So we made it back home last night.
We left Clermont Monday morning around 6am, spent the night in Roanoke, VA (Country Inn and Suites, very nice big suite for 6, with breakfast) and arrived home in Montreal (close, it's a suburb) around 9pm.
While we went down I-95 all the way because we traveled during a weekend, we went the 26-77-81-88 way coming home because we wanted to avoid traffic around DC and NYC since it was during the week this time. This worked out perfectly. We never had any problem with traffic or road work. My youngest son (2) had a bit of a hard time with ear pressure while going through the mountains and I have to say that the scenery made absolutely no difference to me so I can't say that I'm really partial to one or the other itinerary. I guess we'll continue to choose depending on what day we travel.
Because yes, we will probably do this again
We have a cruise booked in December and we are seriously considering getting there by car now
It's so much more affordable that 6 plane tickets and a rental minivan...
All in all, a very nice experience. Tiring, but still nice.
Thanks to everyone on the Transportation board! Your comments and suggestions were precious and helped to make our trip a success!