I'm jealous my kids are at Universals Halloween Horror Nights without me! I sat at home and played with Photoshop instead of working tonight. Going on vacation in a few days, but it seems my brain is already there!

Going Away ...

... to Palm Beach for a few days. I can't wait. My parents are going to take us to lunch when we get there and we will hang out with them a bit before they head home. My mom raves about a place with huge scallops. I said I wanted to go there. :)

We have a condo on the end overlooking the ocean and the pool. When we were there last year we had a blast. The water is crystal blue, the beach not at all crowded. They have musicians by the pool and a pool bar and restaurant. You can rent anything there... boats, jet skis, kayaks... but I am looking forward to just having fun on the beach.

My mom called and set up a boat ride for the four of us on Thursday. It goes around all the waterways in Palm Beach. We get to see all the mansions and huge yachts. I think that will be fun. I hope I don't puke... lol. My equilibrium is shot. I get woozy just standing up. :p

I'm off to finish laundry and pack. I'm still exhausted from scrubbing the aviary this morning. Zack is going to help Rich fix the screen when he gets home from work, then the kids are off to spend time with their dAdA tonight. :)

uuuuggghh... I feel like crap...

I was already exhausted. The long drive to Hilton Head in spring breakers and snowbirds heading back up north after Easter traffic, and quick one day vacation before heading home about killed me. We did have fun though.

We pretty much hung out on the beach all day Saturday. It was beautiful. Dolphins were playing just offshore for hours. The beach up there is just gorgeous. I was going back and forth between being under an umbrella and not. I just can't handle the sun like I used to. We went on a really long walk with my sister and her husband. We came really close to walking the 2 miles down the beach to my parents other condo, but turned around with about a half mile to go. I love the beach better at that condo, but love the area and marina and actual condo unit better at the new place. They are looking at buying a huge 2 story condo there at Shelter Cove. My cousins rented it last summer when we all got together. It was beyond amazing. I hope they get it. Rich, the kids and I are going back this summer and then again at Christmas next year.

Anyway, back to being on the beach. We went back after taking a break for lunch. We were just being lazy relaxing in the sun talking and laughing when a cool breeze started blowing. It was refreshing in the hot sun. Out of nowhere the wind kicked up whipping sand. It was ice cold! People were running gathering there things, umbrellas were flying down the beach, everyone packed up and left. I was amused with the chaos and noticed Rich and my sister still sitting also wrapped in their towels and not moving. After about 10 minutes of being battered I asked my sister what she wanted to do. She said she didn't care she was fine staying. We were all covered in goosebumps and it was getting colder by the second. I thought.... I asked the wrong person. I then asked Rich what he wanted to do. He said ...let's go. I suggested the hot tub back at the condo. They liked that idea. Steve met up with us at the hot tub. We stayed there and talked for quite a while. After that we showered and went down to the shops and ate at the Mexican place on the harbor. It was great food. Then we bundled up wanting to continue enjoying our only day there and walked to boardwalk area. It wouldn't have been so cold if the wind wasn't so strong...lol. We had a blast anyway. Rich even found a hard to find car for his Pixar Cars collection. We are like two kids in a toy store. :p We went back up to the condo and sat with Val and Steve chatting for hours before we all were so exhausted we went to bed.

On the drive home Sunday I got to drive my new car. I hated not being with Rich but we had fun following each other and talked on the phone alot. We stopped at the outlet mall in St. Augustine to see what they had on sale. I love the curtains my mom bought me from there and wanted to find some for my living room. We ended up wandering the whole mall. We get distracted easily. When we got back to Brevard we stopped at a car wash and washed and vacuumed my dad's car and my new one. We dropped by my parents house and thanked them for letting me use their
car so much. By the time we got home my babies were already there. It was good to be home. They love my new (used) car and Zack is thrilled to have my Grand Am. :)

Rich came home from work yesterday with a stomach bug. Now on top of being exhausted I am feeling queasy and my stomach hurts bad. I saw what he went though. I hope mine doesn't get that bad!!!

