Saturday, April 07, 2007
travel log
I know I should have started this right after we got to south florida so that I could remember more details, but I will do the best I can, the night before we leave. Originally we were going to leave today, but record low's in atlanta and snow flurries! made us decide to stay one more day and do the drive all in one day and be rushed when we get back.
We left friday the 30th and spend 2 hours in Atlanta traffic. Along with spring break traffic was the NCAA tourney that was in town. We left at 3pm . We would have been better off getting up at 5am on sat and going straight through. Anyway , we had friends leave the same time as us and they went through downtown and we went around town. Both had tons of traffic but they ended up 45 minutes behind us, so we made the better move. anyway, we got to our hotel in Gainesville, Fl around 10ish. unfortunately all we got was one queen bed. I made a bed on teh floor for jack and Alyssa slept in a recliner. There was NOTHING avail. I had used priceline and not gotten the hotel I thought we would get. I got extended stay instead. The site biddingfortravel.com did not have the ES listed as a potential or I would not have done it. I could upgrade to 2 beds but they had none.
WE got up and left on Sat morning and arrived at my parents around 12:30. We changed and headed straight to the pool. Everyone here is always using the grills and offering food to everyone. My parents happen to know everyone, so my kids got a "free" lunch. Grilled pizza if you can believe. We then ran into the people we met over Xmas. They have a son close to Alyssa's age and another 3 year old. They have a cabana near the pool, so that is always nice. They are also from Long Island and know my close friend's sister. The wife is russian and nice as can be. The kids had a good time at the pool. I cant even remember what we did Sat night at this point. Oh,, we got an early dinner from yet another set of people using the grill. The weather was beautilful of course. As a matter of fact, it did rain this week in S. florida, but only one morning while felix and I were away. FElix and I only saw 5 minutes of rain in PR the entire trip!
Sunday was pool/beach. WE got a cabana by the beach. I did miss a few spots on the kids , but luckiily they only got slightly red. I forgot the top of the feet and got burned there. Crispy around the edges. The kids played with the kids they knew and I even met some other kids for them. The pool /beach was so crowded with weekend crowd and spring breakers. That night we had the movie room to watch Prince of Egypt , considering it was passover and all. I had invited the kids we knew, but at first the mom said they could not make it. We had not figured out dinner so Felix picked up a quick small pizza to bring. then their kids ended up being there and their nanny got upset with us for not offering pizza to their kids. Honestly if they would have asked they could have had mine.. I just never thought, as it was 8pm to offer, and that was wrong. They always offer us food at the pool. I made a major faux pas. I guess I am used to kids asking for what they want. The nanny was really pissed, but then again, if I had known they were coming I would have gotten more pizza. I really thought they bailed on us. Bad bad sandy and we apologized and the next day we brought them wine and some coloring stuff for the kids to apologize.
Speaking of the next day, my mom was busy all day , and we were a bit "crispy", so we went to the big wine store here that felix loves. Also got gas for the car. Then went to this park we once went to before. They have a small playground, but also a big hill with a sorta fort at the top. the kids remembered that park from before. I met a SAHD while there with his young kids. (2,4). Afterwards we stopped for lunch at panera bread co. and made a stop at office max to get a new charger for the laptop as we had forgotten ours . We figure that a universal laptop charger is not a bad investment anyway. We then went up to boomers, which is a mini amusement park. It has a big building of video games (aka dave and busters ) as well as some rides. They are good about height requirements here, so the kids to do the tea cups,, the swings, and most importantly, the bumper boats, on their own. They also got to play mini golf. Alyssa did not want to do the rollercoaster and I did not push it. They also have an awesome gocart course. Alyssa was tall enuf to do it on her own, but prefered that I drive. Jack and felix went together. That was fun!
