TW is always trying to convince me that we need to take a vacation to Oregon and I always ignore her, laugh at her or glare at her. I’m not interested. Powells or no Powells. This morning, I’ve changed my mind – thanks to Naked Jen.
Nobody ever told me they have Flamingos there. Why didn’t TW mention that in the first place? Next year, I’m there!
Daily Dose of Travel, Oregon & Flamingos Read More »
TW and I have a lot of work to do around the house this summer. We have a very long list of of things to accomplish before the small kids come home and before school starts for the year. We’ve made some decent progress, not great but decent. If we keep going in this manner, we can get most of it done – I think. This makes me really happy. I really want these things done. And yet…
Here I am thinking about dragging TW (and maybe even Michelle) off to the beach for the weekend or maybe even just the day. It would be good. Nice. Relaxing. Interesting. Warm. Gorgeous. Fun.
We could go just for the day to Anastasia State Park. The beach there is very, very nice. Clean and not crowded. Lifeguards and plenty of good facilities available. Parking is not a problem. We could just go in the opposite direction, to the Gulf. Cedar Key is less than an hour away. Tiny little beach or I could drag them onto a boat to an island. We’ve always wanted to do it, but never have. Michelle would prefer Daytona or Crescent and both would be good. People watching in both places is something TW and I enjoy very much.
Or maybe a totally new for us beach, I’m surfing the options, it makes for a nice lunchbreak diversion.
The beach is calling… but so is the list of things to do around the house. Which will win?
Daily Dose of Travel – The Beach Read More »
The little kids enjoyed our trip to St Augustine last year and asked many times to go back. Even after their fascination with the Ripley’s Believe it Or Not Museum was somehow squashed (wonder how that happened) they still asked to go back. So, I put it on my list of 101 things and when we were looking for small trips to take them on in June, I booked a room.
So about that room. I strayed from the old reliables and booked us at a Sleep Inn on A1A. I did this because the room I wanted wasn’t available and I really did want to stay on the beach side of St Augustine because the majority of things we wanted to do are on that side of the Lion’s Bridge. The room was surprisingly nice. Not huge but not the smallest room we’ve stayed in. Free wireless internet. A decent continental breakfast. TLC! A tiny little heated pool that was way too heated and a tiny little hot tub that was broken the first day but repaired on day 2. Surprisingly quiet and clean. The only problem – no bathtub, just an interesting shower. For the money, I can’t complain.
Day 1…
First stop, the lighthouse. We walked all of the way to the top. The kids enjoyed it, even Prince J. RJ wanted to talk a lot about dropping things from the top and wondering if you’d get arrested for "accidentally" dropping something from the top. E just wanted to turn around and go right back down as soon as we got to the top. She didn’t understand "enjoying the view" and "giving legs a few minutes to recover".
Second stop, the Alligator Farm! TW could not believe it when I pulled in there. She thought I had been joking when I mentioned it. heh. No joke, I thought the kids would like it and it was close to the lighthouse and a good place to SIT DOWN and get some drinks into our overheated bodies. Yea, it’s a little expensive but it was also interesting and the kids liked it. Hearing E say "look at the cutie!!!" while pointing at gators is a little weird though. Lots of birds, both she and RJ like birds. Prince J, not so interested in anything at all – except the caiman. Touching one in South America made him an expert and that’s all he was interested in – being the expert. He was less "expert like" in that annoying way he sometimes has after I reminded him that he wasn’t the only one who had experienced such things and I did know a wee bit about the species. Having a discussion with him is good, being lectured by him is not.
Next stop, a drive past the PRIDE festival with the picketing people. (Public Service Message – I don’t mind protesters at all. More power to you folks. Hold those signs, stand up for what you believe in, that’s what is right with this country. The only problem I have is when you stand your 10 year old son out there with a sign that says "AIDS – doing the job the government should do". You can’t tell me that your 10 year old son understands what he’s saying. You can’t tell me he isn’t simply spouting your rhetoric. Leave your kid at home, until he’s old enough to decide for himself what he believes in.) We found a parking place downtown and walked to St George Street in search of the Greek Landing Festival at the Greek Shrine, where we planned to have lunch. It was surprisingly difficult to find. If TW hadn’t noticed the big blue banners, I’d have walked right past it. We picked out a ton of Greek food but somehow ended up with very little vegetarian so I wandered around St George Street while the rest of them ate. People watching is better than eating anyway.
