We are counting down the days until we climb into the rental van and make our way to Florida, in order to watch Gavin's wish come true. It occurred to me that I've talked a lot about the preparatory part of this whole thing, but not about what we're going to do once we're there.
Full disclosure. I'm not entirely sure how everything is going to go.
I'm assuming that we will be meeting with Wishes Can Happen, prior to leaving. I think that pretty much has to happen. lol
Aside from meeting Wishes Can Happen, we have a few other things that will be happening this week, in regards to this trip.
On Monday, Maggie goes to the vet. She needs caught up on her vaccines for the year, as well as receive one for Kennel Cough. That is required, in order to have her boarded. This isn't a huge deal because she was due for her shots anyway, it's just one extra.
Tuesday and Wednesday, we see Dr. Pattie. The focus is going to be on reviewing the rules we established for the trip. Last week, we all sat down together and laid out our expectations in regards to behavior while on the trip.
We focused on the three main categories:
- Rules for in the car
- Rules for in the hotel and condo
- Rules for when we're in public
Dr. Pattie will be helping us review these guidelines with the boys. We are also going to spend time discussing safety concerns. Safety is our number one priority on the trip.
Thursday is the day we will be picking up the rental van. I'm not sure of an exact time just yet. We will also be taking Maggie to the boarder that afternoon as well. I figured it was best to deal with that prior to leaving on Friday.
Friday depends very much on whether or not one of my paychecks made it eariler in the week. Assuming my check didn't arrive on time, my other check arrives via direct deposit on the 29th. If we were unable to get all of our shopping done prior, we will be doing that on Friday morning before we leave.
I know that's cutting things close but I can only do so much. Truthfully, we should have plenty of time, plus we have a very detailed list of everything we need.
After that, we will be on our way.
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Once we're on the road, we have a pretty straightforward plan.
We will be departing as soon as our shopping is done. Our goal for the day is Charlotte, North Carolina. That's about a seven hour drive, but it's very much a straight shot.
I'm not sure of the hotel arrangements yet, but we will spend the night in Charlotte. This gives the kids a break and helps to make things a bit easier for all of us. I'm not sure what time we will be arriving but we should have time to relax for awhile.
After breakfast, we will be back on the road for another seven hours or so.
Our next stop will be Daytona Beach, where we will the night. I'm not sure how much time we will have there but we will make the most of it. The boys and I will be seeing the ocean for the very first time, the beach anyway. Elliott's seen the ocean and so have I but not like this.
Once back on the road, we will have about a one and a half hour drive before reaching our ultimate destination, Give Kids the World.
All I really know for sure at this point is that we can arrive anytime after 7 AM, but our condo won't be available until 3 PM. We can arrive early and go over everything with the staff ahead of time. After that, we can explore the village or check out Orlando for a little while.
I know that we will be deciding what parks we want to go to and then plan everything out, once we're there.
Outside of that, I'm not sure what else to expect.
There's much more to this of course, but this is the dime store tour. ☺