WE got back around 3ish and I took the kids to the pool while Felix helped my mom prepare passover. Her sister was coming around 6ish we thought. ended up she was here around 5. I came up with the kids and they were here. I had to shower the kids and myself and get them ready pretty fast.
the sedar went pretty well. Jack was charming as usual. I love that he asked the 4 questions and when the question came "why do we recline" , he made a comment about how we were not doing that :). After the sedar I had to a quick run to walgreens before we left for san Juan, PR, here on out called PR for short, at 5am. My father offered to drive us to the airport and leave our car behind. Our flight was at 6:40.. Of course I accidentally put one sunscreen in the carry on, which had to be thrown out. Luckily it was from the 1$ store. That is my favorite sunblock, believe it or not. It goes on so smoothly. I will write about our trip to PR in another entry, another day. Meanwhile back at the ranch here, the kids had $$$ to spend from finding the missing matzah. My parents took them to target and Jack got some type of remote control snake and alyssa got that password diary she wanted. My parents also got them some clothes. Alyssa some capri's, and Jack some boxers, a new bathing suit, and a pair of shorts. Also while gone they went to ft lauderdale and took the boat . AFterwards they went to this famous Ice cream place called Jacksons, where the ice cream could feed a small army. THey also got pool and beach time. THe target run on tuesday, the other stuff wed. Thursday my mom had stuff to do in the morning , so my dad took them to beach. While we were gone they were properly sunblocked, unlike when their mommy did it and missed a spot or two. I know that friday while we were gone, it rained in teh AM and they just hung out. Unfortunately the kids did something to my mom's wireless mouse, so webkinz became off limits. That took one less activity away, but they have the old non networked pc with games. They have those beads that they like, an art kit, some games,, and also other toys. So the kids had plenty to occupy themselves. While we were gone we decided that we would stay the whole day Sat (today) as not to be rushed and to miss the weather.
today was cooler , but still in the 70's. The good news is that the girls that alyssa met in Dec were back from their break (they went away with their mother) and alyssa had a blast with them at the pool. Jack , in his own words "picked up some hot girls". No kidding on that statement. He met some 16 year olds. He cracks me up at times! The pool was cool so all the kids wanted to be in the not so hot hottub. It was crazy. I read a book most of the day. Right now Alyssa is with the girls having a playdate. She really likes these girls and was upset that all week they were gone until today. She played with some other younger kids (aka jack's age) while were gone from what I understand.
Well time to go..
So coming soon, our Trip to PR....
We left friday the 30th and spend 2 hours in Atlanta traffic. Along with spring break traffic was the NCAA tourney that was in town. We left at 3pm . We would have been better off getting up at 5am on sat and going straight through. Anyway , we had friends leave the same time as us and they went through downtown and we went around town. Both had tons of traffic but they ended up 45 minutes behind us, so we made the better move. anyway, we got to our hotel in Gainesville, Fl around 10ish. unfortunately all we got was one queen bed. I made a bed on teh floor for jack and Alyssa slept in a recliner. There was NOTHING avail. I had used priceline and not gotten the hotel I thought we would get. I got extended stay instead. The site biddingfortravel.com did not have the ES listed as a potential or I would not have done it. I could upgrade to 2 beds but they had none.
WE got up and left on Sat morning and arrived at my parents around 12:30. We changed and headed straight to the pool. Everyone here is always using the grills and offering food to everyone. My parents happen to know everyone, so my kids got a "free" lunch. Grilled pizza if you can believe. We then ran into the people we met over Xmas. They have a son close to Alyssa's age and another 3 year old. They have a cabana near the pool, so that is always nice. They are also from Long Island and know my close friend's sister. The wife is russian and nice as can be. The kids had a good time at the pool. I cant even remember what we did Sat night at this point. Oh,, we got an early dinner from yet another set of people using the grill. The weather was beautilful of course. As a matter of fact, it did rain this week in S. florida, but only one morning while felix and I were away. FElix and I only saw 5 minutes of rain in PR the entire trip!