The Magic of the Kingdom

We spent a marathon day at Disney on Saturday starting at Epcot and ending up in the Magic Kingdom until after midnight. Our dear friend Chris joined us as well as Zack and Meg's friends Lindsey and Michael. My friend Diana was nice enough to let me use her Navigator so we would all fit in one car. I need to get her lazy ass back to Disney with me.

Cute, huh? We were getting ready to head out the door when the girls ran over from Lindsey's house with this stuff on. Zack and I looked at each other and said ... do we have to be seen with them? *hehe* Apparently Kurt had a good morning hitting garage sales. I wish I could find stuff like that! No... the girls didn't wear that to Disney.

I didn't take pics of our day. Not sure why. I usually snap pictures like crazy. Maybe it was because the girls went one way, the boys another and the adults did their own thing. We kept in touch on cell phones but met up periodically through the day to ride stuff together too. It made a great day. :) When we all met up at midnight (except Chris... she wimped out early) ... we were exhausted! No one really wanted a picture but I made them pose anyway... lol. You can't really tell but the view down Main Street was breathtaking. Christmas decorations were already up.

Da girlie girls are always up for a photo opportunity. :)

The pictures Rich was taking during Wishes didn't come out quite as good as this one from another one of our trips. This one is perfection. Rich, Chris and I still watch the show in awe no matter how many times we have seen it. When Tink flew out of the castle I looked at Chris with the biggest smile and said ... I still get chills when I see her. I feel like a big kid. We love WISHES!!!

We made our way back to the car, drove home, crawled into bed with theme park filth still on us... and slept in late the next morning.

Naples

Rich and I had an amazing time in Naples. This was Rich's first time there. I've been several times with my kids. My parents own a share of a condo which is where we stayed because they had to come home early and no one was going to be using it for the rest of their week.

It was a fun, busy and relaxing couple of days all in one.

This was the sunset on our first night there. Noel's bands were still in the area and made the sky look ominous! The beach was actually more beautiful in person.




The second night we decided to hang out at the pool. We were so tired from sightseeing all day we just wanted to relax. Here is one view from the pool.



Here was another. My photography is not the best. I was having more fun goofing off. :p



I caught him yawning... lol



I snapped this just before I got in the hot tub with him. You can see my hand in his glasses!



A picture of our feet while lounging enjoying the scenery.



The trees above us.



This is what complete and total exhaustion looks like.

Even with as tired as I was we ended up staying up super late. I had a couple of Sam Adams Black. I fell in love with that beer and I am not a big beer drinker (... or a drinker period.) It has a chocolaty caramel after taste and goes down so smooth. I also fell in love with an Oktoberfest beer that had a pumpkin spice. I can't find it anymore! I was going to stock up. lol :-P

Life's a Beach

We had another incredible day at the beach.
Instead of Vero we hit Sebastian and had a blast!

The hurricane in the waters south of us are sending in some heavy surf!
The waves were powerful.

My daughter is trying to figure out how to get inwithout getting clobbered like her brother and Rich. lol

Coming back to rest after being beaten up by the surf... lol

She could play in the sand for hours ...

*credit for the last photo goes to Rich*

Vero Beach

We drove down A1A to Vero on Saturday. It took my mind off bad things going on in my life and my heart was filled with all the beauty abound.

We drove through a state park where there were HUGE land crabs. They were too fast for me to take pictures of them. If I had more time I could have sat patiently waiting.

I will be back little crabs... mwah ha ha ha ha

Here are a few pics of our day. This is heading through a public access to the beach. The water is so blue and the walkway to the ocean was incredible. So peaceful and serene.

Sunset on the Marshland

Just got back from a great vacation with family on Hilton Head Island, SC. Here are a few photos I took of the marsh, harbor and view from my parents condo. Such a beautiful island! I can't wait till I can afford to buy a place there. For now I enjoy going and meeting up with my family that already have condos I can vacation in. :)

The harbor in Shelter Cove.

Heading out to the marsh.

Sun had just gone down.

So beautiful...

On the balcony waiting for the fireworks.

They do a fireworks show every Tuesday night during the summer. I got caught up in watching them and didn't concentrait on taking photos. My dear friend Rich took this one ... lol