Vacation, part 3.

Almost done!

After spending a few days in Disney, we packed up and drove a couple of hours where my family lives. Our primary reason for visiting Florida was to see family, so that's exactly what we did. We went to my grandparent's house to hang out and that was a blast. I remember having really great times with my grandparents when I was younger, so it's important for me that my kids get to know them and have memories with them as well.

 Olivia spent a lot of time trying to catch lizards. She tried hard. It got to the point where we started offering her $1 if she could catch one. She never could, but she said next time FOR SURE she'll get one.

 Jackson spent a lot of time playing with the gate at the front door. He did this our last visit 4 years ago too. I don't know what the fascination with the gate was, but he had a great time

 See? These are what Olivia was trying to catch. They actually started taunting her. She'd run one direction, and five or so would run to where she just was. It was kind of hilarious. :)

On Sunday we had a family barbeque celebrating my cousin Stephanie graduating high school. I was bummed we couldn't time it so we could have seen her walk across the stage, but I'm glad we got to hang out. She's the most like me, personality wise, so we get along great. But my two younger cousins, who are around Olivia's age, came over too and Jackson tried hard to impress the girls.

 They are into gymnastics and so can do all kinds of cool tricks, but Jackson can break dance. Kind of. So he wowed us all with his moves.

 It was good catching up with my uncles and aunts and of course, Stephanie. I love how we're kind of coordinated here unknowingly. After the dinner, we headed over to my uncle's house so the kids could all swim together. Which is a big deal because both Olivia and Jackson have been in swim classes over the winter and spring, so they were super excited to show Grandma how well they can do now. I barely had enough room in our bag for their floats, but I'm glad I brought them!

 Is he not the cutest?? He insists on wearing his goggles at all times in the water!

 He swam all over the pool with little to no help at all.

 And of course, lounged on the tubes.

 Olivia even swam with the big girls. She was learning all kinds of flips and stuff from my cousins.

This? This is HUGE. When Jackson started swim lessons, he refused to jump in and wouldn't get in without help from the instructor. We had lots of conversations about how he has to be able to jump in to get to the guppy level, so he tried and tried. Right before we left, he finally did it and even  his instructor was so proud of him. Well at the pool this day, he says, "MAMA! I'm going to do it!" and he did and it was awesome. He jumped right in and swam to the other side, totally beaming. It's really great to see your kids master something and feel proud of themselves.

Even Olivia jumped in a bunch of times! She is a little less scared of doing things like this and watching the bigger girls kind of helped her get out and start jumping. This girl can swim laps without stopping. We may have a future swim team kid here.

 Isn't she adorable? I could bite those little cheeks.

 They played bumper tubes and thought that was totally hilarious.

 After efficiently pooping them out, we headed back to our hotel (which is an entire post on it's own because it's still ongoing...long story). The very next day was our designated beach day. The plans were to go to Madeira Beach, which is where I used to play when I was little and where Matt and I honeymooned, and pretty much play it all by ear.

 It doesn't matter how long I've lived up North, every time I'm in Florida I feel like I'm at home. I had to take a picture of the St. Petersburg sign because this? This is my original home town.

Once at Madeira Beach, the kids were getting hungry so we decided to get a parking pass and then walk over to John's Pass. Matt went and checked on the dolphin boat tours because Jackson wanted to really go on one, and as it turns out- there was one leaving in a few minutes with room. So we decided to buy a few snacks and a water and get on the boat.

 Jackson was SO excited because he really likes boat rides and it was a totally gorgeous day for a boat ride.

Olivia also was excited and was hoping to see a few dolphins. Matt and I have been on this twice now, and we've always had good luck seeing them, so we were pretty confident. It was then that Olivia told me she really wished she had her own camera. I'm not budging on saying no to a cell phone, iPad, iPod, etc... but a camera? I can understand why she wants a camera and I had a cheapy when I was her age. So... maybe a good Christmas thing. Anyways.

 We saw a BUNCH of dolphins but because my camera was almost dead, I didn't get many pictures. I think Matt got some on his phone, but hasn't sent them to me yet.

We did see a mama dolphin and a bunch of babies, so that was really cool. Olivia was so excited and Jackson kept asking for us to lift him up so he could see better. So the boat ride was a success. I was bummed we couldn't get on the shell island tour- but it was full that afternoon and even if we went, I didn't have much room in our luggage to bring back big shells.

 Instead, we went to the boardwalk and had a great lunch. Matt ate more seafood than he could almost handle but it's far better than what we can get at home, I'm told.

 We walked the boardwalk for awhile, and the kids got to buy their beach souvenir. Jackson got a shark tooth necklace and Olivia got a starfish necklace and both got shirts. They had been saving their allowances for months and were pretty proud to be able to buy their own souvenir. After that and some ice cream, we finally went over to the beach.

