Vacation Memories: Florida and Disney

You know it's not going to be nearly as sweet as the misleading title implies.

Disney World.  Yes.  We'll get to that.  But first, upper Florida and my mom needing to be taken to the ER.  THAT was fun.  She smoked for fifty years & has been wheezing for many years and we all knew she probably had emphysema, but refused to see a doctor.  So finally, on the drive over, I got a call from my sister that things were happening.  I got there and basically had to bully my mom into the car by threatening to call 911 if she didn't get up and go.  It took over an hour to get her loaded into the car; I told her every foot was ten bucks of non-ER ambulance fees.  When we got there, the admissions nurse raised her eyebrows at my mom's oxygen levels and wheeled her immediately back, even though the ER was full. 

Luckily, she's doing better and is fighting with the nurses in her rehab for the lung disease she indeed has.  So far so good. I took her a tiny Christmas tree with lights and we left for Orlando.

It wasn't a bad drive, but the kiddos were restless.  We got there, the hotel was nice, etc.  Disney was the next day.  The hotel's advisor said we'd probably like Disney Hollywood because it would be less crowded.  Well, yeah, but Sean hated the shows; they were too scary for him.  He started crying and we left pretty early.  We had to coax him back onto the bus that night to go to the shopping/eating area called Downtown Disney.  After a nice night, it got better again the next day.

Magic Kingdom for Christmas Eve.  It was pretty crowded as the day wore on, but it was nice.  And the actual night was, at times, pretty amazing.  They had a snow machine going on the "Streets of America" section-- little bitty flakes swirled around and melted before hitting the ground.  The fireworks & light show was very nice once we finally found a spot.  We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do. 

Maia loved the roller coasters, the rides.  Once we discovered the magic of the "Fast Pass"-- a way to skip the lines with some planning-- things were a little better.  Sean boycotted all rides that were mysterious or scary looking and we ended up on the train that circles Disney several times. 

But the crowds!  Oy!  Our friends had warned us that Christmas was a crowded time but it was way too late for us at that point to change it.  There were so many people, and sometimes parents on their last nerve.  I kept thanking the Disney folks for being there so we could enjoy it; they seemed surprised & pleased that someone actually realized they were choosing to give up their "private time" so we could have the park on a holiday.  There was one really funny girl who ran the Jungle cruise ride who was also sick that day; I couldn't help but think of how the people who work there feel about working in a place like Disney.  A lot of them seemed very sensitive to anything you said to the kids-- if it sounded at all crabby, it's like they wanted to remind you (the parent) why you came there in the first place-- for the kids-- and not to be crabby with them, even if they WERE riding your last possible nerve.  I imagine they see some pretty bad parenting examples there; I opted to not be one of them, but there were moments with a headache, in a long line, where I could see someone really snapping.  Even I, who am usually pretty darn cheerful, needed to leave in the afternoon for that naptime release.   

I kept thinking of my friend Alex, and how much he would have HATED it.  There were moments on the last day when it was absolutely pouring rain and the majority of the crowds were huddled under whatever cover they could find while we cruised the then empty pathways that I genuinely had fun.  Very few people would go out in the rain (it's not like it was cold but it did eventually get to be too much, even for us).  So in spite of getting wet (which, honestly, if it had been ten degrees warmer people would have been paying to do at a waterpark) we were fine.  My toes got a little waterlogged while Andrew & Maia did their last cool ride and Sean & I waited to go.  The Disney gift shops made a killing on rain gear.  They sold out of the adult sizes so we were all wearing kids'.  Sean refused to wear one so he ended up with my soggy flannel. 

The driving there and back again was fine, for the most part. Long. And I am so glad to be home, but not unhappy to have gone there.  I think it was a good time for us to go but it will be many years until (if) we do it again.  It's not that I am inherently opposed to the "corporate Disney" experience but it's a lot of money for something that is not all that different, in the long run, from just your basic state fair, which we had far more fun at. 

Overall, I recommend the experience but only if you do the research and find out when it's actually really not busy.  The crowds are just too much, and it's a nice theme park, but two days would have been enough for us.  I hear summertime, when it's pretty hot, is the best, least crowded time.  If you can stand the muggy Orlando heat, it would be worth not standing in so many lines. 