Next up, Potter’s Wax Museum. We’re full of corny old fashioned fun, aren’t we?! Air conditioning is good. Wax figures, weird and a lot less scarey when you’re 40 than when you are 10. Or maybe it’s that they aren’t at all scarey in this century but last century, they were? The little kids were not scared and only slightly interested in the wax figures. Prince J says Washington looked too tall. None of them could pick out our President. Cleopatra wasn’t very pretty. Pretty boring commentary.
We stopped for ice cream and coffee on the way back and had dinner at Cafe Eleven, which I’ve blogged about before (FYI, Prince J ordered spinach ravioli and barely touched it – he ate too much of my appetizer. If you ever find yourself at Cafe Eleven, order the spinach ravioli. It was really very good.) After dinner, a round of miniature golf at Fiesta Falls . Fun stuff, if you avoid getting hit by a golf club when RJ swings. Scary.
Day 2…
Breakfast at the Gypsy Cab Company. Very good, huge servings, interesting building and waitresses. Eggs Benedict was a hit. Baked Ziti, also a hit. Omelettes and home fries, a hit.
Next stop, Anastasia State Park. Great park. Very nice and uncrowded beach (with lifeguards!). Clean beach shop and picnic area. Clean bathrooms. Good parking. The kids had a lot of fun. I think we may give camping there a try one of these days.
Technorati Tags: staugustine, vacation, anastasiastatepark, lighthouse, alligatorfarm
Daily Dose of Travel – St Augustine Read More »
So, Miami. I mentioned that I don’t really like Miami, right? I do like the fact that you can get Cuban coffee in Miami and it’s really good Cuban coffee. I didn’t actually have Cuban coffee on this last trip, but that’s ok and in just a second I’ll tell you why.
When I travel with the little kids, I try to remember that they expect a "food experience" and not simply to be fed. Regularly. The older three children found being fed at all was enough of an experience for them, so traveling with them was pretty easy. Not so with the little kids. I’ve had to adjust and adapt and plan, and that’s ok. Sometimes it’s even fun.
On our first real evening in Miami, I realized we had somehow NOT planned any "food experiences" at all. I realized this after the kids had gone to dinner with their father (to celebrate Father’s Day) and TW and I had no plans for dinner. Not having dinner plans isn’t uncommon for us, but it caused me to realize we had no dinner plans or lunch plans or breakfast plans for the entire trip. Ack! Bad! Little kids will expect food experiences. Regularly. And the bagel place and Starbucks down the street really won’t cut it for the whole trip.
Be proud of me, I didn’t panic. I surfed our options while sitting in my chat at 6pm on Friday night. I found some ideas. I found someplace for TW and I have to have dinner. Potential disaster and mutiny averted! We headed out.
Cafe Demetrio, in Coral Gables, was a good find for us. Great coffee, (I had the signature coffee drink and TW had a caramel latte), and I mean really great coffee. Decent food, not great, but definitely decent – with enough vegetarian options that we didn’t feel stuck with the grilled cheese (though that’s actually what I ordered, heh). We sat in the garden and eavesdropped on the locals – fun and challenging since my Spanish is not so great when folks are speaking a mile a minute, which is what people who speak Spanish do.
Saturday arrives and a better plan than my original breafkast plan comes to me. The Original Pancake House, duh! The little kids weren’t with us when we went last month and surely there was one nearby… yep, just a wee drive from the hotel and almost on the way to our first touristy stop of the day. We arrived in time for brunch and it was a good choice. Pigs in a Blanket were a hit with J and E while RJ enjoyed her Dutch Baby (though she thinks she would like the Apple Baby better) and enjoyed my Crepes even more.
I had planned a trip to an Italian Market for lunch but as we were heading toward our next stop, TW spotted The Cereal Bowl! Change of plans, people! The Gainesville "cereal restaurant" isn’t so hot but we had high hopes for this one and we were NOT disappointed, at all.