 Olivia looking totally fashionable with this cute suit we got at Gymboree for $2 she finally fits.

 Jackson being his usual self.

 I made them play in the sand for awhile until their lunch was a little more settled. Jackson was kind of excited to be buried. He declared, loud enough for everyone to hear, "This is the best sandbox EVER!!". The people next to us thought that was hilarious and they turned out to be really nice to chat with.

 Olivia wanted to be buried, and to have a mermaid tail, but was disappointed that Matt isn't that great with sand art.

They decided to make sand castles and test out the water.

Adorable cuties on the beach.

 Good grief we are ridiculously white. Oh yes, and Matt is here wearing Jackson's goggles because he was diving down to get shells for Olivia and the salt water was killing his contacts. Such a good dad. Walked around with bloodshot eyes for the entire day so she'd have shells.

 When they weren't making sand castles, they were trying to find "perfect" shells.

Jackson was a little scared because there were signs posted that it was again stingray mating season so to shuffle your feet as you go into the water. Well, he knows what a stingray is from our aquarium visits, so he was petrified to go into the water. If I carried him out there, he would swim just fine with me. But he would not walk in and out by himself. Which was just fine. Olivia had no problems at all- I think she really liked the beach and thought the waves were great.

Me and Olivia at the end of our beach day. I kind of love that we are able to bring the kids to the places that were memorable for me as a little kid. As they get older we'll be able to go to more places. Actually, we were talking about the next time we go to Disney we'd do a week long thing, do a park each day and then a water park. We were going to go to Typhoon Lagoon with them, but it said that you can't bring flotation devices, so until they can swim better on their own without floats.

We left right before dinner time and we were all exhausted. You don't realize living up north, how much non stop sun and swimming can really suck all your energy right out. In fact, both kids fell asleep in the car before we were even out of the parking lot. :)

Also- I've gotten lots of emails about Disney and my experience. First of all, it was not a complete bust. I'm glad we went, I'm glad my kids had a fantastic time, and I have some really get pictures and memories to put into a book for them (I'm only 3 vacations behind in scrapbooking...yikes). Did I know you could get free cups of water at service counters? No. Because I saw nobody with them. Did I have to buy that much water? Well yes- it was 105 and both kids and I have to be hydrated throughout the day otherwise we get sick. So I'd spend $1000 on water if it kept both kids from getting sick. I get that you pay a lot of money for the experience. I totally get that. But once you get into the park, they shouldn't nickel and dime you the entire day. Paying almost $100 for a family of four to basically have hotdogs and burgers is a bit ridiculous. I will say though, that the next time we go we'll likely stay at a Disney resort and do the dining plan. It makes so much more sense and after getting to know how it works better after talking to people once I'm there, I recommend it. I also recommend going for 3 days because you get better deals on ticket prices. We were only going to have 2 days and if we were able to stretch out the vacation for another day or two, we would have gone to 3 parks. The next time we go the kids will be older and bigger, and we'll be able to do Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. The vacation fund is empty so we're slowly putting money into that. Hopefully next time we can take a full two week vacation and see family AND do Disney.

Tomorrow- I'll talk about our last full day, we went to Weeki Wachee Springs and saw mermaids. :)

Vacation, day 2. Epcot or bust?

One thing you will notice of this vacation is that we crammed a lot into our six days of vacation. Our first full day was an absolute success despite being rained out, so we expected no less on day two at Epcot. Oh, how things would be different. And for the record- I've been to Epcot before. Matt and I both remember it being pretty fun and Olivia is way into learning about different cultures and countries and I thought this would be perfect.

 My first clue that this was going to be a dud day was when Jackson asked why we were going golfing. Then when I explained that was not a giant golf ball, he declared, "Well, that's dumb." You know what? He's right. What the hell is that? What's its purpose?? Nobody knows. OK, sure- there is a Spaceship Earth ride in it that we rode and Jackson was really worried that we indeed, left Earth and were in space.

After our fake space adventure, we consulted the brochure and decided we'd be smart and get a Fast Pass for the ONE ride Jackson would fit on, the Test Track. It's basically an incredibly fast race car ride. We get the Fast Pass to come back at 3. It is now 9:15 in the morning. No big deal. I figure worst case scenario, I can lord the ride over his head for good behavior like any responsible parent would. In the meantime, we decided we're going to the area of the park that has country stuff and we were going to get every imaginable character experience we could.

Fun fact. The park opens at 9. It's beastly hot out so we go in search of water. Would you believe me if I told you the nation area doesn't open to 11? Not even street vendors selling water at ungodly prices? You'd laugh at that but oh was it true. Also notable was the fact that there was literally nobody there. Like, nobody. I told Matt it was really creepy to walk around a theme park and not see another person around.

