Our Trip To Florida, 25th June - 5th July !!!

Right off the bat, I have to say ... sorry for any spelling mistakes, I think when I do these 'big' updates somehow the spell check thingi can't keep up with all my errors (hehehe) and I am too lazy to read it all through again as well so hang in there ok :-)

Oh another thing before I forget, when you click on the picture it should open it up to view it larger but when you click on that 'larger' picture it will open it up even more and way better quality ... go see :-)

Also it seems that when it publishes you cannot see the full size of the vids so once the vid opens click on it again and it will open it in Youtube which will allow you to see it as it should be seen, sorry for all this but geez not sure what's up with this program today I can't seem to get anything to work the way it use to work.

I don't want this to be too long an update but who am I fooling ... I just know with all the pics and vids that oh well we will see. Also in all honesty even though we had the camera and video with us, we hardly took it out so when I publish some beach pics they were all taken on the same day ... and we didn't get pics of our friends we visited :-( nor of the waterpark ... and very few of Disney but oh well, hopefully these few will show you we had a great time !!!

So the trip down, oh golly, I said to Dave that I would go down to Florida more often if it wasn't such a pain in the butt 9 hour drive down. You would think it was just Amber I needed to be concerned about especially since she had never been in the car for more than an hour stretch, well it was hard, nothing really interested her and she is so at that phase that she wants out of her seat all the time and hates to be tied in anywhere but thank God we all survived but yeah, it was more Jade that nagged the heck out of us, I mean she had the dvd's playing all way and she had her DS and a ton of crafts that she was apparently excited to do but hardly touched them, she also begged me to buy her some books she also said she would be happy to read on the way, do you think she opened them, no bloody way !!! But again, thankfully we all survived the trip. We left here at 6am so I was sure by noon Amber would take a nice long nap but yeah right, no such luck, an hour is all we got, same on the way back when she was totally pooped from the last 11 days, still just one hour, what's up with that, I would have loved to sleep the entire trip home but moms don't ever have that luxury right ?

So we arrived at the Driftwood resort in Vero Beach Florida at around 3h30 in the afternoon and just loved it there, it wasn't fancy or anything, just comfy, very small, the room had a bedroom with our bed and a pack and play in it, then a full bathroom, a small kitchen area that although it had a full size fridge there was not stove, only an electric pan which I actually used and it wasn't that bad, there was a microwave which helped a lot but everything was very basic, then a small table in the kitchen to eat at and a small lounge with sofa and sofa bed. This tiny place had two big Tv's in it which surprised me but anyway we were totally comfy, the biggest thing is where we were located, it was absolutely perfect for us. We literally walked ten feet from our sliding doors and we were in the pool, the pool that was right outside a bar / restaurant and the boardwalk, then barely 50 feet to the waves, not to the beach but to the actual waves, it was amazing how great a spot we had. The only thing was that there was always live music at the pool which was great if you were there without your kids and well I even enjoyed it during the day at the pool but at night, especially Friday and Saturday after we arrived, well it was pretty loud and from the pics you will see exactly how close they were to us, our units back wall was just behind the band, thank God Amber actually slept through it all but it wasn't ideal for kids but I totally love it, even though we were actually on Vero Beach island so on an actual island, when I say it has a topical island vibe or feel, you know what I mean. Totally loved it !!! Not the best place if there was a storm of any sort but thank God there wasn't.

Here are some pics of the resort ...

This was the boardwalk behind our unit, we faced the pool, the unit behind us faced the ocean which would have been amazing but we were perfect where we were. What was nice is how close you were to the actual ocean so from the boardwalk I could see where Dave was on the beach with Jade which was cool ... did I say I loved this place.




Here is our unit, it was a downstairs unit and there was an identical unit upstairs from us, you can see two sliding doors, one from the lounge and one from our bedroom, the front door was on the other side, didn't get a pic of that. Looking at this picture, the pool was on the left.



This picture was taken from the units just upstairs from the bar, they also would have been great units but then we would have had the stairs to contend with. You know I didn't get to chose this location, the timeshare people were really a waste of time and apparently this was all that was available to me but it was fantastic !!!



Our beach at sunset, what is nice the restaurant had an area between the pool and the ocean where you could buy lunch and sit under umbrellas, what an amazing view they had, really nice.



Another picture of our beach from the boardwalk, if you can see the pier way way in the distance, that was my walk for a few days until I got blisters from Disney :-( it was such a great walk, wish I had that on my doorstep for exercise every day.



View of the pool and restaurant from the boardwalk.



Another view of it, in this one if you look in the bottom left you will see there are some guys playing music, now the wall to their backs is the wall to our bedroom so that is how close we were, this bad was just great, played mellow daytime music, typical beach kind of music but the night time bands were pretty loud but good !!!



