Tampa- May 2012

Holy Moly! It's been a whole month since my last post! I'm just going to start with the most recent thing since it was a big event and will most likely be a very long post and I'll come back for a couple random posts later...

So, we went to Tampa! Or, Riverview, really, but in the "Tampa area". It's like saying we live in Nashville, but we really live 30 miles south of Nashville. So, for the sake of this post, I'll say we were in Tampa. Anyway, at the end of March, my dad called to say that he and Chris would be going to visit our family friends, The Ohman's, in May and did we want to fly in for a few days to hang out. After checking my planner, I called back to say we were IN! I booked the tickets, lined up the pet sitter, and packed & repacked over and over in my head. Before I knew it, we were at the Nashville airport on our way to Tampa! I think I did pretty well packing two kids and two adults into two suitcases. Though, it looked like we had a LOT more stuff because we were also taking two pack-n-plays and two car seats with us. So, six total items to check. PLUS, the stroller that we used in the airport and gate checked. So, I guess it didn't just LOOK like we had a bunch of stuff... we really did have a bunch of stuff!

The kids did pretty well on the flight down. Keith is a bit of a nervous flyer so he totally checks out during take-off and landing, but Etta is a seasoned pro and Daniel only got a little fussy as he was fighting a nap. He eventually passed out and the rest of the flight went without incident.

When we arrived, we headed to baggage claim and I was just asking Keith how he thought we were going to get ALL of our stuff to the curb for pick-up when we were rushed by a crowd of people with arms outstretched and lips full of kisses! Yay! The cavalry! They had to bring two cars so they could all come to the airport to greet us, but I'm so glad they did! It was an unexpected, sweet, happy moment.

We stopped on the way "home" for lunch at Ruby Tuesday. This was a bit of a non-event. No photos, but (besides mentioning it as our first chance to sit and visit), I wanted to add this little part of the trip because Keith and I learned the most amazing thing about Ruby Tuesday! They offer BOTTOMLESS fries! Haha. When we go out to eat with Etta, she generally eats nothing but french fries. So, we order a side of fries that always cost about $3 (give or take) and while three bucks isn't that much, the fact that we could just give her the fries off of our plate and know that more would come was so awesome! Not to mention that we could also bring her a pile of shredded cheese from the salad bar. Ruby Tuesday is now our new favorite place to eat! It was a good lunch!
After lunch, we went to their house and just sort of hung out and visited for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Joan and Ed went out of their way to make sure there were child locks on the kitchen cabinets, baby gates in doorways to the "no no rooms", and that breakables were picked up. They have this GREAT screened-in patio out back and we spent a lot of time out there! It was really such a comfortable visit!

Also, that evening, Aunt Joan broke out some old home videos. I have NEVER seen videos of myself as a kid. My mom says she left them with my dad and my dad has no idea. They just got lost in the divorce, I guess. Thankfully, Joanie was there for much of my childhood and she took time to preserve her videos. She lovingly transferred them from betamax to VHS to DVD. One of the videos is from Christmas when I was five and I had received a karaoke machine and would NOT stop singing and would NOT let anyone else have a turn. My favorite part of that video is that the camera panned around to all of dinner guests and my Papa was there and my Grandpa Sweetie and Grandma Trudy. Also, younger versions of the rest of my family including my Nana, my mom & my dad, my sisters, and some aunts and uncles. There were a couple other snippets of video on those DVDs, including my 4th birthday and the first time those old "turtle" racers showed up in our lives. And, as it was Mother's Day weekend, I teared up seeing my mom as a young mother with young children. Small moments like seeing her talking to someone off camera and I knew, as a mother myself, that it was me she was talking to before I even came into view. The last night we were there, Jason burned a copy of those DVDs for me. :)
That night, no one slept. Not much, anyway. Daniel screamed for about an hour and finally went to sleep around 10:00 in my arms, in the recliner in the office. Around 2:00am I heard Etta in the bedroom jumping around and talking. Keith was snoring and I knew I'd have to go in there to get her back to sleep, but I also knew that if I got up, Daniel would get up too and the screaming would likely commence. But, I did it. I got up, got Etta to lay back down, and once again found myself rocking a screaming baby. He finally went to sleep in bed with me around 3:15 and slept till 6:00am. USUALLY Keith gets up with Daniel so I can sleep in on the weekends AND this was Mother's Day, but I didn't want to risk Daniel waking Etta up, so I scooped him up and ran out of the room when it seemed he was up for the day.
Eventually, the whole house was up and we were exchanging Mother's Day cards. The "kids" got me a sweet charm bracelet with a charm for each of them. Then, the two mothers stayed home with the kids while everyone else went kayaking.

It was a pretty laid back morning. I had a chance to call my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day. I recounted some of the videos from the night before and got choked up, and she did too. I felt sorry that I wasn't spending Mother's Day with her, but felt good about our long, mostly undistracted phone call.  Plus, I'll see her in about three weeks when she comes up for Etta's birthday party. Also, my sisters and I went in on a Keurig for her. So, I hope that took the sting out a little. ;)
Everyone got back around noon and I finally got to shower/get dressed for the day around 1:00! My Aunt Diane (dad's sister) lives in the area and she and Walt came over for the afternoon and evening. Also, Joan's sister and a few other friends of the family came over for dinner. It was good to visit with everyone.

Around 8:30 or so, Daniel woke up screaming and I was able to get him back to sleep by laying in bed with him. The next thing I knew, it was dark, I was still fully dressed, make-up on, contacts in and the house was dark and quiet. I feel bad that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to everyone, but apparently I needed the sleep. Daniel and Etta both slept through the night and we were all much more rested the next morning.

On Monday, we went to Coquina Beach in Bradenton. It began as an overcast morning, but the sun eventually came out. Daniel was NOT a fan of having his feet dipped in the water. Etta played in the ocean and on the playground, and she ate a great lunch, and she DID NOT want to leave when it was time to go!

Poor Guy!

I handed the boy off and then walked away, and this is what generally happens:

Beach nap!

Okay. Time to go!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

We spent some more time that afternoon just hanging around the patio.

Tessa

Friends since before we were born!

We went back to the beach on Tuesday. This time we went out to Lido Key in Sarasota. The weather was basically a repeat of the day before. Overcast and cooler when we first got there, but eventually sunny. The water was very calm and perfect for littles.

The beach offered a few perfect seashells and one not-so-perfect bee sting. Yes, I stepped on a DEAD bee and got stung on that soft arch of my right foot. BY A DEAD BEE! Good thing Daniel couldn't understand the words I uttered! We also saw a crane trying his hardest to swallow an enormous fish (that had been thrown back into the water by a fisherman). It was so heavy that the bird kept falling on his face trying to get it down. Gluttonous bird!

 

After the beach, we stopped in at the world famous Hob Nob Drive-In for some really good burgers.

Then, we all napped on the way back home where we spent some more time out on the patio visiting.

The next morning, we woke up early and headed to the airport in Tampa. It was time to say goodbye. :( We took two cars and they helped us get all of our luggage in and then walked us as far as they were allowed to go. In the same spot where we were greeted just a few days before, we were hugging goodbye and talking about making the trip again next year.