Planning Our First Big Trip After Diagnosis

We have been on a number of smaller trips since our daughters diagnosis in the spring of 2013. We have been camping, to the aquarium, and to several birthday parties for family and friends. For the majority of those trips I controlled the food. I knew what was being served, and we always took our own snacks.

This most recent trip is taking us to Florida via Chicago and Atlanta. I must admit that this was a very ambitious undertaking with a two year old, peanut allergy notwithstanding. But we are taking 2 two year olds. My Brothers' son and my mother will be joining us on this adventure. Did I forget to mention that we're driving?

We started planning this trip back in June and July. It started out as wanting to get the great-grandbabies to Florida, we didn't know if we wanted to fly or drive. When my husband found out that he could have the time off, we decided to drive it, and this time we were not going the drive straight though. So I added a couple of overnights at some choice destination spots, checked for great room rates and booked well in advance to secure a super rate per room.

Transporting was next. As much as I would love to have taken my SUV, we decided that a minivan would be the way to go. Once again I took to the internet to find the best deal. We wanted a low price, unlimited miles, and a DVD player for the kids. If we keep our rental for more than a day we don't bother with their insurance, (usually between $10 and $12 dollars a day) we have our insurance adjusted to add non-owned vehicles to the police at the whopping cost of $5.00 for the month. Talk about a savings.

I feel I need to explain our scheduled stop at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. I love aquariums, I've told my entire family that I would love to visit every aquarium in the continental US and collect a shot glass from each of them. Not that I intend to use them, but they are small and most aquariums have them, not to mention colorful. My Facebook group was discussing food allergies and the aquarium back in July. There were a number of mixed reviews, some just loved the aquarium, and other were distressed about the bag searches, and that they could not bring in their own food. So I went straight to the aquariums website, to read their policies for myself. I found the answers to my questions in the Frequently Asked Question under Plan Your Visit. http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/plan-your-visit/faqs.aspx .

The odd thing was that food planning wasn't more of an issue with this trip. Since we live so far from the majority of our family we drive a lot and have established a number of safe stops where we can eat. I know that because of the nature of chain owned stores, all things are not the same everywhere, and menu items can change from one chain store to the next, but we need to eat and I'm always double checking the menu and server before we order. I have also listed on our route large towns for scheduled meal stops to insure a larger selection of choices, and as always we will be packing snacks.
We love, Teddy-Grams, applesauce, raisins, string cheese, yogurt, and goldfish. We also make cookies and granola bars.

Keep an eye out of the follow-up in about two weeks.