From a personal perspective, it’s hectic. Anna, Jack and I all have birthdays in
March. And so do a grandma, two uncles
and five cousins. Many of my friends
have birthdays in March and my in-law’s anniversary is in March. It just never seems to end. It just keeps going on and on.
How many weeks left?
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| Part of where the in-laws live |
We spent February vacation in Naples, Florida, with my
in-laws. They bought a house in a
retirement community. It’s a nice little
place. It’s got two bed, two bath, a
large living area and three outdoor patio spaces. They have a pool in the complex. It was a nice trip. They’ve been going down
there and renting a place for the past few winters, but they bought this place
last year. They just seem healthier
after a winter in sunny warm Naples.
We had initially planned on flying, but had not acted
promptly enough to find a decent flight.
We couldn’t find airfare for less than $1800. Our first thought was to cancel the trip, but
then decided that we would drive down.
My in-laws then bought us fare on the Auto Train.
We generally liked the experience of the Auto Train, but I’m
not sure we would do it again. Actually,
that’s not true. I KNOW I wouldn’t do it
again.
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| Anna playing at a park in Williamsburg |
We left Massachusetts on that Friday night that the kids and
I got out of school. We drove to John’s
sister’s house in Williamsburg, Virginia, arriving at about 7 a.m. We spent a good day and evening there and
then headed out the next day.
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| Jack and John ready to go! |
The train left Lorton, Virginia, at about 3:30 on Sunday and
arrived in Orlando around 8:30 the following morning. The train, itself, was nice and for the
most part, the experience was pleasant.
There was one family on board the train who was miserable, but everyone
else was nice. The crew was
attentive. The food was actually
good. We lucked out and got an early
meal time. Our seats were spacious and
our kids were reasonably well behaved.
They weren’t bad at all. The
problem was that neither John nor I slept for more than 60 consecutive minutes
on the train. Jack passed right out at
night. It took Anna a while, but when
she did fall asleep, she was out. John
and I just couldn’t do it. We even
swapped seats to try and see if we could get comfortable in the other’s spots. By the time we got to Orlando, John and I
were exhausted.
It was a four or so hour drive from there to Naples. We made a pit stop at a Dunkin’ Donuts. The kids changed from their sweatshirts into
t-shirts in the parking lot. And Dunks
screwed up my coffee. I guess that it
was part of being so far from New England.
We were all excited about our trip.
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| Jack and Grandma on the porch |
By the time we arrived in Naples, it was in the
afternoon. The kids had time to explore
our new digs and the pool. They were
happy as clams. Anna’s one and only
meltdown came that night, but no one can really blame her. She was in bed by six or so that night and I
don’t think the rest of us were far behind.
The next day we just hung out. We
found Jack’s favorite restaurant in Naples, called the Clock. We also visited the pool and then Naples
Pier.
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| Anna @ Big Cypress |
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| He wasn't the biggest we saw |
Another of John’s sisters and her son arrived late that
night and the following day, we went into the Everglades to Big Cypress
National Park to check out some alligators.
The kids had a blast. We stopped
at this cute little restaurant right on the water in Everglades City. The food was delicious, even the fried gator
bites that Jack loved.
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| Jack eating 'gator after seeing 'gator |
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| Anna, me and Jennie P. |
That night, John, the kids and I went out to eat with a
friend of mine. This was a really
special event because I hadn’t seen Jennie in nearly 20 years. One of the reasons I’d like to go back next
year is to see Jennie again.
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| our camel ride |
On Thursday, John and I took the kids, including our nephew,
to the Naples Zoo. It’s a nice little
zoo, but there were three highlights.
The zoo houses it’s primates on little islands in the center of a little
pond. You take a boat ride around the
islands. That was pretty cool. There was also the opportunity to feed
giraffes and to ride a camel. That was
pretty cool. Then we went back to the
pool because it was HOT!
On Friday, John and I brought all three kids to the
beach. It was a lot of fun. First of all there was that novelty of going
to the beach in February, but then there was joy in the fact that it was just a
nice beach. We built sand castles,
played in the waves, and watched as Anna nearly got eaten by a pelican. We ended our beach time by sitting around and
collecting beach shells.
On Saturday, we began the long drive home. We made it to Georgia by about 5:30 that
night. We stopped to eat at Ruby Tuesday
in Darien, Georgia. If you ever find
yourself in Darien, Georgia, I highly recommend not eating there. The best part of Darien, Georgia, is the
outlet mall. It’s actually kind of sad,
to be honest. A lot of the stores were
close. But the Coach store was having an
amazing sale. John got me a couple of
early birthday presents. I’m a lucky
girl.
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| Pit Stop on the way home |
We ended up getting ice cream and going back to the
hotel. We were on the road the following
morning around 8. We drove straight
through to home, getting here around 2:30 Monday morning. It was a long drive, but the kids were
wonderful. They handled the trip so
well, way better than John and I had thought. Kind of made the idea of road
trips not so daunting.
We all came back tan…at least the kids and I did. The kids were thrilled and loved just about
every minute of the trip. I loved it too
and wouldn’t mind going back next year.
My in-laws were happy to see us and they were happy to have time with
the kids. And it was nice to be together
as a family. We all get so wrapped up in
what we’re doing when we’re at home that we don’t really spend time
together. The time we do spend together
isn’t really together because all four of us have our own agendas. I like when we’re away from home
together. We just click. We have so much fun with the four of us. We all just go together. I guess it’s a good thing we’re family.
We’re planning on going back next year. If we do, this is what I would like to
do: spend more time at the beach (we had
such a good time there); spend a little time on Fifth Avenue; and maybe go
check out the new training facilities for the Red Sox in Fort Myers (or just go
back to the beach).
I have had a lot of fun reliving my February vacation that I
don’t want to spend any time documenting the long, drawn out shit that’s going
on in March. I think I’ll just end here
on my own personal high note.
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