Sunday was pool/beach. WE got a cabana by the beach. I did miss a few spots on the kids , but luckiily they only got slightly red. I forgot the top of the feet and got burned there. Crispy around the edges. The kids played with the kids they knew and I even met some other kids for them. The pool /beach was so crowded with weekend crowd and spring breakers. That night we had the movie room to watch Prince of Egypt , considering it was passover and all. I had invited the kids we knew, but at first the mom said they could not make it. We had not figured out dinner so Felix picked up a quick small pizza to bring. then their kids ended up being there and their nanny got upset with us for not offering pizza to their kids. Honestly if they would have asked they could have had mine.. I just never thought, as it was 8pm to offer, and that was wrong. They always offer us food at the pool. I made a major faux pas. I guess I am used to kids asking for what they want. The nanny was really pissed, but then again, if I had known they were coming I would have gotten more pizza. I really thought they bailed on us. Bad bad sandy and we apologized and the next day we brought them wine and some coloring stuff for the kids to apologize.
Speaking of the next day, my mom was busy all day , and we were a bit "crispy", so we went to the big wine store here that felix loves. Also got gas for the car. Then went to this park we once went to before. They have a small playground, but also a big hill with a sorta fort at the top. the kids remembered that park from before. I met a SAHD while there with his young kids. (2,4). Afterwards we stopped for lunch at panera bread co. and made a stop at office max to get a new charger for the laptop as we had forgotten ours . We figure that a universal laptop charger is not a bad investment anyway. We then went up to boomers, which is a mini amusement park. It has a big building of video games (aka dave and busters ) as well as some rides. They are good about height requirements here, so the kids to do the tea cups,, the swings, and most importantly, the bumper boats, on their own. They also got to play mini golf. Alyssa did not want to do the rollercoaster and I did not push it. They also have an awesome gocart course. Alyssa was tall enuf to do it on her own, but prefered that I drive. Jack and felix went together. That was fun!
WE got back around 3ish and I took the kids to the pool while Felix helped my mom prepare passover. Her sister was coming around 6ish we thought. ended up she was here around 5. I came up with the kids and they were here. I had to shower the kids and myself and get them ready pretty fast.
the sedar went pretty well. Jack was charming as usual. I love that he asked the 4 questions and when the question came "why do we recline" , he made a comment about how we were not doing that :). After the sedar I had to a quick run to walgreens before we left for san Juan, PR, here on out called PR for short, at 5am. My father offered to drive us to the airport and leave our car behind. Our flight was at 6:40.. Of course I accidentally put one sunscreen in the carry on, which had to be thrown out. Luckily it was from the 1$ store. That is my favorite sunblock, believe it or not. It goes on so smoothly. I will write about our trip to PR in another entry, another day. Meanwhile back at the ranch here, the kids had $$$ to spend from finding the missing matzah. My parents took them to target and Jack got some type of remote control snake and alyssa got that password diary she wanted. My parents also got them some clothes. Alyssa some capri's, and Jack some boxers, a new bathing suit, and a pair of shorts. Also while gone they went to ft lauderdale and took the boat . AFterwards they went to this famous Ice cream place called Jacksons, where the ice cream could feed a small army. THey also got pool and beach time. THe target run on tuesday, the other stuff wed. Thursday my mom had stuff to do in the morning , so my dad took them to beach. While we were gone they were properly sunblocked, unlike when their mommy did it and missed a spot or two. I know that friday while we were gone, it rained in teh AM and they just hung out. Unfortunately the kids did something to my mom's wireless mouse, so webkinz became off limits. That took one less activity away, but they have the old non networked pc with games. They have those beads that they like, an art kit, some games,, and also other toys. So the kids had plenty to occupy themselves. While we were gone we decided that we would stay the whole day Sat (today) as not to be rushed and to miss the weather.
today was cooler , but still in the 70's. The good news is that the girls that alyssa met in Dec were back from their break (they went away with their mother) and alyssa had a blast with them at the pool. Jack , in his own words "picked up some hot girls". No kidding on that statement. He met some 16 year olds. He cracks me up at times! The pool was cool so all the kids wanted to be in the not so hot hottub. It was crazy. I read a book most of the day. Right now Alyssa is with the girls having a playdate. She really likes these girls and was upset that all week they were gone until today. She played with some other younger kids (aka jack's age) while were gone from what I understand.
Well time to go..
So coming soon, our Trip to PR....
# posted by sandy @ 6:11 PM 