TW made a wee error in judgement and TOLD the children we were going to have cereal for dinner before we actually arrived at the restaurant. Oops. This led to much grumbling and many disaparaging comments about our food experience choices from the Prince. Until he walked in, looked over the counter, and realized this was HIS KIND OF PLACE! You see, Prince J loves to roll his own. Whether it’s sushi or burritos or wraps – if he can choose the filling, then he is a happy young man. He likes to create, to be IN CHARGE. The Cereal Bowl made him very, very happy.
It actually made us all happy. E was a little confused about the concept. She wasn’t really sure about mixing so many things together, so she just went with a few cereals and a couple of "safe" toppings. RJ, on the other hand, went all out. Prince J, in his typical manner, calculated slowly and carefully and was pleased with the results. I even ate oatmeal – for the first time in 23 years – and I liked it.
The Cereal Bowl was such a hit, they begged to go back and they plotted their next creations for hours, and we did go back for breakfast the next day. E was more adventurous and ate more cereal than I thought a child of her size could hold.
Oh, we also visited Swenson’s for ice cream one evening and Johnny Rockets for lunch on our way out of town.
Good food experiences were had by all.
Technorati Tags: Miami, food, restaurants, cafedemetrio, coffee, vegetarian, cerealbowl, cereal
Daily Dose of Miami – Fun with Food Read More »
Miami! In June! Is there anything better? Don’t answer that, the alternatives are too numerous to count. Also too depressing. I really am not a fan of Miami. But, we had a fun time last weekend, even if it was really hot and even if the hotel has a parking problem on weekdays and even if, well… I’ll leave some of you to snicker and others of you to scratch your head… just leave it at, we had a good time, except for some stuff, ok?
First good time? Coral Castle. Gosh I love cheesey attractions. Visiting the Coral Castle made me sad (briefly) that we never did manage to get that assignment to Homestead (pre-hurricane) that we were dying for. Who wouldn’t want to live in a town reknown for an attraction like that? Prince J loved the Throne Room, though oddly enough he first thought the MIL chair was the more comfortable. Once it was explained to him, he changed his mind and took his rightful place on the throne. E would have liked to climb down into the well, unfortunately that seems to be frowned upon so we just pondered the fish situation. RJ and TW loved the recliner and when they gave me a 10 second sit down in it, I can see why. It’s the perfect size for us. Surprisingly comfortable.
Second good time? Venetian Pool. I am always a little wary of these types of attractions but this one was surprisingly clean, surprisingly uncrowded and surprisingly nice. The people were just there having a nice time, no seriously rowdy behavior except inside of the caves but the teens and young adults were all very good about easing up while small kids were exploring. The big waterfall was tougher – the big folks didn’t want to give up their hard won space so the smaller folks had difficulty making their way to a sit spot. It was still fun to swim over to. E felt quite a sense of accomplishment at having done it. Even Prince J, who was extra wary of the pool, enjoyed himself after he watched and pondered the options for a bit.
The only thing that would have made the touristy fun better would have been a much longed for trip to Monkey Jungle.
Stay tuned – Miami food fun will be discussed and dissected soon… or when I find a little more energy, whichever comes first.
Technorati Tags: miami, coralgables, coralcastle, venetianpool, tourist
Daily Dose of Miami – Touristy Goodness Read More »
Last week, TW was making those scarey noises. Not the house noises, the noises about theme parks and kids and trips and stuff. Those are seriously scarey noises. So scarey that they pushed me to search for some OTHER alternative. Something safer. ANYTHING would be safer than theme parks over Memorial Day weekend. Actually ANYTHING would be safer than theme parks at anytime. So I surfed. And just as I was about to give up and face my fears and give in to the theme park I found salvation in the form of sweet corn and country music. The Zellwood Corn Festival!
I like to say that I don’t like country music and it’s mostly a true statement. But when I see Terri Clark something clicks in my head and I’m a country music fan. (Can the woman wear a hat or can she wear a hat? umm err ummm sorry I got distracted for a minute.)
I sent the link to TW and crossed my fingers. TW is less of a country music fan than I am. She didn’t spend four years in love with a huge country music fan. When you do that, the music sort of rubs off on you and it has a tendency to stick. (It isn’t JUST Terri Clark – it’s also Reba and Kathy Mattea and Faith Hill and The Dixie Chicks and Trisha Yearwood if she would see the light and ditch that jerk Garth Brooks but since she won’t, she’s scratched off of the list) TW said "Sure, it sounds fun." Yes!
