Vacation Fun

Well, we got back on Monday night from a very LOOONNNGGGG vacation! It was fun, but very long for two little ones.

We first went to New Smyrna Beach in Florida. We were there with Michael's parents and grandmother. It was so wonderful having GG there because she was able to stay in the condo with Tristan majority of the time. It was too hot for him to be out there like we all were.
The condo complex was really nice. Notice that I said "complex". Our particular unit however looked like it had been decorated by a gay man that couldn't afford a place in the Hampton's, so he decided to show his "flare" off in this unit. Not just that, but it wasn't that clean. Diane and I have already discussed this and she says she will not get her feelings hurt over me blogging about it. She said she just wanted me to show the photos of some of the rooms so everyone can know what I am talking about! GG (Michael's grandmother) wanted liquid hand soap so she didn't have to look at the two men on the soap dish and on the back of one of the bathroom doors were three horses drawn in pencil. Still, I couldn't get over the wallpaper in the room the kids and I were in. I'm not a homophobe, but come on, if you want your condo to rent and to have return renters, make it pleasant!

The complex was on the beach (what other way is there to go?) and it had two nice large swimming pools and kiddie pools that were side by side. It had tennis courts, shuffle board and a nice huge grassy area that overlooked the ocean so that kids could play on it in the evenings.
We ate wonderful food dinning in and out. Don, Diane and I took turns cooking, we ordered pizza a couple of times from this fabulous little joint down the road (I swear, they must use ocean water in the dough, it was yummy!), we went to JB's Fish Camp a couple of times (we also got to watch the dolphins at this place), and drove up to Daytona Beach to see and have dinner with Don's aunt and cousin. Oh, the steaks Don grilled were wonderful, Diane's grits, steak and eggs were too die for, and my shrimp burgers were not too shabby themselves!
One of the major things down where we were, were the sea turtles. I guess it is hatching season for the baby sea turtles and they had a $5,000 fine if you caused the baby sea turtles to venture to mainland and not to the sea. This is to include digging large holes and not filling them when you leave the beach. Tobbie has now decided to become an activist to "save the sea turtles"! She also "learned" to fly a kite.
And, Michael joined us on the last day at the beach. Check out the video, it is a little long, but the beginning of it is so sweet.


The day after Michael joined us at the beach, we drove over to Orlando for a mini family vacay. We got there hours before our hotel check in, so we decided to head on over to GatorLand. If you don't already know, Tobbie is an animal freak. She loves all animals and this was right up her ally. We witnessed gator wresteling, feeding gators, jumping gators, cranes riding on a gators back, flamingo's, snakes, lizards, spiders, and homosexual tortoise's.

The next day we hit up Sea World. Loads of fun, but not for a short three year old that just wants to ride the roaster coasters. Tobbie kept calling the roller coasters, roaster coasters. I think her favorite part of Sea World was none other than, Shamu. She learned to hold her little hands up like his hind fin and chant: Shamu, Shamu. Her little squeals on the video are so cute. Well, at least to Michael and I they were cute, other people probably found it revolting or annoying.

Our hotel in Orlando was amazing. We stayed in one of the Lanai suites and they showed a movie every night where the screen hung over the pool and you could sit pool side or in the pool to watch the movie. Well, the way our window was to our unit, we could have easily sat in our room to see the movie. They also had a manager's reception every night with all you could drink beer, wine and cocktails with all you could eat appetizers, FREE. Then for breakfast, you had a full on hot breakfast buffet. It was kind of Shoney's style, but you could have cooked to order omlets/eggs or whatnot.

We had an amazing time and are now sad that Michael had to go back to Kansas. He did give us a little bit of good news, he will be home in 3 weeks for the 4th! Then he will be home 3 weeks after that for the last time before the BIG ONE.



Thank you Mimi and Papa for the FANTABULOUS trip. We all had a blast!

Ok, this is video and photo heavey, but please enjoy, we sure did.

Ok, there is a LOT more, but I am tired of uploading, but you get the picture, I hope!