Joe & I were also ready for vacation. Joe just finished a few weeks of football camps and I, of course, just wanted a change of pace - looking forward to seeing family and being all together.
Packing was on my mind a lot in the month of June. In my blog readings, I always see tips for packing and traveling and it makes me think that I have to have it down to an art by the time I'm done with it all. Somehow, I always feel I've done an inadequate job - but thinking about it now, I don't think I forgot anything or could have done better. Well, perhaps I could have packed less clothes since we had a washer/dryer available to us when needed.
We ended up leaving on a Sunday morning after an early Mass. The trip was going smoothly until Joe was getting a little tired and asked me to drive while he napped a little bit. We were probably somewhere in South Carolina at the time when I took over and once I started driving, the dark clouds started coming in and the wind started picking up. It looked like it was going to be a doozy! The rain started pouring down, the cars started slowing down until the hail started to pound the glass. I thought the windows were going to crack! Cars started hiding under the overpasses. Joe's nap didn't last long at all - I was driving all of 15 minutes when he told me to pull over so he could start driving again. Joe drove through all the torrential weather that came at us until we had driven out of it. It was pretty exciting and at the same time a bit scary.
We had planned on making the drive down to Tampa in two days. We decided to stop for the evening somewhere in Georgia (I think). We got a hotel room, but didn't even unload the car and went straight to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse! It was such a nice dinner! The kids ate well and behaved and just being out of the car and being together was fun. As we left the restaurant we could see another storm had started. What looked like rain blowing in an angle was really dirt flying at an angle. There was a major dust storm outside and my kids were just frozen in one spot on the way to car because they couldn't open their eyes. Carrying them to the car and closing the door to watch another storm come we noticed the power had just went out in the restaurant. Those poor people eating in the dark! The storm was just as fierce as the prior one, perhaps more wind this time! Our hotel lost power and so we decided to just get our refund and go somewhere else. We decided to just keep driving to Tampa - we'd get there around 2 am. With Joe behind the wheel, the kids and I asleep and many cans of diet Mountain Dew later, we arrived...safely.
We had plans to go visit the Aquarium and the Children's Museum in Tampa, they were right near each other!
We had done it before, but I think I only had Anne at the time and she was about 3 years old or so?
After the aquarium, we hit Tampa's new Children's Museum. Joy met up with us at this point, she works nearby. There was such a long line around the block since it was Target Tuesday or something like that where admission was only $2! The line wasn't slow moving so we decided to stay. They were giving out Chipotle coupons to people in line (I just remembered them as I am writing this and better use them soon) perhaps, they felt bad for the long line and the heat!
Here's Bernadette patiently waiting in the heat in her stroller. It was very crowded inside, but the kids still had fun nonetheless!
After a couple of hours of counting my kids and finding them all in the midst of crowds, we left the building and headed to the park area near the Bay. They were having a Fitness day of some sort where there were a bunch of outdoor toys to play with. There were also those water fountains kids could play in to cool off in!
I sat in a puddle of water taking these pictures - ick.
Out near the railings is where you could see Tampa Bay - Joe & Patrick saw dolphin!
The kids had a lot of fun! We went back to Joy's house to wash up, enjoyed a taco night dinner and time to relax and hang out.
The next day was the 4th of July. We started the day out at the Lowry Park Zoo.
Prior to the trip, I took the kids to the mall and told them they would need sunglasses for the trip since it's just so sunny in Florida. They had so many to choose from - this is what they chose. I love Patrick's aviator glasses and Bernadettes pink sparkly ones! Eddie is so into green these days I'm not surprised with his choice. What a cute group! However, during the course of the visit to the zoo, the glasses slowly all ended up in the stroller. Hmph.
We really enjoyed Tampa's zoo. We always enjoy ourselves and the kids already know so much about animals. I love it when the kids get to experience and touch the animals up close!
There was a little train ride that was free to ride. I didn't really think about it too much since my kids are older, but had to remember that Bernadette and Eddie would still have a lot of fun on them so we all went on it.
I don't think you're ever too old. We're a happy bunch, aren't we?
Choo, choo!
I don't remember if this owl was at the aquarium or the zoo?
This was probably the best part of the zoo, besides the fresh, large lemonade my sister bought me by surprise (YUM!). Those giraffes are so much larger face to face, so gentle at the same time. That tounge is impressive! It's just like an elephant's trunk - it acts like a hand. It curls up and can grab food with it and return it to it's mouth!
I love Eddie's expression here. I wonder what the giraffe was thinking?
It was a fun day! We ended up getting a quick dinner at home after the zoo and then headed off to Idlewild Baptist Church's Fireworks. The rain was questionable, but it didn't get in the way at all. I don't think I ever remember a rained out 4th of July in my life. This place had over 50 food trucks serving food, tons of bouncy inflateable rides (long lines, only did one but it was fun!), live music and a car show full of antique cars. I didn't bother taking pictures of this because the lighting was just too dark and filming made more sense, but it was really a neat evening!
The next day we were off to get ready for our trip down to Ave Maria, FL where my parents are. I'll post more later about that part of the trip!
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