I think Saturday must have been the hottest day of the century or they piped in some extra heat just to sell more beer to the rednecks and more lemonade to the kids. (By the way, it was a surprisingly mellow and happy crowd. No loud or obnoxious drunk behavior anywhere in sight. Way to go beer drinking Zellwood people!) It was HOT. So hot that we took a break after a couple of hours of FUN to drive around the county in AC comfort. (Who knew Mt Dora was such a tourist mecca, by the way.)
After the cool down and some ice cream we went back, found a shady spot to sit in our chairs and on our blanket and ate a lot of free sweet corn and listen to Cowgirl Crush (they weren’t bad). It was sweet and it was good and it was a rare treat for TW and her special colon. The kids rode more rides with TW and ate more food (turkey legs and Italian sausage) and I listened to Neal McCoy, who was surprisingly funny. We moved our chairs mid-way through his set, for a better view and because we apparently needed more sun beating down on us. We ate more food, (swirl fries, rootbeer floats and snowcones this time) and waited for Terri Clark.
We played gameboy. We played rummicube. The Gameboy battery died and suggesting a book was met with the cold stare, a child was not so good at rummicube while her sister was very good at it and a wee bit of frustration set in. More rides for the two frustrated children and another Canadian country girl whose name I can’t remember sang remakes of great songs. Finally, Terri Clark. (Can that woman wear a hat or can she wear a hat????)
She sang some olds ones, she danced around with her guitar. She sang some sort of new ones. She sange a verse and a chorus of Emotional Girl, which made the frustrated Emotional Girl very happy. She sang Pitiful Me which made the emotional and no longer frustrated Warren Zevon fan very VERY happy. Life was good for some of us who don’t love our Gameboys more than really excellent country music. For those with Gameboy loss, it was just ok.
Nice bit of family fun, nice to be reminded that country music isn’t so bad and nice to see a woman who can really wear a hat. Nice, nice, nice!
Technorati Tags: zellwoodsweetcornfestival, memorialday, terriclark, cowgirlcrush, nealmccoy, mtdora
Daily Dose of Music – Country Read More »
We pulled into the parking lot of The Original Pancake House in Coral Springs, Florida at around 9:30 on a Sunday morning. The parking lot wasn’t packed but it was definitely crowded. The waiting area was packed and I began to worry about just how long our wait might be. I was worrying needlessly, less than 5 minutes later we were on our way to a booth.
The menu at The Original Pancake House is a spiral bound, laminated pages type of thing with lots of pictures and even more advertisements for area establishments. That’s not something I see very often. Coffee was brought immediately, and a pretty nice cup of coffee it was. After a lot of back and forth about what I would order or she would order or we would order, several items were eliminated due to the 20 minute prep time caution next to them.
The waitstaff was incredibly friendly and incredibly quick. The kitchen was busy so there was indeed a wait for the food but the coffee flowed and we had a newspaper to entertain us.
The mandarin crepes were pretty interesting. I’m not a fan of crepes but these sounded particularly good and I’m glad we ordered them to share. I ordered the original breakfast burrito and was pleasantly surprised with two breakfast burritos in a sun-dried tomato wrap. The food wasn’t quite as hot as it could have been but it was fine. And, it was good. It’s rare to find a breakfast burrito without meat and asking for the meat to be left out invariably gets you a burrito with meat in it anyway. TW ordered the Huevos Rancheros which were very hot and included a very large pan of vegetables. It was a pretty dish and was served with pancakes on the side.
We had a very nice breakfast; good coffee, good food, good waitstaff.
Technorati Tags: originalpancakehouse, pancakes, crepes, coralsprings
Daily Dose of Diet – Pancakes Read More »
TW is not at work today. Instead, she is sitting on a bus with a bunch of second graders watching her most favorite movie of all time, (ha), Madagascar! The bus is on its way to the Florida Aquarium. Don’t you just love field trips? Or not? I was trying to come up with some fun field trip memories and coming up a little bit empty which seemed odd, but upon reflection it’s not so odd.
