The Events of Thursday, January 20, 2011 

                I am an extremely light sleeper. You could whisper or mumble in your sleep and I would be awake. Ok, I exaggerate a little. But, this morning, when Daddy returned from his walk and opened the door, the contrast between the dark of the indoors and the bright sunshine outside was enough to wake a hibernating polar bear. Caitlin and I threw our pillows on top of Ben’s bed, making him, as we call it, “the put-on bed.” One of our beds always has to be the put-on bed, because there just isn’t anywhere in the RV to put your pillows and bedding. There have been some major pillow fights over this, but we almost always manage to make Ben’s bed the put-on bed. It’s just natural instinct. Life must be hard for a boy with three sisters.

                We ate breakfast in our pajamas, finishing off some leftover pancakes and yogurt. (Never microwave leftover pancakes. That is a rule.) After jumping into our swimsuits, we walked over to the pool. I know this sounds like a totally ridiculous and Taylor thing to do in the middle of January, but when we woke up this morning, it was already in the 80’s and over 70% humidity. And we are in Florida.

                Passing through a tunnel of towering palm trees, we could practically smell the chlorine. When you are a swimmer and love your sport, this is an important smell. The pool was perfectly still and round. The lawn chairs stood in the shade of these HUGE, colorful orange and teal umbrellas. Caitlin was the first to destroy the perfection of the pool’s surface. We all worked out first and then played and splashed enjoying the coolness and intensity of the sun and chlorine on our bodies. After about 45 minutes, some elderly ladies started their water aerobics class and we decided it was hot tub time. After about 5 minutes, the heat was too much and we walked to the showers.

                At about eleven o’clock, we hit the road. And we drove pretty much all day long. But of course, I can’t just leave you like that, because we did have adventures. Our first stop was at a strawberry stand along the side of the road, where Daddy purchased a beautiful pyramid of juicy strawberries. Then, around lunchtime, we were driving through Big Cypress National Preserve. I happened to be asleep at the time and awoke from a very deep sleep to Abby yelling, “Lindsey, wake up! There’s alligators!” Abby counted a total of about 60 alligators just passing through the park! We stopped for a lunch of wraps and of course, strawberries and then continued on our way. For the next four hours, we read, slept, talked, learned our languages, and caught up on blogs, e-mails, and pictures.

                Exactly at 5:14, we arrived at a Costco in Northern Florida. We shopped first for basic necessities and saw a lot of cute little kids, and then had dinner at their food court. The RV then travelled all the way into Georgia, through rain, winds, lightning, crazy Florida drivers, nice truckers, and finally reached the Winn Dixie parking lot ten minutes before eleven, just before the store closed. All of us kids were already asleep and so Daddy and Mom set up camp and joined us in our state of unconscious bliss sometime before midnight.