We consulted with our trusty brochure and see Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, was to be out signing books and taking pictures at like 11. So we get in line and suddenly all the other 20 people in the park are in line with us.

 Olivia was SUPER excited to meet Belle because she really loves that movie and the only thing she managed to ask was where Beast was. Apparently, it takes him a long time to brush his fur, and that cracked Jackson up. I was a little disappointed- where the mother eff is her big dress? Nobody cares about your servant's outfit honey- we waited for the big dress. Obviously.

So after that, we find water and patiently wait for Matt to throw down another $10 on two bottles because why not? (Fun fact- over the course of two days? We spent approximately $200 in bottled water alone. Not joking.)

 My two kids at the beginning stage of dehydration two hours into our day.

Once we got water, we moved the 5 feet to get in line for Alice in Wonderland. Who, as it turns out, is really fucking amazing and hilarious. The girl playing her? NAILED IT. She sounds like Alice, she looks like Alice, she comes off as mentally deficient like Alice, basically she was great.

 Olivia was a little disgusted when Alice told her that she never changes her clothes. She doesn't like to. Jackson commented that she didn't really smell, so she must change sometime.

So another disappointment? The country areas? Kind of suck. Maybe we went on a down day, but there were no street performers, nothing fun happening, it was basically just walking through it.

 And then forced photos of the kids pretending to be active tourists.

 Until Olivia said we can pretend she's a "world model" like on TV.

 Jackson refused to be outdone.

We walked over to the United States exhibit and decide it's the safest place to eat lunch because my kids are picky eaters and we all know I won't eat things I can't pronounce. So we spend another $75 on cafeteria food at dirty tables. Oh, and we got to sit next to a garbage can. You can imagine what that's like in 105 degree weather.

After lunch, we decide to tell the other countries to fuck off because I couldn't imagine they'd be any better than the first 5 we saw. On the way back to where rides are, stealthy Matt spots Pluto and promptly drags the children across the sidewalk.

 And Jackson thought this was kind of bad ass.

But then!

We saw a "surprise mob" of characters and saw everyone:

 Surprisingly, Jackson LOVED Donald Duck. Like, clung to him for dear life.

 Olivia liked this guy and I know he is from Jungle Book but I can't remember his name.

 Max, Goofy's nephew, had nobody in his line. But we like the Goofy Christmas movie so Olivia was excited about him.

 Jackson also loved Mr. Smee. Olivia was a little creeped out his feet were so big.

After this, Olivia told me she heard someone say Princess Jasmin was here so like good parents, we walk all the way back to mother fucking Morocco, wait in like for a full hour in legit sun. Like, no shade. None. At all. When I tell you that my bra had pooling sweat in it? Not an exaggeration.

But here's my other rant? Remember how I'm like, one picture and done? Also applies to phone calls. DO NOT MAKE CHARACTERS CALL PEOPLE. Because it's really hard to restrain the urge to punch a person when you are in the happiest place on Earth. But no joke, one guy had Aladdin call his girlfriend, (which hello, douche- why not BRING her?!) and one guy had Aladdin and Jasmine record a happy birthday video on a phone.

No.

I am not joking.

People are epic assholes.

 In other news, this Aladdin sounds EXACTLY like movie Aladdin. It's really weird. Olivia thought they were really great, wants pants like Jasmin, and Jackson wanted to ask where Abu the monkey was. I told him he was out stealing people's wallets and so Jackson was very concerned about mine for the rest of the day.

 After sweating like a pig in heat in Morocco, we decide to sit in the only shady spot in the park, near these weird fountains.

 Which is when we noticed the rain drops. Oh yes, it started to rain. And by "rain" I really mean down pour. Thank god Matt dried out our $40 ponchos from the day before and diligently packed them into his pants pockets (which turned out to be really heavy), because we ended up having to run into the bathrooms to put said ponchos on.

 But then we went into this interactive play area for kids to wait the rain out and yeah, it was kind of a dud. The kids didn't really get into it even with my best efforts at being overly enthusiastic. By the time we got out, it was only sprinkling, but our Fast Pass ticket for Test Track was up, so we went over.

And the ride is closed.

Never fear though, they said we could come back anytime before the park closed at 9 and get on. Oh, no big deal. So instead, we went over to The Seas and did a bunch of stuff in there.

 And put our ponchos back on because oh hey- it is now full fledged raining again. We ended up waiting another hour in different buildings and when it let up again, went back to Test Track.

Only to find it was permanently closed for the rest of the day.

When we told Jackson his response was, "Are you SERIOUS???" because this was the ONLY ride he could ride. I'm not counting the Spaceship Earth because that wasn't a ride. It was a bizarre train thing into a giant golf ball. You want to talk about disappointment? This was it.

