Life Gets Chaotic

Summer ‘24

We decided this summer to take a trip across the east coast instead of driving out west. Honestly, the deciding factor was just that my family wanted to see us and it had been forever since they have seen the Tiny People. Could they make the four hour drive north to visit? Absolutely. Are they going to? Not likely. Just throwing that out there to call them out. Love you guys! (Even if you are selfish)

4,000 miles and 10 states. We managed to camp for a week in the Smokey Mountains, see Niagara Falls, found a flame hidden behind a waterfall, and played in the ocean off the coast of Florida.

The order of our trip made absolutely no sense because we were trying our best to line up with everyone’s time off. To start off with, we drove down to Tennessee to go camping in Kodak. Not going to lie camping with a bunch of kiddos was fun. Milliepde had so much commentary. We roasted marshmallows every night, took some old timey ‘Gangsta’ family photos, had a sack race and saw all kinds of animals at the campground.

On the way back north, we stopped at an exotic petting zoo. Where Little Man informed us that cows, goats, and camels are all just dogs. We were followed by goats throughout the place which was the best thing ever. We got to learn what sounds deer make and see gorgeous foxes running around. It was an unanimous decision at that point that we need to live on a farm. Before the next leg of the trip, we decided to ditch the camping gear and rent AirBnB’s.

*Air condition is a gift from the Gods and should be treasured as such*

We made it to Buffalo, New York in record time with minimum melt downs. Pennsylvania was a disappointment, we saw no pencils. The AirBnB was definitely a bachelor pad but still comfortable. The kids loved that he had corn hole set up in the loft and we played often. Not only did we walk around the park for hours and played in lots of water and rain, we decided to take a ferry boat to see Niagara Falls. Little Man was such a fan of the boat, and Millie held my hand to make sure I wasn’t scared the entire time. She likes to look after mom like that. We trekked the next day, about 3 miles, to The Eternal Flame Falls (or something like that). Upstate New York is absolutely beautiful and I am so glad we went.

Now the drive south…

From Buffalo to Orlando. And of course it rained. Before we even hit Virginia and all her curvy roads, we hit a storm so heavy it was impossible to see through. Insert unplanned stop at random location here. Florida air is just different. All the sunshine and ocean breeze just makes you feel lighter and refreshed instantly. I was a little concerned the Tiny People would freak out at the ocean; but they took it in stride.

Millie felt like a mermaid and never wanted to leave. Little Man thought it was the funniest thing ever to have the waves crashing against him. He had no fear at all. Which is a problem in itself because he’s two and the pull of the current wanted to drag him in. He just held my hand and laughed like the tiny warrior he is. We managed to be at the beach at the perfect time to see two fishermen pull in sharks bigger than Millie herself. Little Man had a tiny meltdown because we couldn’t keep the fishy.

After a few days of seeing the ocean, swimming in Cousin Billy’s pool and hanging out with Aunt Lesa; we unfortunately had to bring our summer fun to an end and start the drive back north. Surprisingly, we didn’t see any alligators until we got to Georgia. Weird, right? And, due to my never ending bad luck, I had to get four brand new tires before I left Florida.

The kiddo’s are already eager for our next trip. The only question is where to next? I want to see Colorado. Millie wants more of New York. Little Man wants monster trucks; he’s a simple man lol. Stay tuned for the next episode of the BC News.