the rainy sunshine state

Our (now) annual foray to Florida to cheer on Uncle B’s baseball team began on Thursday – and we arrived in fashion, in style, and in the rain.  All winter long, this beautiful state has been cold and sunny.  We arrive, and the rain comes that ends the drought – which is good I guess.  Good for them, not for us.

Just so you know, ran doesn’t stop us.  We swam anyway.  Hudson went swimming and dancing in the rain first.  After Hudson’s nap and my run, we jumped in the pool together and then Anna joined us for about 5 minutes.  She was a little more sensitive to the cold rain falling on her. :)  After her “shwim”, she had fun at her “bathtub beach”, as she called it.

Auntie Jan and Uncle Ken (my dad’s side of the fam) got to join us for dinner and hang out for the afternoon.  Uncle Tommy (my mom’s brother) flew in from KY on Friday night to join the festivities.  Following the 12 hour torrential thunderstorm, rain for an additional 14 hours and tornados actually touching down in nearby areas, the sun broke through and led to a glorious Saturday morning.

   

Anna was ecstatic that Uncle Tommy needed help shaving his “wish-kers”.

 

Hudson is a big fan of the game room here at the house – air hockey, pool, and darts.  They were both so excited to get in the pool that they got up early – and I had to figure out how to divert them for a bit until it warmed up – at least until it was 65 degrees outside!  Good for us, the pool is heated to a toasty 83 and it is to be sunny and 72 the whole week.

 

 

  

 

 

   The real story begins this evening.  The rest of the crew (Grandmom, Grandaddy, Grandmother and Uncle Tommy) headed to the late starting double-header that is an hour from the vacation home.  It was to start earlier, but delayed as the field needed time to dry up a little bit and grounds crews got to clean.  So that left us three Smiths to enjoy the warmth and spend the evening together.  We went to the park and played baseball (Hudson is really good at throwing the ball to himself and hitting it – really, he impressed me!) and blow bubbles.  We then tried to find a Chick-Fil-A, but the closest was about 30 minutes away.

So we choose to go to another eatery – a sit down restaurant that I’ve been to before and thought the kids would enjoy.  My first clue that we were in for an momentous evening should have been that when we stepped in, an elderly woman with a cane said in a thick Southern drawl, “There’s no bathrooms honey.  No toilets workin’.”  Fine, my kids peed before we left, we should be able to make it through dinner.

We stepped up to the counter as a group of 4 turned and left after talking to the attendant.  She promptly gave us a courteous leave-if-you-want smile and explained the entire area was out of water.  No one in the entire restaurant row had running water.  A main had broken.  No bathrooms, no sinks, no soda fountains, coffee or tea.  I think she almost fell over when I said we’d stay.  No problem, we can drink juice or milk.  And they actually had iced tea – which now that I think about it, I am wondering how cleanly the water was that used to make my pot of tea before the main broke.  Oh well.

We sat, ordered our drinks and chose our meals.  Hudson charmed the wait staff as he politely asked for more crayons, by himself at the front and he even went back to make sure he said thank you.   We awaited our desired entrees and were successfully entertaining ourselves until my entirely full glass of iced tea spilled right on my lap.  Cold – wet jeans!  Oh my goodness.  Thankful for the couple behind me that gave me napkins and got the waitress to help me.

A new iced tea arrived, in a cup with a lid (HA!) and our meals came.  Anna was enjoying the edges of her cheeseburger and I realized that her cheeseburger was still pink in the middle.  Not gross pink, medium well pink, but still, not done all the way through for a child’s meal.  The waitress brought her a fruit cup to enjoy, which she did, as she had already brought the kids ginormous cookies for dessert.  She also brought me a key lime muffin – delicious!   Hudson told me he had to pee. Super.  Wait til the parking lot I guess….let’s top off our night with charges of indecent exposure.  He tried, couldn’t, and waited till home.

We paid, came home and got ready for bed – as the time changes tonight and we had to get there early. 

Recently, Hudson’s preschool teacher told me that she loves his stories that he tells and she’s not sure how many of them are true.  She mentioned one in particular, and I told her “Well, that’s a true one!  And Ms. Sharon, most of the stories he tells are probably true, because that is how our lives are.”

I have a feeling if Hudson told this one at preschool, she may wonder.