Flauridaa

After weeks and weeks of being NM - CO weekend warriors we decided to relax make a true trek across the country and spend the long weekend in Florida! Call us crazy, but we were ready for some sand instead of snow, and sun instead of...well...SNOW!

We left Thursday afternoon and everything was going splendidly smooth until about 5 MINUTES INTO THE TRIP when we were checking in and Tony realized he forgot his wallet at home. Awesome. Just awesome. So while he grabbed the shuttle back to the car to drive back to the house to get back on the shuttle to get onto the flight, I relaxed by the gate with the kids wondering what insanely unbelievable story Tony would come up to blame me for him forgetting his wallet.

After arriving in Ft. Lauderdale very, very late we met up with our friends from New Jersey who had flown down to meet us. We said hi and bye quickly and planned to "pool it up" the next day for the kids (our Cienna and AJ and their Gianna and Benny.)

After awesome weather and a relaxing day by the pool, we all went out to dinner and met up with my brother Jay and his wife Monique who recently relocated from CA to Boca Raton, FL. After dinner, they came back to our hotel where the kids had a lot of fun beating the hell out of him during a pillow fight. Maybe it's all that WWF wrestling that we used to watch, but my brother is the best at taking a beating and making it look "authentic."

Saturday we spent on the "A1A" strip in Ft Lauderdale, watching the kids collect seashells in once again beautiful weather. Benny and Gianna's aunt Phyllis flew in that day and joined our growing group in the fun. She served as a tour guide of sorts as she has a condo overlooking both the bay and the ocean. It was magnificent!

Sunday we spent at the world's largest swap meat / flea market / mercado extraordinaire with my brother. It was huge, dirty, smelly and totally something that we would do!

Monday we tried to go to the Miami Zoo, but the weather said NO! So we headed to a shopping area on the water and discovered a boat show that would forever change my mind regarding what a "boat" truly is. Boat to me now means LUXURY. I get it now.

It's hard to say what my favorite part of the trip was. The pool, the food, the beach, the sun, the sand, the friends or family. Maybe it was when the unmarked police car tried to warn Tony to slow down and he gave the guy the finger. Maybe it was when the guy didn't have the jurisdiction or the reason to pull him over and he had no choice but to let us be on our way. It's hard to say. But Flauridaa as we like to call it (thanks to our New Jersey friends!) was just what we needed to beat our winter blues!