if you can dream it, you can do it

Florida Vacation 2021

Aimee, BellaRose, Grace, and Zeke

Watching the kids on Flight Tracker, I knew they were getting close! Aimee, BellaRose, Grace and Zeke were about to land in Sarasota. Weeks of preparation, Amazon purchases, Disney World tickets, RV reservations, beach gear, and a lot of food, were now all in place. The only thing missing was a good attitude about the weather we were having here in Florida. I was so disappointed, that, it looked like, the whole time they would be here, was going to be wet and very humid! Ugh!

As I watched them come down the escalator, I heard Aimee yelling “Mom”! All my feelings about the weather went away, as I stood there holding 3 umbrellas. We were going to make the best of this vacation come hell or high water!
My first sighting of BellaRose, my 12 year old granddaughter, took my breath away. I haven’t seen her for over 3 years due to some unfortunate circumstances, and the difference between a 9 year old and a 12 year old is staggering. My eyes started watering and then came the tears. Our first hug was magical and I was so grateful she is finally home with her mommy.
Of course, hugging my daughter Aimee was awesome and the two little ones, Grace and Zeke, have grown a lot in the last year. After the hugs and tears, we gathered the luggage and forged through the rainy parking lot and headed home!
Our ride home consisted of talking about what else? The rain! We all agreed, that, no matter what, we would all make the best of it. We got home, got settled and Bella’s request for grandmas pasta dinner, was served. After dinner, Aimee, Bella, and I headed down to the beach, so Bella could get her first experience of the beautiful beach, I call home.
Grandpa Jim watched the little ones while we were off at the beach. Jim is the biggest trooper and he will certainly have a few more babysitting duties in the days to come!

Grandma and BellaRose

Nokomis Beach

Working on a 3 hour time change, and a day that started in California at 4:45 am, we returned to some very tired kids and decided to call it a night. If the sun was shining in the morning we would head to the beach and have fun until the afternoon rain started. That’s exactly what we did!

On Wednesday, we had a sunny, overcast day. A boat trip was in store along with a stop on a sand bar. Obviously, we were timing our trip based on the weather. We had a good window and took advantage of it. Jim let the little ones drive the boat sitting on his lap and taught BellaRose how to navigate the waterways! He actually let her drive the boat out of the jetty and into the Gulf of Mexico! She loved it and did a great job! Aimee, Bella and I took a quick dip in the ocean which is a really cool thing to do. There is always talk of sharks when you jump in the ocean! We were all laughing because Aimee had neon green nail polish on. I told her the sharks would like the bright color! Bella jumped off the boat at least 10 times! What a joy it was to watch her enjoy doing stuff she’s never done before!

The Gulf was a bit choppy, and some tears were shed by Grace when Bella hit a swell and a wave came on board. I think she just got scared, but Jim and I agreed to head back in to the comfort of the Intracoastal Next stop, the sandbar. We pulled into the shallows and tossed an anchor. There is nothing better, in my opinion, than anchoring on a sand bar. The water is literally ankle deep and is super fun for kids. They can play in safety and pick up shells in the sand, and observe small fish swimming about their feet! It was great! Zeke loves to play at the sandbar! I think he knows it’s safe.

Around 2:00pm the skies turned gray and we knew it was time to high tail it back to the home port. We docked the boat, jumped in the pool and swam in the rain. I love swimming in the rain! The kids enjoyed it too.
Thursday morning the sun was up! I woke everyone up and loaded the car up for a beach day at the white sand beach of Siesta Key. Siesta Key is about a 25 minute drive and is the Number One Ranked beach in the whole United States. Unfortunately, it is always crowded and a very long hike from the parking lot to the shoreline. Luckily, I purchased a beach wagon to haul all the shit you have to bring to the beach when you have 5 people! 5 chairs, umbrella, towels, toys, noodles, food and drinks. It’s a pain in the ass, but, we had everything we needed to be comfortable enough. Hurricane Elsa was forming down in Cuba and expected to be in Florida by Monday. The Gulf was a bit stormy and the waves were bigger than usual. It did not keep any of us out of the water. 7 year old Grace has learned to swim this past year and she swam well in the ocean. The thing about the beaches here is that they are very shallow at the shoreline. It’s great because you can walk very far out past the breaking waves and enjoy swimming pool like waters. The water here is in the 80’s. It’s so nice.