I'm glad we went, but next year, we're opting for something way more low key.  Maybe a beach with warm water south somewhere, and margaritas, and kids rolling in the sand.  Far, far away from crowded places and gift shops.   

Florida Bound

When I was a kid, I lived in the panhandle area of Florida (and by kid I mean teenager). Every year around Spring Break the tourists would start piling in. Yes, we got some folks in the winter, called Snowbirds-- folks for whom our winter was a balmy tropical paradise. But the real trade started around late March.

We made fun of the tourists. They would wear black knee socks with sandals. They would get horrible horrible sunburns on their faces and backs, with a little strip of white on their nose where they put some zinc. They drove crazy, because they didn't know where they were, and always wanted to turn left where they weren't supposed to turn left.

They brought jobs, and money, though. And we did appreciate that, although sometimes we weren't sure of the trade off. As a local, we hardly ever went to the beach in the summer. It just wasn't something you did-- you were working.

Well, where I live now is prime territory for what was called the Redneck Riviera. People within a day's drive-- La, MS, AL, Ark, tend to use the panhandle as their stomping grounds. It's a beautiful place-- I think better than any other beach I've seen. (And no, I haven't been to the real Riviera. I think that might be the one place that could actually compare.)

We are headed to FL this weekend. It's not exactly a vacation, although it will be one a little bit for us. We WILL go to the beach, and we're going on this pirate boat ride. Very touristy. My fifteen year old self would possibly be horrified. Mostly we're getting together with family to celebrate the life of my 101 year old grandmother who died a few months ago. This is the first time the whole family has been able to get together since then, and we're having a picnic & visiting. I'll see nieces & nephews and the kiddos' cousins that I haven't seen yet, new babies and all.

I'm looking forward to everything but that long drive. I miss beachfront. I would like to live someplace closer to water (real water... not the gator-ridden culverts around here). One day, when Andrew is retired (not too long really) from the military and I get to finally pick where we live, I hope to find something close to beach. Then, my kids can grow up mocking the sunburnt tourists & being mortified if her dad wears black socks (which when we were in Hawaii he tried to do.... let me say I made him take the socks off.)

Redneck I may not be, but I AM headed to the Riviera of my youth.

Whew.

Holidays, for me, are officially over today but my working vacation is still a few more days (a week, I guess). I ought to take down the Christmas tree today (we'll see). Kiddos are back in school, with not too much fighting the system this morning. I have soooo much work to do this week-- publishing my magazine, writing my new syllabus (at this time I only have one to do but may end up with two). I need to get a new perm, get my eyes looked at so I can get new contact lens prescription (by the way-- I think optometrists have a racket-- my eyes haven't changed substantially in 20 years but I need a new prescription every year? Humbug.) School starts back for us on the 13th, and I have a full load of classes, and will be pretty busy.

While I don't DO New Year's resolutions, what I am doing is planning one of the more typical things people do at this time of the year. This is not really inspired by the New Year. It's inspired by me getting on a scale when we were at Grandma's house.... something I rarely do. Ugh! Really? So, then= weight loss, fitness plan. I had so little time with my odd schedule last semester to work out, but I believe that this semester I have a little more free time in the day. My plan is to lose 20 pounds by my big conference, which is the PCA/ACA one in New Orleans, by April 1. To accomplish this I'll need at least two vigorous workouts a week, and a sort of diet. Mostly, just not drinking a glass & 1/2 of wine a night for a few weeks will accomplish an amazing amount. It's not that wine has so many calories (which it does, enough) but that after a glass of it, cheesecake et al sounds like a good idea.

Anyway. I hope to get all my work done properly this week. We'll see. In the meantime, here's a nice picture. Grandma has a lovely player piano, and the kids LOVE it. This visit, they actually did more than just bang on it. They tried to finger-play songs, and followed along with the machine. I have cool video, and this is a still from one of those videos. Please to enjoy.

My Break

After this crazy-busy semester, I keep feeling like I should be doing something. Surely there are papers I should be grading, somewhere. Just doing nothing on the weekend, minus the guilt, is weird. It's kind of a similar feeling to the years of "should I be writing on my dissertation?" that I'm also still not completely over. (Mostly over it. It just changed to "shouldn't I be revising my dissertation into a scholarly book?")

