The last week of August my 3 kids and I headed off on what had to potential to be my craziest parenting adventure yet. At 7 months pregnant I flew to Orlando with my 3 kids who are 7, 5 and 2 years old. We were invited by GM Canada and Visit Orlando to come down, experience Orlando and drive back...yes DRIVE back in the new Chevy Orlando.

So with one small bag each, one car seat, 2 booster seats and a stroller we arrived in Orlando and were taken to a beautiful vacation home community called Acadia Estates. WOW! I had never stayed in a vacation home like this! With 5 bedrooms 4 with king size beds and one with 2 twin beds, more bathrooms than we even used, a cinema room, a pool table and a private POOL! I wish we had had more time to spend there and I will definitely be looking into staying there for future visits to Orlando. It was so nice to feel at home away from home.

After dropping off our stuff we set up all the boosters and car seats (I love how easy the Clek boosters and the Britax car seat are to install!) in our fancy new 2012 Chevy Orlando we set off for dinner with the other lucky families that were also invited on this very special adventure. We had a blast at the T-Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney. My 2 year old must have repeated that she "don't like dinos" a thousand times but she still had fun.

After a very busy first day we drove back to the vacation home and I tried out the OnStar system for the first time in the Chevy Orlando. I have to say I am a HUGE fan now. It is stressful to drive at night, in a city you don't know, alone, with 3 kids in the car. OnStar's turn by turn directions got us back safely and it was great practice for our big drive home.

Before we began our big drive home, we had to visit the Happiest Place on Earth, Disney World! We enjoyed a great day at the Magic Kingdom, with constant updates being texted to me from my mum, sister and brother-in-law because my sister was in labour at home in Toronto. It was a day at Disney we will never forget and we brought a special 2011 Mickey Mouse home for the new baby! My new nephew little Leo arrived while we were hanging out in Fantasyland!

A lot of people thought I had lost my mind taking 3 kids under 8, and 7 months pregnant to Disney but honestly it's not that hard. Disney World has so many rides that everyone can go on, even 2 year olds and prego mamas, that I wasn't stressed about going at all. We rode the tea cups, the carousel, It's a Small World, and more. We also enjoyed a few of the shows, which the kids just loved.

After a lovely dinner at the Liberty Tree Restaurant we came out to find that it was POURING rain, not a shower but POURING. I turned to my kids and asked if they wanted to wait and see if it would stop or just go. They said go, I love my kids. So out into the pouring rain storm we went. I think that we may be some of a very small group of people that can say they've walked down Main Street without anyone else while the park was open. Another great memory!

Soaking wet we piled back into our Orlando and drove back to the vacation home. This time I was driving it in the rain, at night, in a city I didn't know, with 3 kids, alone. I just pressed the OnStar button and asked for directions from the super nice OnStar guy, who had a good laugh at our rain storm story and we made it safely and easily back "home".

The next day we packed everything up and loaded everything into the Chevy Orlando, including the kids! We easily fit 2 kids in the first row of the backseat and then kept one seat in the third row up and folded down the other seat. Aidan my 7 year old sat in the "way back" and loved climbing in and out through the back...boys! We fit our 4 carry-on size suitcases and a stroller all on the folded seat side.
I put a cooler bag of snacks on the passenger side seat up front with me, and we were off.

With just a very quick swing by Sea World on our way out of town. This was our first visit to Sea World and the few hours we had definitely wasn't enough. We loved the penguins, the sharks and the seal and walrus show. Alia my 2 year old fell in love with the Flamingos.
With a new stuffed flamingo, penguin and shark t-shirt to add to our treasures in the Chevy Orlando we began our "big drive"! The plan was to drive 5 hours to Savannah Georgia. We put the address into OnStar and off we went! Oh wait, I also made sure each kids was set up with an ipad with their favourite shows and movies.

It was a very quiet drive, bless the ipad!

