Our family motto seems to be 'Just Do It'! One of our goals is to create great memories with our kids and this weekend we made some great ones. I love that my dear husband is so spontaneous. Thursday we decided to surprise the kids with a mini vacation, we enlisted Preston and Catherine's help Friday evening and swore them to secrecy.

Saturday night I put the boys to bed at eight and told them to go right to sleep bc "tomorrow is family fun day!" I refused to elaborate, they finally crashed about 10pm and at midnight we put them in the van, the boys stayed asleep and did not stir till we were in Georgia! The little guys did not know where we were going, every time they asked we told them we were going to Family Fun Day and it was a surprise. About seven am Cade wakes up and sleepily announces that he KNOWS we are going to the beach because he heard us talking. (While I was trying to be sneaky while packing Cuyler saw me grab their swimsuits and decided we must be headed to the beach! hehehe) Andre' and I acted disappointed that he was so smart to figure it out, gosh, it was supposed to be a surprise. Then we start pointing out the Six Flags signs and Cuyler tells us "Too bad you forgot the coupons, oh well, maybe next time we come this way we can go to Six Flags." (like we 'come this way' all the time )

Preston got the map and showed Cuyler we were still about 4 hours from the beach, which kinda bummed the kids out that we had that much more time in the car - yep, we took a short cut through ATLANTA to get to the beach.... maybe we need to focus on geography more, or map skills!?!

Andre' finally set them straight "We ARE going to Six Flags." and they were so excited. When Cuyler found out I had in fact remembered the coupons he shouted "Aw mom - You rock!" It is nice to be complimented - ya think that is what Solomon meant when he said "Your children shall rise and call you blessed."?

I brought water bottles with lanyards and fanny packs with snacks for the kids and we packed a backpack with water bottles for the big people. Security did not bat an eye at our stash - . The kids also had flavor packets for their water (which was great bc the water from the fountains tasted funny.)

We had a great day, the weather was beautiful - 89 degrees, the lines were so short we only had to wait one or two rotations on even the biggest coasters for our turn. We got soaked on the water rides and all shook up on the big coasters, spun round and round on the 'Wheelie' and ate way too much icecream! Thankfully we all held our lunch (though Dre and I did sit out on the Shake, Rattle and Roll ride  we are no longer 16! - it is really weird to be the 'old people'. somehow I never thought it would happen to me...)

The most exciting thing was that Geoffrey was tall enough for the Mind Bender - a big coaster that goes upside down TWICE! It was his first upside down ride - he rode it 7 times in a row!!! We did not stop in at Thomas Town - that is for babies you know ~yes I know, I enjoyed the baby years, but seeing our little guy's face light up because he is big was so awesome.

The park closed at 7pm and we were at the very back playing on the water slides, they very nicely invited us to leave! We went to eat at Golden Corral and realized again that we are not kids anymore. I used to be able to eat a big salad, two plates of yummy carbs and dessert, not to mention a few of their incredible soft rolls with honey butter. I could only eat one plate and a roll for dessert. I tried to eat dessert, I really did, just can't do it. I was sad, so I took a roll home, and ate it for breakfast! MMMMM!

We got back on the road about 9pm and pulled into the driveway at 4am Monday! Crazy spontaneous trips, just another perk of homeschooling and being blessed to set our own schedule! (Of course we did school Monday... NOT!)

Btw, thought I would post the budget in case anyone else is feeling crazy...

4 lunchables with Six Flags coupons - $10 (the coupons are $10 off adult admission and free child admission -child is 3-11yrs)

Tickets for family of 7 with above coupons - $128

Snacks from grocery - $15

Lunch in Park - $50

Icecream in Park - $40  (Ben n Jerry's Mint Chocolate Chunk - yum! totally worth it!)

Golden Corral dinner - $60

Gas - $200

Drive time - 14 hours round trip

Surprising the kids - Priceless!