Spring Break in FLORIDA!!!

We left here on Friday afternoon around 3.30pm. We drove and drove and drove a little bit more until finally after around 17 hours we came to the Florida border.  We stopped, took some pictures under the “Welcome to Florida” sign, got some fresh orange juice from the welcome center and went back in the car. We still had four more hours to drive! By now it was really warm and when we came to Oma and Opa’s campsite (they were down there already for two weeks and we stopped at their place first, because we couldn’t get into our house until 3 pm) we all were happy to change into shorts and bathing suits. Then we went to our place, parked the cars (Oma and Opa came, too) and went to the beach. When we came back from the beach, we had some ice cream (yummy) and could then go into our house. So we unpacked and jumped into the pool behind the house (yes, we had a private pool à see pictures J) Lisa and Frank with Jimmy (7) and Noah (2 ½) (friends from Muskegon, they had the house together with us) and their grandma where already there. Then the two dads and me went shopping. We had two overloaded shopping carts J. After dinner (Brats and Hotdogs) we swam some more and went pretty soon to bed.

The next day (Monday) was really warm again (around 30 C). This morning grandma came (she flew). We went in the pool after breakfast, swam and lay in the sun and went to the beach after lunch. On the way home we had - of course - to stop at the ice cream shop again. For dinner that night Oma and Opa came again, and also Matt and Ellen with their two kids (3 and 5, also friends, who stayed at a place about 15 min away from us).

The next morning (Tuesday) we spent at the pool again. In the afternoon we went to Matt’s and Ellen’s place, which was direct at the beach. There we tried the new skim board, which Dad got that morning. It is a little bit like a surfboard, but you use it right at the end of the water. The less water is under the board, the better. You run, let it fall, jump on it and try to slide as far as possible. It’s really fun! (Even if you fall and scratch your leg…;)) We also saw dolphins in the ocean and pelicans flew over me while I was swimming! That was pretty cool. The dinner we had that night was soo good: crab, shrimps, potatoes, corn, a yummy noodle salad, garlic bread, pork, baked potatoes and a fruit salad (probably forgot something...;)). Everything tasted soo good!!! J After dinner we saw the beautiful sunset. It was amazing how fast the sun sank into the ocean! That night I decided to sleep outside at the pool. It was really cool: it was really bright because of the full moon, but it got very very cold… I kept waking up, and I watched how the moon went from one side of the pool to the other.

The next day (Wednesday) we were at the pool in the morning and at the beach in the afternoon. (Like almost always…) At the way home we had ice cream again.J For dinner that night I cooked a pasta dish with shrimps. Wow, I never before cooked that much pasta! We had a really really big bowl full and everybody had another meal from it the next day J We went to beach again to see the sunset. And I decided to go swimming in the ocean at the sunset. All the people looked at me as if I am crazy But the water was still really warm!

The next day (Thursday) we went to the beach in the morning, pool in the afternoon. That night the grown-ups went out for dinner and I babysat the kids (Jess, Nick, Jimmy, Lachlan and Aidan).

The next day (Friday) we went to the beach again in the morning and hung then out at the pool. It was the last full day for Lisa and Frank’s and our last at that house…That night Matt and Ellen (and Aidan and Lachlan) came over. For dinner we had beer-canned chicken: Take a whole chicken, put a half full beer can in it and put it on the grill for about 2 hours. It doesn’t sound that great, but it tasted awesome! You don’t taste the beer, it just keeps the meat moist…

On Saturday we had to move to our other condo. It was the first colder day. So we packed up and went to an aquarium. It was really cool: they had a lot of different fishes, a giant squid, sharks, huge sea turtles and manatees (“sea cows”) and we could pet starfish, stingrays and sea urchins. It was fun! Then we went to our new condo. It was really nice: two stories, two bedrooms each with their own bathroom and three little balconies. We didn’t have a private pool, but we could see the pool from our windows. After we unpacked and went to the pool, we colored eggs for the next day…

Sunday. Easter! We got up pretty early and - guess what? – the Easter Bunny was there! We looked for our Easter baskets and after a while found them all J mhhh…. Chocolate!!! It was colder again, so we didn’t go to the beach, but went to the pool instead. We went out for dinner and had really good fish. When we came home we played Yazzy (=Kniffl) and then went to get ice cream J when we came back we watched some TV (don’t forget, we are in America!!)

Monday was colder again, so we decided to play pot-pot (minigolf). It was a fun place, they had caves, pirates stuff and alligators! Unfortunately it started to rain after some time. So we stopped and went home. After quite some time it stopped raining, so Nick and I went to the pool. But probably after half an hour it started to thunderstorm and didn’t stop to rain anymore.

On Tuesday it rained on and off all day. In the afternoon we went to the movies. We watched “Meet the Robinsons”. We watched it in 3-D, what was really awesome! Sometimes the objects came out of the screen and seemed to be just in front of your face! We went out for dinner that night again, and we had fried alligator as entrée. It tastes quite interesting. Pretty chewy, though.

On Wednesday – our last day - was the best weather again. Sunshine, blue sky, 30 C. We went to the beach and stayed there for about 5 hours. Jess and I built an awesome sand city. It took us about two hours… Only bad thing was that I forgot to put sun block on my back à now it’s really red… It’s amazing how strong the sun down there is! That day we also saw a huge snake and a bunny at the beach. On the way home we had ice cream again. After dinner we went to the beach to see the sunset and to take pictures. But we had bad luck, there were some clouds, which came and took the sun away!

On Thursday we had to pack and get ready for the drive home. We left our condo around noon. We drove again a lot and watched some movies in the car. At midnight we went off the highway to find a hotel we could stay the night in. It took us about 40 minutes to find one that had openings! In the night Nick got sick and had to throw up twice. The next morning (Friday) Nick was okay again and we left the hotel around 9am. We came home around 4.30pm. On the way Mum started to feel bad; she caught Nick’s stomach thing.

Now we are home and just want to go again, since it is 3 C here… (the 0 behind the 3 is missing!!!;))We are used to wearing bikinis and short and now we have to wear a winter coat and mittens again! That’s not fair!!!