Last year when Aimee and the kids came, Covid wrecked our plans to go to Disney World. It was closed. This trip, Disney World was on!
The weather forecast, of course, called for rain!
While planning for this adventure, I did my research. How to do Disney World in the Rain. There are YouTube videos. Seriously, I watched them all. We were leaving on Friday with our Disney Day on Saturday. I purchased everything we would need to do Disney in the rain. Not just rain, but here in Florida it is hot and humid. Miserable conditions! I bought rain ponchos, neck fans and cool wraps for our necks. I wanted to be prepared for sure. On Friday, we loaded up the RV, and I drove us to the KOA Campground in Kissimmee. It took us a few hours to get there, but, we sure had fun. I seat-belted the little ones in at the dining table, and BellaRose sat in the comfy cozy chair. We listened to music and sang. Of course, a blinding rainstorm hit us on our way out of town (something I really hate to do is drive in the rain), but it’s especially obnoxious when you are driving a 32 foot RV with precious cargo on board. I put my big girl panties on and forged on!
We got to the campground, got settled and went for a swim in their nice pool. After, I grilled some beautiful steaks that Jim bought us, I whipped up some amazing HUGE shrimps! It was a fabulous dinner!

Yummy!!!

We all slept well and awoke to the a deluge! It was 6:00 in the morning and it was pouring ! Ugh!
There’s a quote from the Chevy Chase Vacation Movies that says-

😂

And so, that’s what we did. Aimee hired an Uber and we got to Disney world at 7:30. The park did not open until 9:00, but we were first in line to get through security, pick up our tickets and onto the ferry boat to take us all to the Happiest Place on Earth!

You have to laugh! There we were, in our rain ponchos, along with everyone else in their rain ponchos. Rain ponchos, especially the cheap ones that I bought on Amazon, are a big fat drag. They are hot, flimsy and in 85 degree weather with a 80 % humidity factor, they are uncomfortable. But hey, it’s what we had and it’s what we used to keep us somewhat dry. The kids stroller I rented had a rain cover on it which was really helpful, but the rain pooled in the top of it, so when we tried to get rid of that water, it spilled into our bags that we had hanging on the handles. Ugh.

We had to wear masks (Disney Rule) until we got through security and into the park. Thank God we did not have to wear them all day long. I’m not sure I could have coped. Once in, we waited, of course, in the rain, until 9:00 and the “Rope Drop”. We had a plan for the day, and we stuck to it. We headed for Adventure Land, first off, to knock out Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. We got through those lines fairly quickly and went right away to my favorite ride It’s a Small World. After this, Aimee and Bella took off to conquer a few of the roller coaster rides and I took Grace and Zeke to Fantasy Land. They wanted to ride the Merry- Go -Round.

We met back up with the girls and headed toward Space Mountain and Tomorrow Land. Everyone was hungry, (although I packed lots of snacks and drinks) they wanted food. The reason I brought snacks was because it’s so expensive to feed a family at Disney World. Aimee sprung for a couple of foot long hot dogs , 2 bags of chips and a few drinks to the tune of $53.00! I ate salami and cheese, which I brought, and was happy as a clam. I got super mad and lost my composure and my acceptance attitude when I went to get a soda refill in a $15.00 Buzz Lightyear cup. The guy at the window said “we don’t give refills”. I said “what”? “ no refills in a $15.00 cup”? Nope! I came undone, asked for a manager, unleashed my big girl voice. I told him I was appalled that one could buy a soda in a specialty cup and then not be refilled. What is Disney? A multi Billion dollar corporation and they are concerned with soda refills? He ended up giving me a cup of soda in a regular cup. I showed him!(LOL)😂

Greetings from the Happiest Place on Earth

Don’t expect a drink refill😂

We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride, the people mover, Aimee and Bella went on Space Mountain. We drove the cars and enjoyed sitting in the air conditioned Carousel of Progress. The little ones loved this animated show. I was pleasantly surprised how into it they were. It is one of my favorites too! If you’ve got 20 minutes to burn, you might want to enjoy the show. It will definitely take you down memory lane if you are a Disney fan.

Dinner time rolled around. We were water logged, tired , and after a few major meltdowns on everyone’s part, (except BellaRose, she was a trooper) we found a spot under a easement, stripped our ponchos off, shook all the rain water out of our stuff, Aimee got them an ice cream and we regrouped. It felt good to get out of the ponchos and it looked like the rain was going to subside for awhile. This was a good thing, because, if it continued to rain, there would be no Happily Ever After Fireworks show. We really needed a meal, so off we went in search of a restaurant. Funny thing about Disney. They really don’t want the people who are here just for the day, like us, to eat. Nowhere could we find a sit down dinner place. You had to have reservations and meal plan purchases, which alas, I didn’t get. So, after walking around the whole park, I got on my Disney App and figured out how to order food online, which I did. We walked back around half the park to the Starlight Cafe and got a nice, sit down dinner. Bella got the Cheshire Cat eclair tail she had wanted all day!

Dinner at the Starlight Cafe

We now were on the countdown to the Fireworks show. We lollygagged around and found a spot to watch the show. The rain had now stopped and we were all grateful about that. I never want to see a cheap Amazon poncho again!

