This has been a very interesting week. We left for Florida Friday morning. We were planning on leaving at 4am but I couldn't sleep. So I woke up Jason at 2 and we left at 2:45am. The kids were great about it. They didn't fuss at all. In fact, they hardly even slept the entire trip. I drove to Chattanooga and we had breakfast at McDonalds. Jason drove to somewhere near Macon, Georgia and we had lunch at Chick-fil-A. I got giddy as we crossed the Florida line and saw random palm trees. Then I drove to Tampa and we hit afterwork traffic. It took about an hour to go about 20 miles to St. Pete Beach which is on the coast by St. Petersburgh. It all blends together. The giant bridge over Tampa Bay was cool, although a bit scary. Jason is very uncomfortable with large bodies of water, mostly because of the large fish that are in it somewhere. Anyways, we found the Alden Beach Hotel around 7pm and were immediately put off by it. The first impression was not like the glowing brochure. But, after we got settled in, we realized it was actually really nice. It had a great view of a bay on one side and it was dirctly on the Gulf on the other and the beach was white and deep and relatively deserted other than the hords of dead fish. We found out later that was caused by something called "Red Tide" that happens after big storms. It also caused our throats to tickle a bit. We swam a little there and swam a little in the pool until we saw a turd in it. We tried to assume it was something else, but got out anyway. We had pizza delivered to our room. We all had trouble falling asleep. Anyways, that was Friday.

Saturday we were up early and ate breakfast in our room (breakfast bars, nothing special). We played on the beach a bit. It was sort of boring but beautiful. Luke didn't like it so much. The waves were a bit much for him. Then we went to the pool. Abby was really good at swimming with a floaty bathing suit. We rested a bit and ate in the room. Then we drove to Tropicana Field to see the Cardinals play the Devil Rays. It was retro-jersy night. The Cardinals wore their 1982 road jerseys. So for Father's Day/Birthday we got Jason one of those jerseys with Ozzie's number (1). It was amazing that there were twice as many Cardinal fans as Ray fans. It was the first indoor baseball game we had seen. It was weird. It was small, cozy sort of. And we didn't have to worry about burning in the sun. I didn't see a lot of the game because the kids were crazy. Jason didn't see a lot because of the trips to concession stands and bathroom to clean ketchup off his new jersey. The Cardinals won, but we forgot to get pictures of the players in the jerseys.

Sunday, I think we had breakfast in our room again. Nothing special. Then we headed to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. It was just under an hours drive. It was free with our membership at Mesker. That made it all worthwhile. It was sprinkling, but the sun was out. Hardly anybody was there, maybe because it was Father's Day. I was a little nervous at first when we had walked a long way only to see a bird or two and no other kids. But then we found the stringrays and got to pet them. That was the turning point. Then we saw a huge aquarium from a cave-like viewing area. There were freakin' huge fish and two manatees. Abby had been looking forward to the manatees for a while so we got her a little stuffed manatee doll. Luke was also pretty enthralled by the fish. As we went on we saw lots of great exhibits. The animals had huge, lush homes. Instead of broken sidewalks, they had lots of decks and catwalks and there were palm trees everywhere. The animals were actually awake. We saw chimpanzees fight. Abby rode a camel and a pony and several rides. They also got to go in and pet the goats. Luke loved that. Plus they had lots of hand-cleaning stations. We had ice cream for lunch. It kicked Mesker's butt.

On the way back we stopped at a place called Branigans and had appetizers for a snack and then went back to the hotel. We went to the beach and the pool again (I think, it's getting fuzzy) and cleaned up before heading to a place called Treasure Island. Well, it turns out that Treasure Island is just the name of the next beach city north of St. Pete Beach. So after driving a while looking for something to do, we turned around and headed to The Pier, a mall on the bay in St. Petersburgh. By the time we got there, all the stores were closed. We were on a weird schedule the whole time. We had already paid for parking and walked a long time just to get in so we decided we would at least eat in one of the two restaurants that were open. We chose Columbia, a Latin restaurant. It was really fancy and expensive. But it was a vacation. I had some awesome red snapper. Jason had some sort of pasta with crab or something. We each had a big loaf of bread and salad. For dessert we decided to try creme brule and cheesecake. The cheesecake rocked but I didn't get the point of the creme brule. It was pudding and not very good. Why do rich people eat it? It was late and we were full so back to the hotel. The four of us walked on the beach that night. It was peaceful and fun to run around on the beach. The kids played on the playground while Jason and I had a drink from the bar. Why not? I'll take a bloody mary once every 4 years.

Monday was our last day there. So in the morning I ran on the beach. It was brutal on my legs around my ankles. The sand was soft and crooked and I had to dodge the dead fish. With my achy legs we headed to breakfast at a Waffle House because we were in the south. We had to. It was okay. We had grits. We had to. Then we went to a mall in St. Petersburgh. It looked just like Eastland mall. Other than a Disney store that had half price stuff, it was a waste of time. On the way back to the hotel, we did some souvenier shopping and then stopped to get Thai food. It rocked. I can't believe we don't have a Thai restaurant in Evansville. While the food settled, I did laundry. Then we headed out for the last day on the beach. It was completely different. The fish were mostly gone and the tide was low. It made the shallow part of the water extend far out and it was calm. Abby and I swam for a long time with her duck ring. A man found a large starfish with 10 legs that we got to touch. Another man was finding sand dollars we got to see. Unfortunately, Luke was not so happy. He cried a lot like he was sick. Jason did a good job comforting him and getting him to lay down under the umbrella. When we finally showered in the evening, I discovered Luke had a horrible diaper rash. That explains it. So we got cleaned up and headed across the street to Silas Dent's Steakhouse. Oddly enough, they were playing 80's music. It seemed there was 80's music in every store and restaurant we went to. Seriously. And back to the hotel to pack up.

Tuesday morning was quick since everything was packed up. Of course we had to get Dunkin Doughnuts before we strapped the kids down for a few hours. The way home was brutal. I don't even remember lunch but I do remember we planned on going to an outlet store but didn't realize the one we wanted was so far away (near Chattanooga). So by the time we got there, everything was closed except the Nike store. But that's mainly where we wanted to go. They took some of our money and we headed on. After a frustrating supper at a Taco Bell somewhere, we put in the Incredibles on the laptop and things got much better. I was never so happy to see Kentucky but by then I was miserable. Jason and the kids were mostly asleep. My butt hurt, my spine hurt, my feet hurt and I was just pressing on. I had to keep going. It was like a marathon. We finally got home at 1am. And then Jason and I couldn't sleep. We actually watched TV until 3am. Jason had the next two days off work which was a good close to the vacation.

I know this sounds like a pretty boring vacation, but really it was just simple and relaxing. That was the plan. There's not a lot to do with two young children. The beach was beautiful. The hotel was great. We had a variety of things to do and eat. We were never stuck anywhere for very long. The weather was practically perfect the whole time. The kids were very well behaved and handled the drive well. We were all healthy and no one got hurt or lost or sick or burnt (other than the diaper rash). We came in under budget. I'm very pleased with the whole thing. We'll have pictures next week and I'll try to make an album.