Now the words to go along with the photos!
My travels to Florida were quite good. Jess and Hunter picked me up to take me to the airport. I think Hunter was hoping I'd take him on the plane with me! I had plenty of time in Miami to go through customs and change planes, and I made it to Tampa right on time. Connie was waiting for me as soon as I came out of the secure area - what a great sight!!!
We got all 12 of us (Connie and her family, Uncle Bill's mom and dad, and his brother and his family) out of the airport into the parking lot, and off to Costco we went! I got a good lesson in how much food (and booze) 17 people need for a week of spring break. I marvelled over the prices ($5 for 2lbs of cheese!!!) and enjoyed playing "where is everyone else?" at Costco. We hit up Target very quickly too and I managed to get my "essential" shopping done - Hunter needed new shoes, so I got those there, and I think he is quite enjoying them! We made our way to the condo and unpacked everything. It was at this point that Connie realized she was missing a carryon bag... with most of Jon's clothing... Luckily Connie located it at the rental car place and all was good. I'm sure Bill's mom's prayers helped too (she's convinced!).
Saturday night passed in a blur of pizza (veggie for me!) and red wine. I'll admit I had a wee bit of a headache on Sunday morning, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one! Thanks to Connie for kicking Bill out of her bed to allow me to sleep with her, and sorry to Ben for having to sleep with his snoring dad and brother!!! He got some good use out of the couch the two nights I was there.
Connie, Bill, his sister and I hit up the grocery store on Sunday morning to finish up the major grocery shopping. I had a ball looking through everything, all the variety and things we don't have, and the PRICES! Even the expensive stuff was a good deal to me! I picked out a few things for AK (Dora coloring book about being healthy, a Tinkerbell PEZ, a princess sippy cup, and a princess toothbrush) and me (canned salmon). Funny how what you shop for changes as time goes on (and depending what stores you go to!). We hit up the beach for the afternoon - it was a beautiful sunny day with a perfect amount of breeze. Connie and I took a nice long walk and enjoyed seeing all the condos, the people, the birds. The sand on the beach is much finer than what I'm used to here, and the water much colder!!!
Supper on Sunday night was at Crabby Bill's. I'm not referring to Uncle Bill when I say that! It was a unique restaurant where you sit at picnic tables inside, and crab is the main feature. It was a fun meal but a late night for all the kiddies.
Thankfully waking up on Monday morning wasn't painful, there was definitely a lot less red wine involved! I just visited with everyone for the morning and packed up as my shuttle back to the airport came by at 1120am to pick me up. I wasn't really feeling like leaving... I wish I could have had one more day there. That was the beginning of what felt like the longest travel day ever - I didn't realize when I booked the flights that I was looking at a 4.5 hour layover in Miami. Gah. Awful airport to have such a long layover in. We were delayed a bit too, but I still walked in the door at about 9pm, less than an hour later than I expected. Hunter came along with Ben to pick me up. I think he was hoping to get on the plane again at that point... he will have to wait his turn to take a trip!
My day was better than the folks next to me - they sat on the tarmac in Missouri for 6 HOURS before they took off to Miami and then missed their connecting flight. The family of four got split up between two different airlines to make their final flight to Cayman. The two that were sitting next to me were pretty tired by that point!
It was great to pick up AK from daycare on Tuesday for a visit. She was chatty and full of beans. I made a supper of gnocchi with a rose sauce and broccoli. I was impressed that she actually had a good portion of broccoli and a bit of the gnocchi. I will have to make that for her again.
I have been rather light-hearted this week - I think the bit of time away and visit with Connie did me a world of good. She and Bill's family were so good to me and I was truly part of the family (whether or not I wanted to be, as Bill's sister said!). Thank you to every single person who made me feel welcome. xo
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