For those of you that don't know, the Driftwood as you can see is made entirely of wood but it is wood found floating in the ocean from boats or whatever, amazing right. There is tons of history about it but history not being my thing, I didn't take it all in. Also apparently a few years back when they had all those bad hurricanes come through, it held up pretty well amazing enough but there were sections that apparently had to be restored. All our know is they building we were in was part of the original building and apparently the oldest building in this resort !!!

Saturday we were invited over to Kevin and Ruths house for a braai, they had invited John and Carrie who we normally stay with down there and Carries cousin Grant and his wife Ivanka, what a nice night we had :-) Kevin and Ruth considering only arriving in the States in February have been very fortunate to get themselves set up in a great house in Vero Beach, if 10 mins from where we were staying. I had to pat them on the backs for sorting themselves out so quickly, that's amazing. Loved their house, to me it was very South African and nothing like the cookie cutter houses we stay in here in North Carolina.

They also have 3 kids all 5 and under so Jade had an absolute ball with them which was nice really for us, she wasn't bored. Amber was a bit of a challenge but I think on the whole she did really well this entire trip ... so thank you Amber :-)

Sunday we relaxed, did the usual thing, beach in the morning, then pool then lunch then Ambers naptime and more beach and pool in the afternoon, so very relaxing !!! There is usually afternoon thunderstorms in Florida but the entire week we were in the timeshare we had no rain !!!

Monday we went and did some shopping at a local mall, we were looking for a skimmer board for Jade, they look very different to the ones we had when we were kids, more a surf board shape now, oh and a new boogie board coz she broke the last one. Then took it easy the afternoon since Tuesday Jade and I were going to Disney so we wanted to be well rested ... yeah yeah so much for that. That night Amber broke another tooth and really it was the first time we have had problems with her teeth so I got little to no sleep that night :-( and got up at 6am Tuesday morning so Jade and I could drive the two hours to Disney, didn't quiet realize how far it was from us but anyway, I promised Jade so I needed to suck it up and go.

Well all I can say is NEVER again in Summer, oh my gosh it was hotter than hell there, I would have thought my scale would have registered a lot lower after sweating buckets that day, thankfully a friend advised me to get these gel things for around your neck to keep you cool and they helped some but gosh, it was hot and it was packed and the lines were miserably long and for those that know what fast passes are, really you just could make it work to get bunches of them and skip lines like we did years ago when we came in I think March time ... so there were rides we really wanted to do and missed :-( but we did a lot and Jade and I had a great time.

Obviously the highlight of Jades day even though it meant standing in a line for over an hour ... she visited Tinkerbell's cave, here you can see her have pics taken with some of the characters, she was so very shy when it came to meeting Tinkerbell it was quiet funny, you can see she had her head down and I actually thought she was getting emotional and was going to cry, poor thing. Anyway I need to look at the professional pics that are taken there coz this one of her with Tinkerbell isn't great, she has a funny smile and I said I would frame her pic for her room and well I better carry through on that one.















We were obviously going to stay for the night time parade and the fireworks but golly we were pooped by that point but did it :-) and it was well worth it, but that did mean that I only got back to my car way after 11pm and I was exhausted, even contemplated getting a hotel for the night but it was just so expensive so I bought a huge cup of coke and turned my air in my car up really cold and drove back to Vero, getting in sometime after 1am, Jade obviously was asleep in five mins in the car but it's funny how she thinks she was awake the entire time :-) poor thing. Thank God, Amber let us sleep till after 9am that morning, that was a totally luxury !!!

Here are some vids of the night time parade and the fireworks ending a long long day !!!

Oh this first one is the midday little show right at the foot of the castle !!!

This parade is amazing but I have to say the fireworks this year was better than we saw a few years ago. This is Tinkerbell opening the parade, Jade was so tired but this definitely pepped her up for a few mins :-)

What would Disney be without some Mickey and Minnie ?

Or some princesses right ?

The fireworks went on for what felt like forever, I cannot imagine what that must cost on a daily basis, wow !!! This was one of the skits ...

This was the finale and it was amazing, You really have to be there but hopefully you get the idea on here, this year we didn't go out and see any 4th of July parades or fireworks like we do every year in Charlotte but I don't think Jade minded too much because of all this ... I have to say I missed it a bit but oh well hopefully we will see them again next year and the year after ... and so on !!!

And yes that was Jade screaming !!!

As I said earlier, I think we went to the beach every day at least once a day but I just didn't have my camera with me sadly coz there were many times I wished, gosh that would make for a perfect shot but it was just a pain, Dave was out in the surf with Jade and I was on the beach with Amber so looking after a camera or not getting it buggered up in the sand or whatever, I just took it down this one day. Jade of course is amazing out in the surf, scared of nothing and does pretty well sometimes and other times the waves just dump her all over the show but she loves it so just keeping going back for more.

