While Hurricane Matthew threatened the East Coast, we were busy packing for our Florida vacation. We'd had a trip to Disney World (with one day at Legoland) planned with Mimi and Grandpa for six months, and I was super optimistic that nothing would interrupt it. Power flickered and the water pooled in the front yard, while we filled the suitcases and loaded up the mini van. Disney had even closed for a day or two but was back open with no damage. We ended up losing power in the middle of the night and had to head out the next day with it still off. Thankfully, we had friends watching Bailey, and they were able to check on the house. We had a door get blown off the hinges on the back porch that night, and the glass shattered everywhere, but we were very thankful that that was the only damage we suffered.
We hit the road Sunday morning after the storm, expecting some delays and detours but had no idea how bad it would turn out to be. There were road closures and standing water everywhere. No one had power, no detours were given, and our cell phones weren't able to pick up enough signal for GPS. We made it as far as the now infamous Lumberton exits on 95, and we were stuck in this town for over 5 hours. Thankfully we had a paper map of North Carolina in the car and tried every route we could find to get around the water. In the meantime, the kids are hungry and we're running out of gas. We stopped in the same Lowe's 3 times (the only place open in town) to use the bathroom, get drinks, etc. The amount of damage we saw due to fallen trees and flood water was sad and very scary. This picture was taken outside my passenger side window...an on ramp back onto to 95 as we headed back towards Fayetteville, hoping to work our way west and then south again. We did a lot of backtracking that day.
I tried not to panic, and Phil held it together beautifully, as our families helped to navigate us out of town as best they could over the phone. The kids were oblivious thanks to the dvd player, but they kept asking if we were in Florida...Phil was like "We are only 1 1/2 hours from our house...still!" After what seemed like our last chance road was under water, I had Phil pull into a fire station and ask for help. It was practically dark outside, we were really running out of gas, and I didn't even think we could make it back to Goldsboro at this point, much less to Florida. They directed us back through the water (assuring us it was safe...we weren't so sure) to find gas, and we waited in line in the next town for about 45 minutes to get gas with every scary person in this little town south of Fayetteville (seriously, I was expecting farmers not gangsters). After finally making it around Lumberton and back onto 95 right at the South Carolina border, it was smooth sailing. Thankfully, our Disney tickets didn't start until Tuesday, but Avery was so excited about Legoland on Monday that I hated to give up and tell him we weren't going to make it. I relieved Phil from driving and drove until 2 am to get us just outside of Daytona Beach so we could still make it to the theme park in the morning. What should have taken us right at 9 hours to drive ended up taking almost 18!
We made it!! The kids were really excited to be there, and that made it easier for Phil and I to be excited (and not as tired and grouchy), too.
Proud of their tickets...
Avery was super excited to recognize a lot of the characters! This Chima ride was his favorite and got us all soaked right away.
Legoland is definitely geared towards younger kids, and Avery and Claire were able to ride on almost every ride. It was also really cool seeing the large lego "sculptures" and the amount of bricks it took to build each one. This car was especially impressive!...
Claire and Avery rode on their first roller coaster (The Dragon Coaster) while there. Claire loved it...Avery not so much. She wasn't tall enough to go on the other 3 roller coasters there, and Avery didn't want to, so Phil and I took turns running off to try them out while the kids stuck to some tamer rides. We were blessed with a beautiful day and hardly any lines for anything.
Lego horses!
They each received their own lego driving licensees. Watch out! ;)
Where's Avery?!? They were super impressed with the Star Wars lego figures and battle scenes.
Claire really enjoys the Lego Friends show on Netflix, so she was very excited to see the Lego Friends displays and go to their live performance.
Waiting for the show...
Ready for take off!
Fighting Lego bad guys...
After the kids finally decided on souvenirs (Avery got a Star Wars lego set, and Claire got a Tangled one), we closed down the park at 5pm and headed towards Disney Springs. We loved taking Avery to T-Rex when we lived in Tampa, and I was excited to go back with both kids for dinner. We were all worn out, but we really enjoyed our dinner and all the amazing dinosaur displays inside.
We finally checked into our room at the Disney All Star Sports Resort that night. The kids were excited to see Mimi and Grandpa but also super tired so they fell right asleep! We were all excited about exploring Epcot the next day!
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