The trip began Friday, January 11, 2008 at 3 a.m. in the morning when my mom and I got up, got ready, and drove to Keri's house to leave for Florida. We finally got on the road at 4:45 a.m.
I was bored in the car, so I tried taking some pictures. This picture was taken out the window as we were going through Georgia just before a little rain shower.
On one of our many stops for the day, we stopped at a quaint little orange market/gas station/stuffed 'gator museum to use the rest room. What luck I had when I spotted this little fella in a potted plant outside the store. I was very excited that I found him.
Again, bored and looking out the window we spotted a little, teeny, tiny rainbow among the storm clouds. If you look close enough you can see it on the right side of the picture.
After a very long drive, a slight detour because of the stupid Floriday signs, a mix-up getting a hotel and a yummy dinner at Carraba's, we settled down for the night. The next morning (January 12, 2008) it was another early day. Phone alarms started going off at 3 a.m. so Keri could get up and be at Epcot on time for the race. She and Daniel left at 3:30, while my mom and I planned to sleep a little longer and then go out on the race course to see her half way through and then to the finish line. Although, that is not exactly how it panned out. We had to wait on the bus at our hotel to take us to the race. We could either go to Epcot (where the finish line was) or we could go to the Magic Kingdom to see Keri pass the half-way mark. Well, after waiting about 15 minutes for the bus to get there, we took the first one that showed up, which was Magic Kingdom. We get to Magic Kingdom and the bus drops us off on the wrong side of the park to catch the monorail over to Epcot. So, in a mad dash, my mom and I have to run (yes, run!) across the parking lot at Magic Kingdom to catch another bus that will take us across a bridge to the right side of Magic Kingdom that we need to be on to catch the monorail. We get off that bus and run (yes, run!) again to catch the monorail to Epcot. Get off at Epcot and dash to the Finish Line to see Keri cross. We even snuck up on the GrandStand bleachers to see her finish even though spectators were supposed to pay $25. So, this picture is the final product of our hardwork to find Keri at the race, and of course her hard work for months and years of training. She finished in 2:14:39.
I had to put this picture in here just because we thought it was crazy that a McDonal's had an oversized Happy Meal on the outside of the building. 
After the 1/2 marathon, we decided to go the the Magic Kingdom (my favorite place to visit!)to enjoy ourselves. We took this picture on our way in to the Magic Kingdom while we waited on the others to use the potty. It was pretty funny because I had accidentally hit for it to do a 10 second timed shot and we almost missed it. I guess you had to be there.
We found this cute little fella on our way out of Tomorrowland. I had to have my picture with him. Mom thought it would cute if I pretended to kiss him.
Of course I have to have my picture taken with "THE" man! We waited in a little toon barn to do it, but it was worth it. That place definitely makes you feel like a kid. I love the Mouse pumpkin in the back.
Waiting in line again, for "it's a small world." We waited a lot that day, but not too long on anything. January is definitely the time of year to go to Disney World. And if you've ever been to this ride, they've changed some stuff. It was very glitterly and sparkly. I was excited. A very nice upgrade from the 70's retro look.
You know I love me some "Pirates." We went on the newly refurbished "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride, which was amazing. There were 3 lifelike Johnny Depp, I mean Captain Jack Sparrow's in the ride. I was a little sad that they had taken some of the older, awesome parts out, but the lifelike Johnny Depps made up for it. Afterward we came out in the gift shop and I contemplated getting these ears cause I just loved the bandana.
After we finished riding all the stuff we wanted to, it was time for the SpectraMagic parade. I didn't put any of those pics up because none of them turned out very well. It was a cool parade. I should mention that it was delayed a little bit because there had been an isolated thunderstorm about 2 hours earlier. We watched the parade and about 15 minutes after it was over it was time for fireworks. In between those times, I took this pic of the castle, because I am a princess and I just love it!
Time for fireworks. My mom took a million pics of the fireworks. I like this one the best because of the color of the castle, how clear it turned out, and how great the fireworks look. Tinker Bell kicked off the fireworks and it was awesome because she now has a lighted costume that she wears instead of having a spotlight on her. It was so magical. I love this place!
So, while we were watching the gorgeous fireworks display, the wind suddenly picked up and it got cool. I never thought a thing about it. Everyone is standing there and you hear the crowd oohing and aaahing, when all of a sudden all you hear are screams. The absolutely bottom fell out of a raincloud. Everyone was wet immediately. It is pretty much the funniest and most fun things I've ever encountered on a trip. I couldn't do anything but laugh because we were drenched. I think it was raining from the ground up. My pants were soaked up to my knees, my feet were squeeking in my shoes and I had water running down my poncho into my shirt. Most disgusting feeling ever, but so fun. We just kept watching the show. We were already soaked, a little more rain wouldn't hurt. About 2/3 of the park left and we just stayed it out. The rain quit and we did a little shopping. I got some Minnie Mouse ears. We finally left and caught the monorail to the parking lot to catch the tram to our car. Since we were already soaking wet, my mom and I decided we needed to stomp in every puddle that we saw between the tram dropoff and our car. I'm telling you, that is the most fun thing to do in the world! You need to try it.
So, now today (January 13, 2007) we did nothing but drive. I am so tired of driving. Tomorrow it's back to the grindstone and back to work. I wish it would snow, so I could have one day to recuperate from the trip, but it was fun. I'm glad we had this little mini vacation. Everyone got along, we laughed a lot, and had a really great time. I got home and I was exhausted. I unpacked my stuff and decided to be silly one last time for the weekend so I put on my new Minnie ears and "fell asleep."
Now I have to go do my snow dance and really go to bed.
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