More Florida Fun!

Other than our Disney day, beach day, and Homasassa Springs, we didn't have much planned.  We wanted to spend a lot of time relaxing, playing games, walking, and seeing what Papa and Nana's life down there is like.  It was a great combination; busy one day, chill out the next.  We even took a couple naps (all of us!), stayed up late eating ice cream and playing games, and got crazy on the game courts.  Fun times!

Look at all the golf cars.  So fun to see them cruising all around!

Saturday morning farmer's market.  We got some wonderful fresh fruits and veggies!

One day the guys took off to putz around in the golf car and get hamburgers at Five Guys, while the girls...

Went and got our toes pretty and had lunch at Panera.

We all met up at the movie "Frozen."

Sunday morning we had a delicious brunch!

Papa and Nana with the kiddos!

Ice cream before bed.

Every night after the kids went to bed, we had snacks and played Rack-O or Wizard.  We laughed and laughed, got a little competitive, and had tons of fun.

One afternoon was almost warm enough to swim.  The guys were gracious enough to meet the requests of the kids and just dive in.  What troopers!

Our little fish!!

Playing football in the backyard.

Another evening in the town square.  This night, we left about as fast as we got there.  We weren't too crazy about the music, and the crowd was a little "eh."  So, we packed back up in the Suburban and headed to another town square.  By the end of the time, we called it "goin' burban."  Meaning, we would roll down the windows in the Suburban, do a drive by and listen, and decide where to go/what to do.  We cracked ourselves up.  :)

Good morning!

I know I sound like a really proud mom.  But I am.  Ruby was seriously so awesome!  She was so flexible, missing naps, sitting in her stroller for hours, watching the day pass by, and smiling while doing it all.

Bocce ball!

Shuffle board!

Pickle ball!

More nighttime entertainment.

So cute to see all the "older" couples dancing.  Seriously.  What's better than being under the night sky, hand in hand with your love?

Our trip was absolutely wonderful.  The weather wasn't "ideal," but we didn't care (it was still so refreshing, better than here!)!  I kept telling Mom and Dad that we didn't go for hot weather (although that was a bonus!), but we went to see them.  I feel we did well using our time seeing the sites and exploring new things, yet using our time off to really take the time and rejuvenate.  It was so great! 

Right before leaving, I got a heavy duty cold.  Having dealt with bad ears my whole life, still getting ear infections as an adult, I was so bummed to have to fly with all the sinus pressure.  But, what do you do?

After meeting up with Jillian and seeing her place at Pioneers (beautiful!), we grabbed some lunch and headed for the airport.

This time we had about thirty minutes to chill out before boarding.  On the way to Florida, we literally walked right onto the plane.  So, we watched airplanes, watched people, and did jumping jacks.

The germs at the airport, oy, there has to be lots of them.  But I finally let the icky thoughts leave with the breeze, and let Ruby sit on the floor and play for awhile.  She spread lots of joy in that place.

This kid was OUT most of the plane ride.  I have never seen the kiddos so tired.  Maleah fell asleep on the way to the airport, Charlie slept most of the flight, and we woke Ruby up at 10:00 the next morning (11:00 her time) to take off for home.  Exhaustion.  That means it was great fun!

After already descending into Minneapolis, we had to "hold" in circles for about thirty minutes at a terrible altitude.  Kids were screaming (thankfully ours didn't say a peep or seem to mind) with ears hurting, and I seriously thought my head was going to explode.  I couldn't even touch my forehead with my finger.  It was horrible!  We landed about forty minutes late, and wow was it COLD.  After going to the wrong parking lot, going back into the airport, getting to our freezing van that sat outside (unlocked) with no cover for eight days, and paying an arm and a leg for parking, we were finally on our way.  We knew everything at home was cancelled due to frigid temps and blowing snow, but decided we would see how far we could get.  You know when you are so close to home, you just want to be there in the worst way?  Yeah, that was us.

My headache just got worse and worse, and after throwing up on the side of the road, we decided we couldn't do this for three hours.  So, we stopped and slept at Rod and Bonnie's Minnesota house (thank you!!!!).  It worked perfectly!  Everyone slept in, Dallas grabbed doughnuts for breakfast, we woke the baby up at 10, and headed for home.  There's no place like it.

Vacation 2014 is in the books.  And golly, I am so thankful.  It was great.