Spring Break 2019 Day 7 EASTER

Easter Sunday! 

I woke her up at 945. She was not pleased. But if we wanted chairs and umbrellas at the beach we had to get moving.

Ally perked up a little when she saw the Easter Bunny brought her a gift bag.

With Peeps!!!

Which she promptly opened and ate one. 

And eventually got up to hunt for the eggs I hid. (My co-bunny slept in too.)

There are not that many places to hide eggs in a hotel room so yes some were in the bathroom.

The best part is opening the eggs. Lots of candy, just like she asked for. And some hair elastics and barrettes.

But since it’s a tradition as well as peeps:

Cereal in eggs. From her first Easter when it was Cheerios to Fruit Loops this year.  Such a happy girl.

Becky went down the beach to snag chairs and umbrellas. Ally watched a TV show and then got ready we arrived at the beach about 11am and stayed until almost 5pm. What a great way to spend this last day of vacation. 

This next series I call “tween at the beach”

Yes Ally had her own umbrella just a few feet away from us. And she spent all day lying in the shade on her phone or kindle. 

Finally at 400 she went in the ocean with us.

And loved it.

I love the expression on Becky’s face. And yes I brought my iPhone into the Ocean to take these. And I am so glad I did. The joy and happiness on their faces is the best.

The water as you can see was crystal clear and shallow. Just perfect.

Family selfie from the ocean!

Then around 5pm it was back to our room and Becky cooked up a delicious Easter meal of turkey burgers, baby carrots and chips. Yummy!

Becky and Ally enjoyed luxurious baths in another huge bathtub after dinner and now we are all settled ready for an early wake up and what we hope is a smooth and easy trip home tomorrow. 

I am extremely grateful for this time together as a family. It’s been wonderful to relax and recharge together. 

And huge snickerdoodle cookies from the hotel store for dessert.

Spring Break 2019 Fort Lauderdale!!! Day 6

Thanks to my favorite travel website Expedia we booked an efficiency studio with an ocean view right on the beach in north Fort Lauderdale. It was late night so sleeping in was the primary objective. But eventually around 11 Ally woke up got showered and we headed out to the mall for some shopping. 

For the record I was up early and went to Publix and back by 930am. It felt so good to get some groceries and not have to eat all meals out for the next 2+ days.

At the mall our first stop was Dillard’s. Lots of Florida Dillard’s memories for us every year we would shop at Dillard’s in Sarasota with my mom and Aunt Martha and last year it was Dillard’s in Tampa with Aunt Martha. No more children’s department for Ally. She’s moved up to Juniors but she still managed to find 2 shirts and a dress. Very cute. 

Then it was to her newest favorite store, American Eagle which she discovered earlier in the week in South Beach. 1 pair of jean jeggings in a size 00, a pair of shorts, 2 shirts and a belt. I decided it was time she have a belt. (I’ve never been a size 00 anything! But my super fit girl is and will be for a long time.)

Lunch at PF Changs which was delightful! Ally and I had some time to talk about life and school and Easter and how she was feeling about not being home. She told me she was a little sad, but mostly she just wanted candy and was sad about no peeps. She said “I’ve had Peeps every Easter of my life” . 

Well that started the great Peep hunt of 2019! Earlier at Publix I did buy some candy for an Easter bag for Ally but they had no Peeps. So I texted Becky and she went on Peep Hunt. Seriously. 2 CVS stores, a 7-11, a phone call to Target who was out of Peeps and finally a call to Wallgreens said they had peeps. So Becky met up with us at the mall and she took Ally back to the hotel and I went to Wallgreens for the peeps. Lots of Uber rides but success! 

After some quiet time back in the room we headed down to beach. 

Yes that is Becky in the water. She was loving it. She floated while I took pictures of Ally. Neither of us wore suits to the beach. But Becky loves the water and was so happy.

Then the leaps started:

Over and over she asked me to take them.  And then she would critique her form. I was a bit incredulous because I can’t image doing one of these. But she is a gymnast!

All in all a pretty fantastic day. We ended it by watching the NCAA Gymnastics finals in our room. Ally’s beloved UCLA did not the championship this year, they came in 3rd but that was the only blight on an otherwise special and fun day. 

Spring Break 2019 Miami days 4+5

It poured down rain for 20 minutes this morning. We had no idea all cozy in our room. But when I headed out to the pool at 845 everything was soaking wet and the clouds were blowing over. Oh well. I still settled in and the rest of the day was beautiful. 

Yes that is my freshly pedicured toes! Chrome polish that I had done Sunday before we headed down to Miami.

Ally lounged in a pool chair all day. It was so adorable. 

Eventually Ally and Becky took a walk on the beach. 

It was too windy to enjoy the beach today so they headed back to join me at the pool after a walk. 

We headed back to our room around 445 (yes 8 hours hanging out at the pool!) ordered pizza and watched Ghostbusters in our room.

Ally’s looking forward to a bubble bath in the gigantic tub after the movie. Then it will be bedtime!

Oh and Ally lost a tooth yesterday and another one is loose and might come out tonight. Last year she lost teeth in London when we were there for Spring Break!

There are only a few left to lose. Then it will be time for braces.

Day 5

We were scheduled to fly out at 530pm but we woke up to an alert that our flight was delayed. So we rescheduled to an earlier flight. Ate room service in the room and then checked out. 

Right before we left for the airport we got another alert that the flight was delayed later than our original flight!

So we called and got back on our original flight and headed over to a Miami Arts District called Wynwood. We walked around in 85 degree weather looking at murals. Stopped for a quick bite to eat and then had the worst Uber ride back to our hotel. 

On the ride back we got another alert that our flight was delayed again.

We took a break at the hotel and then another Uber to the airport.

After a very long and chatty ride to the airport we arrived to chaos in Ft Lauderdale airport. Flights delayed to and from everywhere. We arrived at the airport at 430pm.

Flights were continuing to get delayed later and later. At one point we ran across the terminal to catch a flight to Hartford CT. But by the time we got there it was delayed too. 

Finally at 930pm we gave up. We’d been waiting 5 hours. Flights were starting to get cancelled. Our Boston flight was canceled and there was no word when the Hartford flight would take off at all. So I waited in line and Becky waited at the gate with Ally and called JetBlue. We wanted to get to Boston. When was the next available flight to Boston. 

Our options were 7pm Sunday night or 7am Monday morning. We decided Monday morning so we could get a good night sleep and enjoy the weekend in Fort Lauderdale. 

I left the line, booked a hotel as I walked back to meet Ally and Becky and at 10:15pm we left the airport for our new hotel. 

We have never been so happy to get to a hotel. We were a bit wound up, well Ally and I were. And so it was after midnight by the time we were asleep. It’s 1030am and Ally is still sleeping soundly. 

Here some pictures of our day.

Chocolate chip pancakes. Ally’s favorite and omlettes for her moms. It was delicious. 

We were dressed to head back to Boston not adventure Miami in the heat so while there we were very hot.

Tween I’m hot look.

Becky was a good sport with pictures.

It took Ally a bit to get into it. 

Ice cream makes it all better!