#5 - check!

Summer Checklist item #5 - take a family mini vacation to the other coast completed. Three days in Fort Lauderdale, just the four of us, just for fun.

So I read this blog, Enjoying the Small Things (link at bottom). And Kelle, the writer, has an amazing way with words. And she sees things through rose colored glasses, all.the.time. I am not her. I will never be that girl. But she has inspired me to be more positive. To look at the bright side and seek out the good times with family and friends even amid the monotony that sometimes becomes daily life...or the trips that just don't go the way you planned.

Or didn't plan. Which is what happened. I ALWAYS have a plan. And this time I didn't. And it will never happen again. Because instead of having a list of things to do, places to do those things, directions, times, etc...we spent a lot of time figuring out what to do and where to do it and arguing about it in between. But...if I look back on the weekend it was still a good break from normal and good family times.

Friday we got there at lunch time and checked into our hotel, then due to stormy weather took off for Sawgrass Mills (gigantic mall). It was crazy. Totally packed with people who had no qualms about pushing by you or grabbing whatever they wanted whenever they wanted no matter whether they had to do it over you or not. And we may have been in an English speaking minority. For dinner we checked out this little place called 17th Street Grill that had the most amazing sweet potato fries EVER! A late night swim and some games in our hotel room rounded out the night.

Saturday the sun was shining so we headed out for the beach, armed with boogie boards, for some east coast waves. But when we got there...well the waves were not there. But the kids enjoyed attempting to catch little fish that swam around their feet and I enjoyed some time in the sun.

This picture is not the best I have taken but it IS funny. But more importantly - proof that I went on this vacation too. See, in the right lens, girl with camera = me! Might have forgotten to give the camera to Todd over the weekend...

We decided to leave the beach in an attempt to find a place to rent kayaks but by the time we finally found it the storms were rolling in and between that and the cost being double what it is over here we decided to check out the Discovery and Science Center. It was a lot like our MOSI but the kids enjoyed it. And Grandpa Doug would be proud - they got try various flight simulators. One of the coolest things was actually outside the building. A clock based on gravity but it looked like a giant marble run.

That night we went to see the Smurfs 3D, ordered pizza afterwards and played cards. Sunday morning we enjoyed the hotel grounds, swimming and checking out the huge koi pond before we got back on the road.