to bed at 6:30pm. It was exhausting but alot of fun! So, we left Florida on Saturday around noon. of course traffic was pretty heavy. We were slowed down by an 8 car pile up, then a flipped over Jeep and another small accident. Around 530pm the weather got bad and Phillip was tired so we stayed in a hotel in Valdosta. It was nice and he took the kids swimming (yes, in the cold water, but they loved it). So, here it is Sunday and we are heading toward Atlanta. That is our big stop every year. We go to Bass Pro at Discovery Mills and the kids see Santa in the Mall. It's a nice tradition. Plus, I get to shop :)