WE’RE GOIN’ TO FLO-RIDA!

The state, I mean. 🙂 Did anyone guess from the clue yesterday?

That’s riiiiight… we’ve nailed down the logistics for the (much anticipated… by us) 2015 Thomas Family Vacation and we are flyin’ south, baby! It is sure to be a load of fun- we have TONS planned- and I can’t wait to take you along in our suitcases for the adventure. First, a little 411 on the basics…

WHEN (are you crazy kids shipping off?): Last year’s vacation took place in September. We spent the week in Bethany Beach, DE and LOVED being there post-summer and post-big crowds, but just before the chilly fall weather came in. Easy, breezy, beautiful. #covergirl BUT, work-wise, it was a nightmare. While September at the beach is a gorgeous as a sunset on the water, September in ministry world is a hurricane of kickoffs, lesson plans, new students and teachers, and “getting to know you” games. Essentially, we were around for the Kickoff to all youth programming and then jumped ship for the very first week of the normal routine. Trust me, this was terrible timing. I spent about an hour each day on my email just making sure that things stayed in tact for our first week back to the grind. As much as I love my job, I want to leave it behind on vacation. And going away in September just does not allow for that. Summers don’t work at all for us because Mitch has summer camp programming every single week. Holidays are shot because we use up all of our time visiting each of our three families. SO… SPRING TIME IT IS! Yep, while school is still in session and we both have lulls in our ministry schedules, we’re gettin’ the heck outta dodge.

WHERE (exactly?): We will be visiting two major areas in the Sunshine state. We’ll start in Orlando, work our way down to the Keys, and finish up back in Orlando.

WHY (Florida?): It’s just on our bucket list. Something we wanted to do before having kiddos. To drive the seven mile stretch to the Keys. And while we were at it, we thought- let’s fit in a few more things we’ve been wanting to try (and re-try) that also happen to be in the state! We’ve both been to Florida, but Mitch has never been to the Keys so it will be fun to see it “for the first time” through his eyes. I’ve been to Key West twice and loved it both times- needless to say, I’m thrilled to be heading back. It doesn’t get any less beautiful, that’s for sure.

HOW (are you transporting yourselves?): We’ll be flying into Orlando- it’s a little less than three hours from Philly. From there, we’ll rent a car for the week (the perks of being 25!) and drive from Orlando to the Keys and back throughout the week. The drive from Orlando to Key West (the Southern-most point of FL) is about 6.5 hours and we’ve budgeted a full day for each of those trips so that we can stop and check out things along the way. That might seem like a lot of driving, but if you’ve ever heard anything about the couple of hours drive from KW to the tip of the mainland, you know why we totally opted IN on that journey.

WHAT (are you planning on doing that week?): Oh baby, do we have some fun planned. I’ll save the nitty gritty day-by-day breakdown (yep, we’ve got that all in order) for the next vacation post, but here are a few hints: MAGIC, MICE, and MASKS. Curious? Stay tuned for our crazy, can-we-really-do-all-this-in-a-week itinerary!

For now, tell us… ever been to Florida? Better yet, where are you headed this year for vacation? Camping close to home? Hopping a jet to another country? Escaping to the beach for the day? Everything counts!!!