As the first family to arrive, I have to say we had a pretty easy drive. 5 hours was a great length of time in the car and everyone was tired from our Sea World fun so they all had a nap in that 5 hours too.
We had a great dinner in Savannah with the whole group at Paula Dean's restaurant which is a true southern experience. The kids sat at their own table and what's better than a buffet of fried chicken?!

Day 2 of "the big drive" was a longer one. They warned us it would be a good 10 hour drive. We were some of the last to leave the hotel.  It takes a while for us to get going in the morning plus there were waffles at the hotel restaurant so we filled up on those and then piled back in the Chevy Orlando set for our 10 hour drive.

OnStar was taking us to Sutton, West Virginia and we were on a mission. Everyone was plugged into their ipads again for a while, they chatted, they napped, they threw things at each other's heads you know traditional road trip stuff. We had a great morning and made it in good time for a lunch pit stop. I realized I am definitely my father's daughter, stopping was never for long and always included a quick run when I was on road trips as a kid. I kept that tradition alive, we stopped ate lunch, did a quick run around on a grassy patch, got back in the car, got gas and were off again in less than 30 minutes flat. My Dad is very proud.

The afternoon drive took us into the mountains of West Virginia, which are beautiful and make a long drive more interesting. The Chevy Orlando was a pleasure to drive, even through the mountains with a million huge trucks! We felt safe and comfortable...plus made great time!

We pulled up to a beautiful little town that could have been the real life version of Radiator Springs (Cars movie) a sleepy little town but so lovely. We stayed a very sweet B&B.

The kids loved having the space to run around with each other, eat dinner together and even roast marshmallows and catch fireflies. It had been a long day...but we actually did the drive in only 8 hours and were the second to arrive...yes I'm a bit competitive! 

Day 3 of "the big drive" for the rest of the group was the drive home and should have taken them about 5 hours. As if I wasn't crazy enough, we decided to instead drive to see friends for the long weekend in Vermont. Yes a good 12 hour drive instead, through the mountains to a state that had many of the roads washed out the week before with Hurricane Irene. It seemed like a good idea at the time, plus the trip had been a breeze until then.

Day 4 the "road trip gods" tested our sanity. We turned on our trusty OnStar only to find that we were off the grid and that our system needed to be reset once we got back to civilization. Remember we were in West Virginia...it is very beautiful but there's not a lot of civilization there! But OnStar didn't leave us high and dry they have a system that the OnStar person can read out directions to you and record them to the other button that you can press to have them read back to you whenever you need them. Brilliant!
After a few tries we finally found a spot back on the grid, OnStar reset our system and sent new directions to the car. We were behind schedule but we were off...for about an hour then Kate barfed...everywhere. Sorry GM!

After cleaning up Kate and the car, and being another 45 minutes behind we set off again for Vermont. It was a very long drive for all of us. We stopped for lunch and a stretch and kept going. We made it to Vermont by dark. Vermont is a very dark state at night and with the state of the roads, let's just say it was a stressful end to a very long day. Thankfully I figured out how to use the high beams on the Chevy Orlando and proceeded to admit to myself that I am a city girl and that empty roads, at night, on roads without street lights, with 3 kids, alone in a car is not my idea of fun.

After about 12 hours we made it to our hotel, PHEW! We enjoyed a great day with our friends, then got back in the Chevy Orlando for our drive home! I think we were all ready to be home. We had a another long but thankfully uneventful drive back to Toronto and although the state of our poor Orlando's interior was truly embarrassing we all made it safely and with so many new great memories.

The next day when GM came to pick up the Chevy Orlando, my 2 year old Alia ran after it yelling "my car, my car", "that man taking my car". I think she had become a little attached. She also misses our OnStar friends, she loved talking to them and answering the car's questions. She doesn't understand why our car doesn't talk to us. Who knows maybe our next one will!

A huge thank you to GM Canada for inviting us on this very cool adventure. This is a sponsored blog post but my opinions and experience are truly my own...as always.