This vacation we decided to break up the drive a little bit more.  We headed down to Daytona Beach and made two stops along the way.  The first stop we made was in Salem, IL.  The hotel we booked had an indoor pool, but of course when we got there it was being renovated.  Luckily we were able to get our money back and go another hotel with an indoor pool.  The boys swam at the Holiday Inn for hours.  We had the whole pool to ourselves.  It was very relaxing.  The next day we left Salem, IL and headed to Atlanta for our next hotel stop.  We arrived somewhat late and didn’t have many options for food.  We ended up grabbing take out from a Publix grocery store deli and ate in our hotel room.  The boys did some swimming and the next morning we headed out to our final destination……Daytona Beach.  We arrived at our resort and it was crazy busy.  There was a very long check-in line.  Luckily since we are owners we didn’t have to wait long.  We bypassed about 20 people and were checked in within minutes.  There were quite a few disgruntled people that I could hear complaining in the background.  We ended up on the 9 floor with an ocean view.  The room was very nice and they changed all the decor since we were there last time.

We spent most days waking up and having a nice breakfast before hitting the beach until the sun was hidden by the resort, which was around 3pm everyday.  We ventured out and ended up going to Sky Zone for 2 days while we were there.  The boys played endless Dodgeball at the indoor trampoline park.  We were there for over 4 hours both days, even some of the staff were like “you’re still here”.  It was so much fun that dad even joined the second day.  The boys loved boogie boarding in the ocean.  They caught quite a few waves all week.  The surf was very rough all week and lifeguards were constantly blowing their whistle at people to wave them in.  We saw a few rescues as well.  We took our 2 pets lizards back to Florida on the trip and released them near the resort.  Spike and Speedee were once again set free back in Florida.  Mom and dad were quite happy since all we seemed to do was buy crickets for them every week.  We did go out to a nice dinner at the new beach restaurant called Riptides.  We had a nice Seafood meal with a great atmosphere.  The resort still had the 9 hole indoor mini golf course.  The whole family played and it became quite competitive.

This vacation was fun and relaxing.  Our trip home was long and sad as the temperature kept dropping.  We stayed in Locust Grove, GA the first night on the road and did a little shopping in the morning.  We made a pit stop at the Bass Pro Shop near Chattanooga to checkout a new shotgun for Aiden, but couldn’t find one we liked.  We made our second stop in Tuscola, IL to break up the trip and give the boys some play time in the hotel pool.  We arrived home to the cold and snow after picking up Ranger at a friends house around 3pm.

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