Oh, and we watched the 1980's movie "Captain EO" with Michael Jackson. It was creepy. Mostly because this is clearly the forgotten park and you can tell no real effort or money has gone into making this park worthwhile for people to go to. You never hear anyone say, "Man- Epcot was a blast!!". You know why? Because it's not. It's a huge disappointment and at $371 or so for us to get in? Should have went to another park. Or Sea World. *sigh*

 But we did get to see Mickey Mouse again, so that was cool. And Jackson gave him a big hug and says, "Thanks for letting us come play here". Seriously? Can you just eat my kids? They are too effing cute. So, Epcot? Bust. Total bust. We never made it longer than 5 because I wasn't trying to hang out in the rain for 4 more hours to see their night time thing.

Anyways.

Let's talk about the hotel. So remember how I said it was a $30/night deal and it would either be the deal of a lifetime or the scariest three nights of our lives? Turns out it's in the middle. What it doesn't tell you is that it is a motel, in a kind of sketch neighborhood with scalpers all over the place so you just know people get ripped off daily. It's also the ghetto leg of a timeshare place in Orlando so they push the timeshare crap on you hardcore. The pool is filthy, there is no continental breakfast despite advertising it, and the Wi-fi? Non existent. And because my laptop has a dead battery and needs to be plugged in and the lobby outlets don't work, I have the option to use their computer.

For a $15 fee of course.

 Also, the bathroom? Holy fucking hell. First off, it had this vent. These vents freak me out because A) there is no air to it, it's not one of those that suck air out or anything, it's just a hole in a wall with a vent cover. B) we're on the bottom floor so where is that moisture going? Shudder. These are the vent holes you see on Dateline when they bust hotels for peeping on people.

 Second, the tub was terrible. Basically, the first night I was convinced there was no floor under neath it because the bottom of the tub was squishy. Like, I thought the tub might bust through. On the second night we noticed that the drain area actually has cracks. So water would go in the cracks and under the tub. Which is why it was like you were surfing in the tub, you were standing on a bubble of water under the tub. It was horrible. We called down to the desk and they said nothing they could do. Awesome.

Also on day two, after coming back from Epcot there appeared to be muddy claw marks on the tub.

I still don't know what that was, but you bet your ass I slept with my shoes on that final night.

San Francisco Secrets

I know you want more vacation posts, and I promise to give you that, but duty calls and it's book review time!

San Francisco Secrets - Greg Messel

Noted novelist and newspaper editor Edgar Watson Howe once said. "A man who can keep a secret may be wise but he is not half as wise as a man with no secrets to keep." As the spring of 1958 arrives in San Francisco, it seems that baseball player turned private eye, Sam Slater and his fiancee, TWA stewardess Amelia Ryan, are surrounded by people who have secrets. A prominent doctor, John O'Dell is being blackmailed by someone who has discovered a dark secret from his past. When the private investigator trying to catch the blackmailer is murdered, Dr. O'Dell hires Sam Slater to try to pick up the pieces. Someone is playing for keeps and will do anything to protect their own secrets. Meanwhile, Amelia begins her new job as an international stewardess which takes her on adventures to New York City, London, Paris and Rome. In hot pursuit is a womanizing older pilot who has his sights set on Amelia. Their lives get even more complicated when a mysterious woman from Sam's past returns. Sam and Amelia's relationship will be tested as they work together to solve the mystery on the foggy streets of San Francisco. 

Now, I didn't fully understand that this was the third book in a series until as I was reading it I realized that there are lots of things that are assumed that you know. I didn't know as I hadn't read the previous two, but with that being said, I didn't feel like I couldn't enjoy this story on its own. Basically, while I am a fan of reading previous books first, it's not a deal breaker if you didn't in this case. 

The book centers around the relationship of Sam and Amelia- who while they have a life together, both live exciting lives given the era they live in. Sam is essentially a retired ball player who is now a private investigator and his fiance Amelia is a stewardess. So in my head, I read this book as a black and white movie and it was absolutely fitting. All is swimming along until Sam's past comes into his future and everything spins out of control. The entire book is based on the premise that we all have secrets, but how far are you willing to go to maintain that secret? Would you kill? Sam and Amelia wouldn't, even though it could potentially be devastating to their future, but others would. Sam presses on to unravel the thread of lies and cover ups. All the while this is going on, Sam and Amelia are trying to maintain their relationship despite the obstacles coming at them. 

Overall? It's a good book. Is it on my favorites pile? No, but it is a solid crime mystery that is really well written. You can tell Greg lived and breathed the research for this book because he pulls of the era perfectly and you really feel like you're there. It was pretty impressive and I really enjoyed the old school era of the book. If you have a soft spot for nostalgia and an old fashioned mystery- do not hesitate to read this one! 

Greg is incredibly busy doing interviews and other book reviews happening, so if you're interested to see what other reviewers are saying, or what Greg is saying about his book, click HERE to get links to everything and more.