Anyway. We're not leaving for Texas until Monday, so we have a weekend at home with kiddos. Watching El Perro y el Gato on HBO. The kiddos LOVE it. I don't know if they're learning anything, but it certainly will help them understand Spanglish better, if not actual Spanish. I love how they show Texas. Anyone who hasn't been there surely thinks it's all desert & cowboy shops. (It's NOT.)

Vacation

So I'm off school right now. And, another adjunct called this morning and said with budget cuts, adjuncts could be laid off. You know, yeah, that makes sense. Cut the people who teach the most and get paid the least. Don't cut admin or something. So that's fun news. I suspect the "budget cuts" are related to NEXT school year-- I think the money and courses are already there for this coming semester, but I could be wrong. I have been before!

Anyway. Andrew's car is sorta broken so he took our main family car today and I'm stuck at home. I'm doing laundry & working & right now, Office Space is on the TV.  I'm also using a new web browser cause I hear that Explorer has a ton of huge new vulnerabilities without patches, and when I downloaded I-Tunes a month or so ago, I got Safari, so I figured I'd try it out.  So far, a few annoying differences, but we'll see what happens.  

Now, I need to go get some coffee.  Boring post, dull day.  YAY!

Holly-Days

When I was 17, the marching band (yay Vikings!) that I was a superb member of went to Arizona for a band competition & parade. We also had a day trip to the Grand Canyon. During that trip, one of the blond girls named Holly made some crazy stupid remark about cows and vacations. She was totally serious, and it was a "blond moment." We all teased her about having a "Holly day"-- a day when you get to vacay from being smart.

Well, Thursday & Friday are Hollydays for my campus. We have what they call a "Fall Break." So I've got "no class," as Rodney Dangerfield would have said. Yay!

I have SO many things to do and probably will not get half of them done but I am going to try. Mostly I'd like to just loll around on my couch, read some kind of stupid addictive vampire book and eat pistachios. Sigh. I guess that's for December. Counting down the days. 'Til every day is a Holly Day.

Vacay Over Sort Of

Well, this morning I was able to sleep in with the girl baby. Maia is a hard sleeper; Sean was up at 7 ish and dragged Daddy out with him. Then we all got in the pool for a while. In fact, Sean is still there now. So in a way, our vacation is still on for today. This is why, in spite of having been home since Thursday, I haven't blogged. I just don't feel like I'm really "home" at this point. I do have lots of lovely pictures, though. I'll load them to that feed thingy in a sec. But two for feature, one of Maia & one of Sean on the beach. They LOVED the beach, as I knew they would.

We didn't get to see as much of friends and family as we would have liked. Things are always harder once you're there-- Sean would not have ANY of staying at my mom's house and he was less than agreeable about a few of the other places we went, too. He is such a quiet boy that when he does choose to yelp, it's all the more unsettling and difficult to deal with. But we did have a wonderful time, for the most part. I'll try to provide a specific narrative later. But now, for some cute pictures.

I just love the moment of stillness on Maia's face in the first one. That little scar above her eye just adds character, I think. (It was a bathtub injury and is taking forever to disappear.... I hope it does).

And then there's Sean in action. You can see on his face that he is simply In Love. I myself love the beach in Florida. It's warm water, and green blue color, and the sand so white.... it's not as pretty in the same way as it was before the last few rough hurricanes, but it will be again one day after some time. For example-- I don't remember there ever being vines of morning glories all over the dunes back in the day but there were. Pretty white morning glories til about 1. Then they drooped in the heat. I meant to get a picture but we were always in transit when I saw them.

But now, the family calls again. More to come.....

To-Do

1. Take babies to school. Wish them happy 3rd Birthday. Contemplate adopting (when we get back) the kitten that was born on daycare property a couple of weeks ago (it's fuzzy! and black!)
2. Pack for Florida trip by noon.
3. Remember: camera, sunscreen, aloe in case sunscreen fails us.
4. Bathing suits. Cute sundresses.
5. Pack tummy meds for babies with "the wobblies." (Fun for a road trip, though!)
6. Toys, including Maia's new "Princess Tea Party."
7. Road Snacks (PB&J, pretzels, bottles of water. Maybe brownies if I am in the mood to bake them later)
8. Finish work related crap here before leaving.
9. Wonder why my "v" key is sticking. (Babies....)
10. Get on road by noon. In Florida about 8 hours later.
11. Back home either next Thursday or Friday-ish.

