It’s 8:52 pm. I’m sitting on the couch with my laptop while the kids are watching Super Wings on my iPad. We are in the condo in Florida. We drove down last Saturday, August 10th. We started down at 8:30 am in the morning, and I remembered I left my keys to the condo shortly after we left. Oh well. We stopped for pee at a rest stop, then lunch in Florence, SC at the same Which Which we had visited several years ago. The kids had these rolls of cheese wrapped around meat, along with a couple carrots and apples. It wasn’t that good a lunch for them. Keira got a milkshake and they definitely enjoyed eating that. I had a black bean patty with avocado.
We stopped for dinner in Jacksonville. Got to the restaurant just as it started pouring rain. The place was called Hawker’s Asian street food. It was a 25 minute wait at 5:25 pm. Crazy. So we ran down the street to a Ramen restaurant. It was ok. We had tonkatsu, pork bone broth with some fatty pork and noodles. Harvey had fried chicken pieces and Alexandra had pork fat buns. We stopped at Publix and picked up supplies on the way to the condo.
We got down to the condo around 8 pm and of course it was locked, even though I had called up that morning to ask them to leave the door open. Oh well. We didn’t have to wait long for a guy to come open it up, maybe 15 min.
The next morning Keira got up at 6:30 am to see the sunrise. I went with her. We tried to take pictures but the camera got all clouded up because of the humidity. We had breakfast and took the kids out to the beach a bit later. It was SUPER hot. We didn’t stay out that long. We thought Christa and Carrie were going to come around 10 am, but Christa slept in. So, they came down around 2:20 pm or so, meeting us at the Washington Oaks. We were hanging out in the air-conditioned visitor center. Just too hot and humid to be outside for very long, even though we liked to look at the living oak trees. Now I remember turtle! We saw a big turtle crossing the road as we drove in. I grabbed and showed it to the kids in the back seat. The really wanted the turtle, so we parked and ran back before the turtle could run away. I grabbed it and put it in the shade so the kids could run after it for awhile before it escaped into the woods.
We left Washington oaks not long after Christa, Carrie, and Ken arrived. We chatted in the condo’s living room with the kids providing some entertainment. It was fun to see them and catch up. They headed out shortly before dinner.
After dinner we took the kids out to the pool and then the beach to play with the sand and whatnot. It was much better since it was all shady. We didn’t hang out in the pool too long. We have a pool at home. On the beach Alexandra got into the pools left by the ocean on the beach and liked to run away from the surf coming up on the beach. Harvey enjoyed pushing his truck around in the sand.
Today Keira went to see the sunrise again, got some better pictures. I slept in. We then went out to boogie board in the morning. It was really fun, but Keira had trouble catching a wave on her small, crappy kickboard. I traded with her. The crappy kickboard was useless.
We took the kids to the alligator farm in the morning, getting back to the condo around 1pm. At first the kids were not happy at the farm since it was so hot. But eventually they got used to it and started running around exploring. After we watched them feed the alligators some pellets and rats, it was time to head out through the gift shop. Alexandra had to have this blue and green snake, so I paid the $15 and we headed back home.
Lunch at home was salad and spaghetti for the second day in a row. Alexandra loved to put the snake with the blow-up swan. She is very entertained by those animals. Today we could get the kids to nap. Alexandra slept with grandma, Harvey slept with me for an hour. Then I got up to do some work with Harvey still sleeping. I worked on emails and Nanoscale for an hour and half before Alexandra woke up. We played for a bit, then Harvey woke up too, quite cranky. Dinner was ready – salmon, baked chicken, broccoli, and some fried potatoes with carrots. And sweet potatoes! The kids love sweet potatoes. Harvey said “Sweet Potato” very clearly for the first time.
After dinner we went straight to the beach. I dug a big hole with Harvey to chase after a crab, but no luck. Then I modified the hole so the ocean would flow in. Alexandra walked with grandma back and forth to the ocean, running away from the surf. She did the same with Keira then me. I held Harvey’s and Alexandra’s hands as they tried to stay upright in the surf with some success. Seems they are not afraid of the ocean anymore. When Alexandra first came to the beach here, she wouldn’t stop crying, and wouldn’t go anywhere near the surf. Now she loves it. Harvey was not as scared, but he was pretty content to push his truck through the sand.
(The picture gallery below has photos in reverse chronological order)
Good blog today Ben. Glad your family is having a good time in Florida. I tried living there the summer of 1975. I drove my 1954 ford black (with red mural) panel truck down there on a whim after visiting my cousins in NYC. Stayed with sister Linna and got fired from printing type setter job. it rained frequently and I got very tan walking the beach looking for shark teeth (never found) envying the fat guys with beautiful women. I decorated interior of truck with white shells from the beach. On way home broke down in Georgia and blew the engine going up Mt Peter in NY. More to that story some day.
Got in from visit to ND yesterday morning, went to work, boot camp and mowed the lawn.