2500 miles of vacation - Day 1

It's been 12 days since I had to come back to reality and I still miss the beach.  So, I'm going to blog about it in detail since that would be cheaper than therapy. 

After driving all night and being hypnotized by dvds if you were in the backseat, we arrive in St. Augustine. 

I really like this city.  The architecture is charming, the beach is beautiful and the food is delicious.

 








After we check into the hotel, we head for the beach.  I am crying a little that Marriott broke up with the Serenata Beach Club as I miss the swanky chairs and the frou-frou drinks.  But a beach is a beach so we slum on the public side.  There is a bit of beach erosion going on, but that turned out to be a positive for Carson.  The child is typically terrified of water, but the pools left from the tide were warm and coax him in to play.  And who knew that was all it took?  I would have certainly tried that years ago!  Now, he still isn't a fish and doesn't really want the water above his head, but he's willing to venture into a pool now and it's made bath time much more pleasant! 

Fifteen seconds at the beach and I start to hear my beautiful, straight, Jessica Simpson be jealous hair springing into frizz.  I'm serious.  I hear it happening! Ting.  Ting.  And then I start to see it in my peripheral vision.  Oh damn it!  Couldn't I at least make it to dinner with sexy hair?  Pout!

We stay at the beach for a while and the boys play in the fountains on the pier until it starts to rain.

Dinner tonight is at Harry's.  We all love love love this restaurant, including Jordan.  He jumped up and down when I told him we were eating at Harry's.  The food is delicious and the outdoor dining area is enchanting with the greenery, torches and live music.  I order a Big Easy to kick off dinner and...yum!  It's delicious blend of Captain Morgan, Southern Comfort, amaretto, banana liqueur, Midori, and pineapple. 

Next is the Crabmeat and Eggplant Napoleon appetizer.  It has lots of crab and crispy eggplant slices layered with a fabulous cream sauce. 

My entree was Shrimp and Scallops Orleans.  When we sat down, I noticed the couple across from us had ordered this dish and it looked amazing.  It was!  The dish is a fried cake of cheesy grits, topped with blacked shrimp and scallops tossed in a Tasso cream sauce. If I were a bit more perky I would shout "Yummo" here.  The accompanying side of red beans and rice was just as good.  I think I enjoyed it so much I forgot to take a picture.  Everyone thoroughly enjoys their meals except for Carson.  Too much fun = little boy who falls asleep before dinner arrives. 

(This will become a theme throughout the trip.)

True Blood - Epi 2

I finally finished the 2nd episode of the new season.  I attempted to finish it Monday night while the boys were at VBS - it seems almost sacrileges to type VBS in a sentence about True Blood - but I had ordered taco pizza and well...let's just say the opening and pizza with lots of red sauce were not a good match. 

So...I was hugely disappointed in the King of Mississippi.  What a douchebag!  And he could have been way more eye candylicious!  Although, I did love the line "You are in my house, put your fangs away."  Pretty funny.  I also didn't like the creepy new vamp that's sniffing around Tara.  Yuck.  And was Tara drinking Wild Turkey?  That stuff is disgusting! 

But...Alfre Woodard was fab as Lafayette's mama.  Bill torching Lorena was stellar!!  Godric made an appearance.  Sookie's Bill impression was great.  "Sookeh"!  I want to see Felix the armadillo.  "Cooter" still has me giggling.  And Hoyt is just so sweet.  Jessica and the lysol was a hilarious touch.  And I loved, loved the fact that Sookie's tears made Eric uncomfy.  I was so ready to invite him in.  :D

Whew.  I'm anxiously awaiting the next episode.

Carson is a riot 90% of the time.

I know that I'm working from a bias here, but this kid is seriously funny.  I could sit for hours and not come up with something half as hilarious.  The latest had me rolling.  Saturday night, the boys visited with grandparents on their dad's side.  As we were leaving and after the boys were all strapped into the van, I told them to wave bye.  Carson looked at them, waved and said, "Bye Bye suckas".  My jaw hit the ground momentarily before I dissolved in laughter.

I feel like such a heathen!

I had to run to the christian book/music store to pickup a CD for a friend.  Jordan took one look around and said, "There's nothing for me in this store."  I have to send that child to VBS soon!

This white girl can't dance.

I can't wait for Zumba class tonight.  Having terrorized gyms before with my lack of coordination and flying across the room knocking fellow steppers out of the way, last week I was slightly trepidatious about the Zumba class.  It turned out to be so much fun!  And not only was it fun, but I wasn't the only one with left and right confusion!  It's a revelation and this is my new favorite form of exercise!  As must of us grapevined the wrong way and stumbled over the salsa or the samba (I can't remember which or if it was both), we all laughed hysterically while "waving at the poodle".  (Hopefully none of the participants ever read my blog since I'm basically saying that they can't dance either.)  Tonight we are dragging along another participant with zero rhythm.  It should be a blast!

Speaking of swimsuits...

I just watched this video from The Today Show.  Honestly, I think I would rather go to the dentist than to a try on a swimsuit and parade around in front of other women party!
http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-look/video/default.aspx?vid=8ba560be-8e9c-4434-9090-2cc1c8c38d53%26tab=fashion%26ap=today&from=en-us_msnhp&GT1=32045

The joys of shopping with children - Take 1

Although my plans to hit the beach fell through recently, we are leaving at the end of the month.  Yesterday I decided to do a little swimsuit shopping.  So many styles and decisions...bikini, tankini, monokini, one piece, mou mou.  I'm standing at the racks flipping through my size and Jordan is itching to head to the toy section.  He says, "How long are we going to be here, mom?"  And I say, "Until I find one that won't make my butt look even bigger."  Jordan, being the diplomat that he is replies in his future psychologist sing song voice, "Mom, your butt isn't big.  Really.  It's little."  Okay, so I know he's trying to make me feel better and he just wants to get shopping over with and go to the toys, but it's still nice to hear.  I turn back around and Carson says with his most sincere face, "By the way, your butt is kinda big.  Really bubba, it's kinda big."  "Well, thanks honey." I say as I head straight for the mou mous. 

Responsibility

So, I've decided to kick off my very first blog post with a picture a friend posted on FB.  And since I'm thoroughly disgusted with the oil spill...why not?

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am not an engineer and I have no ideas on how to stop the spill.  But, almost 2 months of oil spewing into a body of water that so many depend on for their livelihood - not to mention the wildlife and delicate ecosystems?
  http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/oil-spill-wildlife-saltmarsh.html
How about a little responsibility for such tragic loss of life and environmental devastation instead of  Tony Hayward whining about how he wants his life back?  I am definitely skipping fueling up at BP.  Even if I were running out of gas, I would push that big ol' minivan (okay so technically I would stand outside, bat my eyelashes and try to look helplessly girly until someone came along to push it for me) to another station!