It's been awhile!

So probably everyone who has a blog VOWS to write all the time and not take long breaks (just as I have done several times, by teh way). So yeah, another promise broken!


Well, this summer has been good. I took a huge road trip with things 1 &2 and also a family friend from Maine to Florida and back again, with several stops along the way. I have to say, I am not a in the know blogger, so I can't put pictures up here, but they are all successfully on my Facebook page. So the trip in a nutshell...


My Daddy and stepmother (who I will call mom from now on) recently purchased a beach house near Tampa, Fl this spring, and really wanted us to come and visit. Well, unfortunately, Hubby has had a real tough schedule at work, so he was unable to join us, but wanted me and the kids to go regardless. I wanted to go, but with gas for my baby, and such a long drive, I thought it prudent to have another adult with me. Also so I didn't accidentally kill the kids in a fit of rage :)


Thankfully my girlfriend and her son agreed to join us on this trek, so off we went.


Our first stop was my family home in the 'Burgh. Got to visit my grandma & papap, as well as my aunts and uncles, cousins and a very dear friend who I had not seen in just about 9 years! It was so much fun catching up with her, and going out to dinner with her and her husband, and another friend from back in the day...it was really nice and great to catch up!

Of course, me and the girls also got to spend some quality time with family, which was great! Even participated in a "ceremony" of sorts with my aunt who was trying to sell her house, lol. Let me tell you, whatever she did, it worked cause I got a text on another leg of the journey that said they had sold it!

So, after about a week in the 'Burgh, my girlfriend and son joined us at grams, and off we went on the long, long drive to Tampa. We left at 3:30pm and got into town at 7am! Let me tell ya, no matter how big and comfy your vehicle is, no drive that long is fun! Of course, being where we were, I HAD to have my Waffle House fix, so before meeting my dad, we all stopped to have double covered and capped hash browns...mmm :)

So then, oh mind you the girls had no idea where we were or what we were doing! How the heck I pulled that off, I will never know! We get to my dad's house and I tell the kids.."Hmm, Gertrude must have made a wrong turn somewhere, this does not look like Maine, let's go up to this house and ask where we are.." Oh my goodness, if you could have been there...Jaws hit the floor when they saw gram and papap open the door! Highlight and worth every inconvenience on the trip! The girls were stoked!

Since it was so early, papap and grandma took all the kids out with them do run errand while my girlfriend and I slept. When I say we were dead to the world for a good 5-6 hours, I am not kidding. Best sleep I ever had!

Vacation in Florida was awesome! Really needed it. Got to go to the beach, sponge docks, and my aunt's house and had a blast. The kids loved the early morning time on the dock with papap and grams, one morning in particular, they were all out there and 3 dolphins swam right by, scared the bejeebers outta thing 1, pulled those feet outta the water so fast(we think she thought it was a shark at first, lol) and screamed. Those fish were large, dad thinks at least 8 feet or so. Unfortunately, no one had a camera on them at the time, so we got no pictures, but don't worry, ask any of the three kids and they will tell ya all about it!

Oh also got to see my step brother and his girlfriend of several years on the trip too! That was nice, last time I saw him was 2005. They live in Orlando, which is a good arch into the next paragraph!
After a week at dad's it was time to continue on to Orlando. My step brother and his girlfriend work at Universal Studios and Disney respectively, so she got us free day hopper tickets to the happiest place on earth. That was fun! We started our day at Hollywood Studios, with a street show of HSM3 (and if you don't know what that is, you don't have kids) under the wizard's hat, then character pictures with Minnie, Tigger and Eyeore!

Next stop was the Tower of Terror! Fun! Everyone had a great time. Next was off to the Rockin Roller Coaster. Here I pause. There is no sign-visible to my eyes anyhow-that said this roller coaster goes upside down! So, imagine my *cough, cough* surprise when a few seconds into the ride, I find myself defying gravity!? Now, I love a good whirly woo but, I also like to be prepared for it! On this ride I broke my sunglasses :( Very upsetting, but the ride was fun, so I guess it all evened out!

Well after that, it was time to move on to the next park.

Off we go to Animal Kingdom...never been to this park before myself so I was excited! Here we went and saw the Tree of Life, then went on a raging river ride in Tibet, and climbed Mt. Everest with a Yeti hot on our heels! Weirdly enough the lines were longer here than in Hollywood Studios..so off we went to Epcot!

I love Epcot. It has always been my favorite of the Disney theme parks. I love the world section, and the Imagination Station and all of that. Here, we went to first, Test Track! Now, good ride, but by far my high was afterwards getting to be up close and personal with my baby...the all new 2010 Chevy Camaro *sigh* Unfortunately, the lady would not let me sit in it, as my clothes were still wet from another ride, but I did run my right index finger over the side of her, so smooth, and shiny. I tell ya, I cannot wait to turn 40 just so I can get my baby (that is a self imposed rule, that I get my Camaro for my 40th birthday, no ifs, ands or buts about it!)

Then we were off to Mars. Mission to Mars is a classic Disney sim ride, very fun and Gary Sinise (is that how you spell it?) was a nice peice of eye candy to boot!

By then it was getting pretty late, but off we went to start our world tour. First stop, Mexico! Went on the cute Donald Duck boat ride, and by the time we were done, there was not a lot of time left before the coveted laser/fireworks show, so we secured our spots and got a few margarita's (hey, we were in Mexico after all) and waited. Got the whole show on video. Beautiful!

I love Disney. We all had a great time, and the only thing that could have made it better, was being there with my husband, and being able to spend 10 days or so instead of 10 hours. Let me tell you Disney in a day, although possible, I do not endorse it at all!

So after buying up our portion of goodies at the gift shop, off we went to the hotel to get some shut eye. The next day we were going to Sea World, so we needed all the rest we could!

Not going to say too much about SW, just because I am numb to it, growing up 2 hours from SW Ohio, we went all the time. To me, once you have seen a turtle, you have seen them all!

I do have to say though that the dolphin show was wonderful! So was the Shamu show too, but of the two, I preferred the dolphins this year.

Oh, when we were leaving, we got stuck in a typical Florida downpour. Honestly I think I am still drying out, it was BAD! But 20 minutes and it was over, and a beautiful rainbow came out.

Then we continued on our trek to my uncle's house in Edgewater to say hi. It was nice seeing my uncle and aunt, and meeting my little cousin for the first time. They also got to meet the girls as well. Stayed and chatted for a few hours and off we went to do a Daytona drive by! Can't see much of the track in the dark, but our tag-a-longs had never been and are huge NASCAR fans so I had to at least show them what we could!

Then on to Georgia! Got into Kings Bay at 1:30am or so and got a room. Then in the morning, I took them all to the swamp, cause I mean really, you can't go to Kings Bay and not go to Okefenokee...lol

Then on to one of my BFF's homes to spend some time. Love that we got to stay for a day and visit, had not seen them in some time since they moved, and the girls all just fell into place like no time at all had elapsed since they last played together! Went to St. John's for dinner, and introduced GF to hush puppies! Spent the night, and left for the 'Burgh in the morning. Thank you all so much, GA friends, for your hospitality and kindness while we were there! Miss you all so much everyday!

Made it to PA at 1am, to get GF's car and off we went to go home. Pretty much uneventful until a damn trucker lost his wench and I ran it over and got a flat tire, no fun on a busy highway at the end of a long trip. Had to pay to get it fixed, but on we went, and made it home safe and sound.

All in all it was a wonderful trip, and even though I am kinda bitching about it now, I would do it again in a heartbeat!

This was a great summer, and I will always have the memories to share from it.