When Jenn was in pre-school, Kinder and First Grade we lived in the Philippines. No field trips, except for mini trips to various squadrons to see what the daddies (and the very rare mommy) did at work. We were there during the time of Cori Aquino and there were constant shootings outside of the base, military members kidnapped, lots of security threats. We traveled as a family while in the Philippines but buses full of school kids roaming the country was not something the DoD or the DoDDS wanted to deal with.
Then we moved onto northern California and Jenn and Chris did manage to go on some field trips. I attended very few which again seems odd until I think about it. First issue – I had an infant and a husband who was gone all of the time and I didn’t then nor do I now do the daycare thing. Second issue – I was really not all that into field trips at school because I was constantly taking a Girl Scout troop on some trip, somewhere.
Then it was onto Panama (think Canal not Florida) where again the field trips were few and far between for both Chris and Jenn, which seems odd and upon reflection still seems odd. There were some – to the canal, to Panama Viejo, to Summit Gardens but it seems like there weren’t too many. Michelle was in pre-school, Kinder and First Grade and I did attend quite a few field trips with her class. But again, I avoided field trips if I could because I was always taking a Girl Scout troop or a Cub Scout troop on some trip, somewhere.
After that, New Jersey. Ack. More field trips for the kids in this location; Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, etc… I attended one trip to the Statue of Liberty and another to a farm and that’s about it. Again the Girl Scout trip thing.
In SC and here in FL I avoided field trips completely, yea me! My pre-teen/teen wasn’t all that hot for field trips in either location. She has crowd issues and noise issues and by the time she hit 12, field trips held no fascination or fun – just anxiety. I can understand that. Being surrounded by noisy, over-excited kids can make it difficult to relax, to have fun, or to learn.
I’m betting TW comes home with lots of fun stories about the trip and I know E will. And I’ll be almost jealous that I didn’t get to go. Almost.
Technorati Tags: school, fieldtrips, aquarium
Daily Dose of Education – Field Trips Read More »
If we had been home for Earth Day we would have worked in the garden, we really need to work in the garden, but we weren’t so we didn’t. Instead, we found ourselves using the last of a tank of very expensive gas to drive 30 miles into Tampa to shop at the new Wild Oats.
I’ve never been to a Wild Oats before and I was disappointed to find out it was opening just a couple of days after our Spanish II field trip early in April. It was terrific to find ourselves a half hour away from Wild Oats and plenty of time to spare on a shopping spree. And shopping, we did.
First let me just say that you Tampa folks talk really loudly and you should tone down your voices a little bit when you are in Wild Oats. The lighting and the nice music should be respected and appreciated and your grocery shopping experience should feel relaxing in that environment, not like a three ring circus. I know it’s a new store and you’re excited but please. relax.
Once I got use to the sheer NOISE and the crowds I was good. I even managed to get through the entire store without feeling the need to bolt and drag TW OUT of there. And, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Cool stuff. Interesting stuff. Familiar stuff too. And the cafe was nice. Some weird people there – why would anyone ask the barista if the hot chocolate tastes like milk or tastes like coke? That’s just a weird question, ya know? And the dude who tasted every hot entree item and then ordered 1/4 lb of the macaroni & cheese was also weird. The cute little manager, Ashley, was not weird to me – I have teens who look like she does but a lot of people probably thought she was weird.
So, Wild Oats shopping was a success! Whole Foods in a couple of weeks and then Trader Joe’s this summer and I can die a happy woman. I never thought I’d say I enjoy grocery shopping. I never thought I would be looking forward to visiting grocery stores. Talk about weird….
Daily Dose of Shopping – Earth Day? Read More »
So we went to Charleston last weekend. I was tempted to say "home to Charleston" but since it’s only me who considers Charleston "home" I resisted the urge. I wonder if there will come a time when I don’t feel the urge to say "home to Charleston"? I haven’t actually lived there for a gazillion years, (I hate the word gazillion and am only saying it because of RJ, which is another post so remind me to talk about that another day), and everytime I go "home" it looks less and less like "home".