The Fireworks show started promptly at 9:00pm. Happily Ever After, is the name of this extraordinary experience. The music and thrill of Disney World came alive in this 25 minute extravaganza! The park was still in the moment, which was incredible. As the music played, I got a bit choked up and teary eyed. I was so grateful to My God to be sober. To be able to experience this adventure with my Daughter and grandchildren, grateful for Jim, for helping to make this all possible, and for the joy and excitement I saw in all of their eyes!
The show was awesome and made the whole rainy day debacle vanish into thin air. This, was the perfect ending to this Disney World, 2021, adventure.

After the show we worked our way out to Main Street with thousands of our new best friends. Both Grace and Zeke passed out in their stroller. Aimee and Bella stopped to shop on the way out. We still had to board the Ferry and call an Uber to get us back to the campground. The time- 11:30 pm. Yes, our day started at 6:00 in the morning and we had now been at Disney World for 15 hours and still had at least another 90 minutes to go. We got to the Uber stop and had to wait about 25 minutes for a ride. Aimee, Bella and I were so tired and everything was making us laugh. Did I tell you that a few days prior to this day I broke my toe? Well I did. Almost every step of the thousands of steps I took today caused me pain. Bella found me a wheelchair out at the stop and we joked around for the time we waited. Aimee sat in the mud and there were jokes about that. It was super fun! Our ride arrived, we got safely back to the RV and we all had a good nights sleep.
We survived Disney World!

DONE

We packed up in the morning and were on the road at 10:15. Aimee wanted to stop at a roadside tourist gift shop on the way out of town. Evidently she hadn’t spent enough money the previous day.😂

This day was July 4, 2021. We had plans to go tot he Beach to watch fireworks in the evening. Aimee’s friends Marta and Shaun and their daughter were in town from California for their own Disney Vacation. We spent a bit of time with them at the park. They came to our house in the afternoon, we swam, had pizza and all of us went to the Venice Jetty to watch the firework show.

On Monday, talk of Hurricane Elsa coming right through our city was now on the table. Jim and I were watching news and keeping on top of weather reports. The morning sun had left and there were no more beach days in our future.

What to do?

Paint rocks!

Watch Movies

Catch Lizards!

Chat

Swim

and, buy matching dresses!

Aimee prepared to pack up for her flight home on Wednesday as we waited for Hurricane Elsa to blow through. Bella helped me move my plants to protect them from the storm, we took the patio furniture down, Jim prepped the boat, taking down the Bimini and securing the lines. We weren’t sure what to expect, so we prepared for the worst. A hurricane has never been this close to us since we have lived in Florida. Winds were expected to reach 70 miles per hour and the storm surge, up to five feet. We live right on the water, so , we needed to take precautions. The news reporters make things out to be really bad. Life threatening! Jim and I were concerned, but, hey, what are you going to do? If things got really bad, or we got flooded, we have an RV and we could all pile in and leave town. Our home is protected with hurricane windows, which gives me some level of comfort. I don’t know why, but it does.
As night approached, the storm came through. There was rain and wind, but, I’ve seen higher winds and more rain in an afternoon Florida shower that we get almost every day.
Conclusion- Hurricane Elsa was highly overrated. (Thank God)😊

The airports were closed on Tuesday night due to the hurricane, but set to reopen Wednesday morning. The kids flight was at 2:20 pm, and on the Southwest website, they stated that their flight was on time. As they prepared to load their luggage in the car, I checked the website one more time, and, lo and behold- Flight CANCELLED! WTF!🤬

WHAT TO DO?

Movie Theater

Acceptance is the answer to all of our problems today. Southwest put them on another flight Thursday and our time together came to an end. Unfortunately, they got jacked around and ended up on the tarmac for an hour in Sarasota, so that set them back a few hours which screwed with their layover in St. Louis and took them to San Jose and then onto Los Angeles. They arrived home safely around 11:00 pm, which made for a very long trip home.

Now that our time together is over and our home has returned to the quiet state Jim and I love, I must admit, the 10 days spent with Aimee and the kids was full of love and happiness. Yes, there was noise- crying, screaming, meltdowns. More laundry than I have done the whole time I have lived here. Short order cooking, since everyone could never just eat the same thing (except grandmas spaghetti dinner)! Packing the car, unpacking the car. Charging iPads, making houses out of pillows and blankets, 20 trips to the grocery store, a broken toe, sharing my love of rock painting, oh, and the rain, all of it was worth it. The smiles and laughter, the wonderment in the children’s eyes at Disney World, the first hug I gave BellaRose when she stepped off the plane and the many “I Love You’s “ that were said over the many days together, every single minute of the memories made, was worth it. It always is and it always will be, a good thing to share time with my children.
Living so far away from all of them is hard sometimes. Not all the time, but when I get a taste of it, I get homesick, and it’s always good for a mother’s heart to hug her child.
Jim and I are looking forward to a cross country trip in the RV to California in November. It is Veronica’s 50th birthday and we are giving her a party. All of my kids and grandkids will be there and it will be great to give them all a great big hug.
Thank you again Grandpa Jim for helping to make this adventure happen. I love you.

until the next time,

♥️