The rest of the trip

What else did we do in Florida? Besides eating in bed and watching television, exploring Busch Gardens, swimming in the pool and building sandcastles on the beach?

Went to see Maizey's adult doppleganer. (If she was a man.)
Well, a plaster version at least.
Imagine - a whole store dedicated to the Hulkster.
Wait. I don't need to imagine. I was there.

Channeled Grandpa Bob.

In other words, did some hammock rocking. 

 Took in the view from our balconies.

Maizey became this guys

number one only groupie.

And we took in some great sunsets... 

Not to mention sunset "Yoda" with Dad.

Next week? Hot Yoda.

In hindsight, it was a great trip. Not quite a vacation. Not quite a Breclaw-style adventure. But I am looking forward to the next Spurgeon sojourn, which says a lot.

Back to Florida...

Since this blog also doubles as my personal scrapbook (one that I hope to convert to book form via Blurb in the near (aka next 10 years) future), we're going back to Florida. The beach. And tomorrow, everything else.

I am a beach baby, and I was thrilled to see that my daughter is one as well. (Though we did see a little of that last year.) Peter and I were fortunate to have a stay-at-home mama, who in the early, sans two-car household days, pedaled us to the Escanaba Beach on a near daily basis June-August (and in the two-car days, drove us there). And, she was fortunate enough to have some other beach mamas with which to share coolers, Redbook mags and sandy PB&J's. Of course, those mamas had kids, so it turned into a permanent beach-bound summer play group. Whenever clouds would threaten the precious sun, defacto den leader, Deb, would lead all 15 or so kids in a rancorous "GO SUN. BEAT THE CLOUDS" chant. Oh the memories...

So even though Maizey doesn't have a beach within pedaling distance (though she will at both sets of Grandparents' abodes), I want her to love the free entertainment of the beach. And, happily, she did, despite the clouds.

She wasn't so keen on the waves.

But after returning home and about 372 readings of my favorite, beautifully illustrated, kid beach book, Wave, I think we'll have no future problems. (In fact, she'll probably "nah-nah-nah-boo-boo" them.)

See you at the beach!

Florida - The Pool

So, the rest of the time in Clearwater was spent either at the pool, at the beach, or in our condo, doing gastro-related laundry. Today's photos? The pool...

  

  

  

Though most of these pics make it look like she was attached to Will, in reality, Lady did quite of bit of  exploring. She's a true water baby. Anytime she was out of the pool, we had to be watching, since she'd randomly toss herself off the edge, struggle to the surface, sputter and laugh when I scooped her out. Fruitcake.

Her other favorite activity? Sitting on the bottom of the pool, chillin. 

   

  

Again - fruitcake. 

When told we had to leave the pool,

she did this...

While we...

did this...

Florida - Day Two

Florida - Day Two... otherwise known as fever day. The plan? Decimate the Embassy Suites breakfast buffet, then take on Maizey's first amusement park. The reality? A table full of breakfast food and a toddler who only wanted mama's lap, followed by a somewhat teary trek through a zoo and roller-coaster-rama.

But, we made the best of it. I only got really stressed at the end of the day, when I realized it wasn't the sunscreen I'd inadvertently applied to her eyeball at 8 a.m., but a flu-like fever that was making her a clingy, whiny mess.

Anyhow, the good...

 Lion-watching.

 Very cool hippo habitat.

 Followed by a lot of hippo-sitting.

This was another important parental vacation lesson. Don't worry about pushing kids to "experience" things. They can do that when they're older. If they want to spend 30 minutes sitting on a concrete hippo, let them sit on the damn hippo. Everybody will be happier.

Maizey did enjoy her first carasoul ride, but did insist on a last-minute horse change, following in her mackrel Grandma's footsteps..

And then, for her, the highlight...

So, some explanations here... She's wearing a swimsuit because the Sesame Street portion of the park includes water features. We thought it might break her funk (this is prior to realizing she was sizzling). And no - I don't understand the Elmo fascination held by her and millions of other children. But, it exists and I've opted not squash her joy in a futile attempt to "protect" her from commercialism. We roll with it. (And another no - I have no idea why Elmo and Big Bird are wearing Egyptian collars.)

Shortly after the big furry guy meet and greet, we peaced out. A stop at Walgreens for Motrin and a thermometer, followed by an armpit temp read (102.7), helped explain Lady's 'tude. So, we zoom-zoomed off to our SandPearl beachfront condo, where we spent the rest of the vacay.

Pics to come.

P.S. We really liked Busch Gardens. We had great weather (cloudy with a breeze), it wasn't crowded, was clean and the staff was polite. The zoo aspect and safari train were fab attractions for a toddler, and she delighted in watching the "big kids" go on the roller coasters (finally I'll have someone to ride with...in a few years). Not to mention the Sesame Street piece...