I did successfully avoid the "bridges" for the most part. The new bridge jumped into my line of vision at the Meeting St off ramp that looks so incredibly not like "home" that I almost drove off of the ramp because the traffic pattern was so wrong but other than that I avoided seeing any potentially heart breaking changes over there. My mom found the book I had to have and I bought it in the Millenium Music Store – which is another building so not like "home" thatthe only reason I can go in is because all of King Street looks so bloody different I can sort of pretend it didn’t exist at all when I was a kid and was just dropped into place after I moved away. The book is a tiny flippy photo book of a "white car" driving across the Grace. I love it. I love that my mom saw it and chased me down across the store to tell me I needed it. You can see the flippy book in action – go look! (click the books!)
Another incredibly not like home experience was driving through the Charleston Naval Shipyard. OMG. I have not been on the Navy Base since before I got married. How run down. How different. How amazing. I can’t begin to describe the differences or the sameness. Unless you’ve experienced the Charleston Naval Shipyard in all it’s glory, unless driving through it in the 70’s felt normal and routine, there is just no way to explain the feeling of driving through it now for the first time. My mom had not been back since then either so she is probably the only one I know who understands just what that was like.
Since I’m talking about this trip "home" I might as well talk about the &%$# airshow. It was air show weekend and Jenn lives on the airbase. What horrible timing I have. There is not a worse weekend to be on an air force base than air show weekend and I can say that last weekend was the worse air show experience I have had in my entire life of air shows – and there have been dozens and dozens, at a half dozen air force bases around the world. What idiots create a traffic plan to get civillians, military members and military family members TO the airshow but never stop to think that SOME military members and military family members might want to NOT attend the airshow? Or more importantly, that someone might actually want to LEAVE the base at 9am and NOT attend the airshow? There is nothing more ridiculous than routing people from military family housing TO the airshow parking in order to get them OFF of the base – and then discovering that once you get them to the airshow there isn’t actually a plan to get them OFF of the base. There’s nothing worse than talking to nice airmen at checkpoints at each corner of the base only to be told something totally different and usually completely opposite from what you were told at the previous checkpoint. Whoever planned the airshow at Charleston Air Force Base this year should be given an Article 15. Someone take care of that, please.
On the otherhand, the reservists manning the Pass and ID desk in BLDG 51 on Friday were awesome people. Thanks for covering for the active duty pukes who blew off their Friday and left you holding the bag. I appreciate it.
Another positive experience, though other members of my family may disagree, was the discovery of a new restaurant in North Charleston – Sesame (corner of Montague and Spruill – same side of the street as NCHS but right before the railroad tracks, off to the right – for those of you who may attempt to find it). When I say new I really mean new – it was in its first week of business, I believe. A rundown looking little concrete block building with a ton of vegetarian options on the menu – and when I say a ton, I mean a ton. TW and I split a total of 6 different types of "mini" black bean burgers. We tried three different appetizers (the onion rings, the bruschetta and the wings – the wings weren’t vegetarian) and all three were very good. The sweet potato fries were possibly the best I’ve ever had. These folks make their own mustard, ketchup and mayo and TW was in love with the ketchup – which is weird because she hates ketchup. My girls were making strange moaning noises over their brownie sundae and the lemon iced blondie was reported to be ok but not as good as the brownie. (Desserts are made by the folks at Five Loaves) There was some not so good stuff that happened during our dinner – a ticket mix up caused the bulk of our party (everyone except me and TW) to have to wait a good 30 minutes extra for their meal. Then the medium to medium well burgers were not actually cooked to medium/medium well. My sil ordered the "mini burger sampler" and got 2 of the burgers she ordered but the 3rd one was not the type she ordered. The manager did remove her meal from the bill and gave her a free dessert, without prompting to do so. If you visit this restaurant – order your burgers well done or order the black bean burgers instead. Try the South Carolina burger, it has homemade pimento cheese on top!
One other Charleston thought – don’t go to the Crap Crab Shack on Dorchester (heading toward Summerville it’s on the right, just past Ashley Phosphate). We’ve been there twice and nobody except my sister in law and my son in law like it. (If you do go, order the red potatoes and ask for some of the dipping sauce for the fried green tomatoes to go with – it’s the only thing I’ve found worth ordering).
Technorati Tags: charleston, charlestonsc, charlestonairforcebase, charlestonnavalshipyard, sesame, fiveloaves, restaurants, airshow, gracebridge
Daily Dose of Charleston – Confusion Read More »