New Year's Eve 2018

We made the long drive down to Daytona Beach today, all in one go, and it was fairly easy.  We had only one slow-down moment, and that was so insignificant that it is hardly worth mentioning except for the fact that this was solely it.  Of course, it was in Henry County, but even that one stretch of road along I-75 which is so notorious for jams was not too burdensome.  We slowed down a bit, as if we were all trained to do this after so many repeated trips down this stretch of road, and upon seeing no reason to do so, we all picked up our speed again and made our way.

Madison was in the back with the Nintendo Switch, looking for Peach and jumping rope and all the other side missions of the game Mario Odyssey.  We played this to its conclusion yesterday, at least until the end of the story within.  There are still so many things to see and do, as there are with any Mario-themed game.  Madison was exploring and doing all these things on the ride down, the battery life of the Switch surprisingly longer than expected.  Also, she watched "The Greatest Showman" once more, because she could.  Daddy has been finishing up the autobiography of PT Barnum as of late, a thicker book but an interesting one for sure.

Mommy and Daddy were listening to all the new music we got for Christmas, from Leon Redbone to Riders in the Sky and Shawn Colvin, and even listening to "The Preacher's Wife."  You have to have a good soundtrack when going on road trips, right?  This was a more subdued one at times, but it kept us going through the long journey.

We arrived in Daytona, and came in through the Port Orange direction so that we would avoid all the New Year's Eve excitement in downtown Daytona Beach.  It all worked out just fine.  We got there at the condo with plenty of time to spare - hours, in fact - before the big countdown of the New Year.  We brought along some holiday crackers for everyone, in fact!

We got these back at the beginning of November, and they made some loud noises as they popped!  We all got our paper crowns, gifts, and terrible jokes inside.  Actually, one of them was one of Daddy's favorites:

Q:  How do you make a good pair of trousers last?
A:  By making the shirt first.

Yes, that was weak.  But it was a fun night, and it was great catching up again.  You can see Ba-Ba above, wearing his new Christmas gift, a ball cap from the Daytona Tortugas team.  We ordered that not long after going to the baseball game this past summer.  Nana is wearing her paper crown, something we all did for pretty much the rest of the night.

Oh, and there were plenty of fireworks throughout the night.  We could see all sorts of amateur fireworks being launched from various parts of the beach, but we can also see the beach front of Daytona Beach from here, and see the actual fireworks going off throughout the night, and in huge quantities at the stroke of midnight.

Inside, we set up the television so we could watch on the big screen the countdown from the Magic Kingdom.  In the waning moments of 2018, we saw the fireworks show in Orlando, not far from here, and together, all of us counted down the last seconds of 2018.  Daddy, Madison and Mommy held hands, counting down together from ten - along with Mickey and Minnie, and Nana and Ba-Ba.

Daddy gave Mommy a kiss, and a kiss on the forehead for Madison, and we all celebrated the new year (and the fact that we were all somehow still awake!).  It was a great 2018, with so much to celebrate.  But 2019 will be even better, we know.  To quote the Disney song, "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow."  To quote "The Preacher's Wife" song we were just listening to on the way down here, "Help is on the Way."  We know our help comes from the Lord, Emmanuel, "God with us."

Happy New Year!