I also said earlier that we bought her a skimmer board but she just couldn't master that one, the first day she almost killed herself on it it was so slippery but then I went to get her some wax to wipe all over the board but then apparently she couldn't get it at all, she would go head over heels, sorry no video of that (hehehe). So maybe one day she will get it right, for now the boggie board is her thing.

Then as for Amber, it was too cute, I was worried about her eating the sand and all but really, she tried it once by accident I think and never again :-) It took a while for her to get used to the feeling of the sand, she wasn't sure if she liked her hands in it and then she would walk on all fours coz she didn't want to sit on it and well the water, some days it was warmer than other and on those she was ok with it but on the days the water was cold you would get the oo oo oo sound, picture to follow and then sometime she would try and get away from it and golly even cry if she was close to naptime.



This is cute, she was enjoying it here but the mood could change at a flip of a coin :-)



This is the oo oo oo face :-)



Here a wave had actually splashed her big time and she wanted out, she was pushing Daves legs and when he wouldn't pick her up she lost it a little, poor thing. That's another thing with her, Jade never did the temper tantrum thing but this little one I think she is going to give us a run for our money !!! You take something away from her that she doesn't want to lose and you see ... oh boy !!! If she finds a phone of any sort or a remote control, you can forget it, there is a big temper coming if you take it away !!!



She did pretty well all round, irritated Jade some coz Jade would build a castle and Amber would pull it down, but once I made it a joke for Jade she was ok with it. Here are just some more random ones of that day :-)







Here the water got her unexpectedly :-) I am sure we would have gotten the oo oo oo mouth then too :-)







I had a bunch of vids but they are taking so long to load and some just aren't loading at all so sorry, these are the only ones I will be able to share for now.

This is not a great one at all and there are no waves, I wish I had gotten her on other days when she was confident in the big waves.

Then as part of Daves fathers day present I gave him a trip up on the air with John, John had taken Dave and I up years ago in SA so I thought this would be nice for Dave. I was being responsible and keeping one parent on the ground ok ... and then Dave decided to take Jade with him, I was totally freaked out but let her go ... I was surprised though that it really wasn't a big deal for her, not as big as I thought it would be, I thought it would be mind blowing for her but it wasn't and her ears hurt a bit while decending so she didn't enjoy that, pity !!!

Here are just a bunch of pics taken of the two of them by the plane :-)





Dave even got to fly the plane, glad I didn't know that was going to happen.



Jade as the back seat driver I am sure !!!











Quick video of Jade taxiing down the runway with John ...

Last four pics at the pool ...









Then on Friday we checked out of the timeshare and Dave dropped me off at Kevin and Ruth where we would be staying till Monday then he and Jade went to a waterpark, that was the other gift I gave him for fathers day ... I am just so sad that as excited as I was to have them go and do that together, I thought I would get some fantastic pics but Dave said he rented a locker for the day and left the camera and video in the locker :-( so no pics can you believe that ??? They both said they had an amazing time but needed more than half a day there, Carrie and John were doing a braai for us the evening so Dave pretty much had to be there by sometime after 7. Anyway here is the link to the place they went so you can check it out a bit :-)

http://www.rapidswaterpark.com/html/index.html

All that is left to do is, say thank you to our South African friends for putting up with us during our visit, especially Kevin and Ruth that put us up for three days :-) hopefully we weren't too much of a pain and that you will have us again one day ... or is that too soon to start hinting now (hehehe). We hope to see you guys up here next year !!!

This week will be a quiet week for Jade, but next week she will be doing the Music and Drama camp at the church I work at, it's only an 8h30 - 1 ish camp and I will be working it too so thankfully Amber will go into childcare and we will all have a nice break from each other that week, oh golly does that sound terrible to say (hehehe). The Friday presentation is usally very good so can't wait for that, wondering if they are offering childcare this year, if not I will have to get a babysitter coz this year I want Dave to go with me, I will obviously take video and let you see that ... Anyway so far so good a good few weeks more to go !!! Then the following week she goes to her Camp Funshine which she does every year and that's an all day camp, I am excited for that especially since Dave will take her in the morning and bring her home again so Amber and I can go at our own pace :-) Not sure what I am going to do that week but we will see.

At some point I need to do my renewal show for Premier too, definitely before the end of this month so need to seriously start thinking about that too but other than that, not much else to tell ... yeah I know this is enough right (hehehe). Hope you enjoyed the update.

Oh and please feel free to comment on the blog ... that way it makes it worthwhile me doing it otherwise I don't even know who actually is viewing it !!!