It is really hard to end a great vacation- especially when that entailed spending a week in Florida with my family. While this trip gave us all a break from the freezing cold weather and snow we weather in the Northeast, we were in Florida to attend the wedding of great friends and spend Thanksgiving with my grandmother and my aunt, uncle and three cousins who live in California.
To travel to Florida I rode on the Amtrak auto train, which is a travel method that I have utilized a number of times over the last few years as it is very convenient for someone in my situation. It is a direct train from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL that lasts approximately 16 hours and it allows your to bring your car on the train. This is great for me because I am able to bring my own personal accessible vehicle and allows me to stuff all of the necessary equipment into the car for the trip.
On Saturday, November 22 my family celebrated the marriage of our friends Christie and Frank in West Palm Beach. The day's festivities started with a beautiful ceremony at St. Edwards Church before we partied the night away at the Everglades Club. Over 400 people were in attendance to celebrate Christie and Frank and everyone was treated to a beautiful venue, great food, a chance to catch up with friends, and dance the night away with not one, but two, live bands. The night finished with a spectacular surprise fireworks show. Wow- these fireworks rivaled the best 4th of July party! Everyone really had an amazing time and my sister fulfilled her duties as a bridesmaid perfectly. Check out the wedding video here!
Following the wedding, we traveled to Vero Beach to spend a few days with my grandmother, who we call DearMa. After a few days relaxing at the beach, we were excited to welcome the "Goodmans from California" to town so we could have lots of quality family time. Since they live on the West Coast, we don't get to see them very often so whenever we get together we always have a great time. It was so nice to catch up (poolside) and hear about new jobs, college progress, and athletic accomplishments. The highlight of the week was our Thanksgiving feast with 20 total people that included the Jones/Evans families and ended with a game of everyone guessing who wrote what on each "I am thankful for...." card. The week ended with the first Goodman/Price/Brooke family golf scramble tournament. While I was obviously not playing myself, I rode around the course between the three foursomes to see how everyone was playing and the results were pretty impressive- total scores of 73, 77 and 81.
Then it was back to DC and full December work month!