About 6 months ago my boss asked me to attend a conference in Boca Raton, Florida. I really didn't need much convincing! But...I've not spent the night away from Rory and I didn't want the first time to be 1000 miles away. So, Josh and Rory came with me!
The first 3 days we spent in Boca (although I was at the conference so I saw very little). Then we spent the following week in Ft. Myers. Josh's grandparents have a condo there and they have graciously allowed us to stay there whenever. We jokingly call it our "Florida home."
This trip held many "firsts" for us...but mostly because of Rory. This was his first time on an airplane and he did a GREAT job! It helped that the flight attendant kept passing us ginger cookies. I came prepared with plenty of snacks and new activities, books, markers, crayons, etc that were brand new. It was also a huge plus that our car seat fit on the seat. I had originally checked the specs and it didn't look like it would fit. I had planned to check it at the gate but they let us test it to see. For Rory, it was a huge help. He is used to being in his seat for about 2 hours when we drive to Cincinnati so this wasn't really any different....except we were miles above the ground! I had spent lots of time praying about this--if we could just get to Florida everything would be OK. God answered my prayer--our trip was smooth, we were all able to sit together and Rory did amazing on the plane.
We had a blast at the beach or the pool everyday. It was a warm 85 degrees and sunny every day. I miss it already! I thought Rory might be intimidated by the ocean but he was not one bit afraid...which only made this mama nervous. He wore a life vest at all times and luckily, life vests have come a long way in design because he didn't mind it at all. By the end of our trip Rory was jumping into the pool, going under the water and trying to swim with his face in the water. He transformed into a fish. It was really neat to see him grow and progress in just one week.
Our trip coincided with Halloween and I figured we could find a nice neighborhood to trick-or-treat at once we got there. The condo complex we stayed in was mostly retirees with no kids so that tripped my plan up just a bit. Not sure why I didn't think of this but the church we visited on Sunday was hosting "Trunk or Treat" on the 31st so we headed there. Rory was Charlie Brown last year but the shirt still fit and it packed easily. The event was very fun and about 25 cars which was perfect for us!
One of our favorite spots is Captiva and Sanibel island. Lots of great places to find shells, beautiful landscaping, lots of green space and my favorite place for key lime pie. We drove through the Darling Wildlife Refuge--Rory slept through half of it but we saw some of God's amazing creation--both landscape and wildlife!
A first for me, was getting up from a restaurant before we ate---and it's not because of a spirited toddler or bad service. I had been looking forward to eating at The Bubble Room. I should have known to eat there for lunch and not dinner because the dinner prices were quite....pricey. I wouldn't have minded paying for it if there were things on the menu that we liked but the majority of it was seafood--which I'm not a huge fan of. So, as embarrassing as it was--we left. I did still leave a tip--to cover our water and place settings. I'm not sure what is "proper etiquette" in that situation--well, probably not getting up at all but oh well.
Instead we went across the street to the Key Lime Bistro--it's one of my favorite places to get key lime pie. This is the only cutie that I'll share my key lime pie with!
The one thing Rory wanted to do was go on a boat. We had reservations to sail on a pirate ship. It was designed for kids with snacks and activities. However, since we were visiting on the off-season it kept getting canceled. Our other options were a private charter which was very expensive or longer hours for a sunset or dolphin cruise. With it being our first time on a boat I wasn't sure if Rory would handle being out for more than an hour or so. We stopped to inquire at one location about cruises and walked out to see the boats...the same time a fishing charter returned. This guy had a huge fish...and I said, "Oh, look Rory--how big that fish is!"---within seconds of us looking, the guy slapped the fish up on a board and started filleting. Whoops! That was a traumatic event (at least for me and Rory) so we decided maybe a boat just wasn't in our lineup. In the end, Rory decided that he liked putt-putt better than a boat....so, we hit up all 3 of Ft. Myer's courses.
We also tried the go-kart track with Rory and Josh in one car and I was in the other. A couple of younger boys rammed into Josh and Rory, which scared Rory, he screamed, cried and they were done. So, I did what any mama bear would do--I let the troublemakers lap me, rammed their car and gave them the evil eye. Maybe not mature, but.....anyway, we opted for some arcade games instead. :)
All in all we had such a wonderful vacation!! It was so nice to have time together and not worry about work schedules--we could just be.
1 comment:
so glad you guys had a great time!
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