I don't know what kind of internet access I will have-- very possibly NONE. So if I don't blog 'til I get back, that's it. It's not that I don't love you all. I do. But I have beaches to walk on and sunscreen to spread on babies salty little skin.

Florida Bound: T-minus 10 days!

For the weekend before the fourth of July, we are headed to my old homestate Florida. We had kicked around options of a vacation that way previously, since many of my family members, who haven't seen the babies in ages, still live there.

We found a way to combine business and pleasure, as Andrew will do a day of training nearby. So his work will pay for the gas, which is awesome with gas at 4 bucks a gallon and an 8 hour drive. I just pre-reserved a room for part of the stay at a lodging which is right on the beach there. It's not confirmed yet, because it's part of his military system privledges on base, but I am very happy that we've gotten that far. (He stayed on hold on the phone for like 20 minutes and then was disconnected while I researched the options.) It's also not quite on THIS beach. It will be a little different looking where we are, but pretty nice, nevertheless.

Oh, the babies will love it so much. We will get to see family, and the babies will play with cousins in the sand. I'll see my mom & 100 (101 this year) year old Grandmother. And, officially, we are now participating in the Redneck Riviera Quest. Usually, people from our area of the country use that part of Florida as their major vacay destination. I used to, as a teen, mock this sort of thing, and now I'm doing it. Hah!

















Here, though, is a picture of what we will be going towards. This is what I currently have as my desktop on my computer. I'll post real pix when we get there.

I totally can't wait. Last time I was really there for any beach time was when I went to my neice's high school graduation and got stuck there because my space a flight on Delta-ish was overbooked for several days. My sister & I rented one of those beach chairs with the umbrella (maybe not those exact ones, but close) and had a waitress bringing us Bushwackers all afternoon and a cute little lifeguard beach boy moving the umbrella to keep us shaded. Sigh. It was fab. It will be different this time, but still awesome.

Once More To The Lake

Every summer I have big big plans for things that I will accomplish, and then I see the days zoom past at lightspeed. It's not a complaint, really, but I just wonder, sometimes, how I used to accomplish so much!*

Anyway... we went to Canyon Lake this weekend. It was very very nice. Yes, there were hotrodders zooming past drunkenly on their jet skis but we are in a cove, sort of, so they rarely come too close. They just make waves, which the babies love anyway.

Maia loved the deer. They are over populated and inbred, and survive largely on deer corn, which is like humans living off of Big Macs alone. Yes, just that bad, but they love it. We mix a little barley & feed into the corn, but very few people do. We also feed the deer veggies-- usually, they eat that AFTER the corn is all gone. Maia would beg "More corn?" and toss one or two kernels at a time. One medium sized buck kept coming up stepping onto the porch. He swiped a piece of pizza off of my plate (I did NOT see that coming). Luckily for my conscience, at least it was Whole Foods apple & gorgonzola, so I have not turned the deer into a carnivore, (yet).

Babies cruised the shoreline with daddy in the kayak. Andrew is a bit of a "Great Santini" with grown ups about the kayak; I don't really enjoy going out with him. But he was sweet & nice with the babies and they really seemed to pick it up, swinging the very light oars in the proper sequence. Not that they really used them to push the kayak but they're 3!

We flew kites, which Maia loved to do, and she did quite well. Sean just wanted to hold the kite string and let it go... freedom! But the kites usually snagged on one of the scrubby wildflowers on the "beach" and so were rescued. He did it three times-- more me the stupid one for letting him sucker me again.

We had a pretty low stress drive, as well. Yes, it took hours (9 for the way there, about 7.5 on the way back-- fewer stops for playing). But otherwise, nice day, blue skies, babies eating pb&j in the back seat watching their DVDs and (mostly) happy.

Today, I have SOOOOO many errands to run and things to do. But I have the weekend and memories of relaxing, yes, relaxing to keep like a little jewel that I can take out and polish sometimes in the midst of all the tasks which will stay undone and things that will be checked off the list. Me, like a tall golem, mouthing "precious" and remembering how nice our teeny tiny vacation was.

And look at that face.... how much more precious can one baby be?


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*(I do know-- the days used to be longer. I used to stay up 'til midnight, drinking a glass of wine and playing on the computer for hours hours while the husband watched basketball... now it's off to bed at 9, intending to get up later, but that never happens).