Fishin', Festivals and Fake Disney World. I heart Florida!

My toes are boycotting socks after breathing fresh air for two weeks in flip flops. We're back in Canada now and although there's still snow on the ground, the sun is shining and the "warm" spring temps are starting to shrink the snow piles a little. You can actually see large patches of grass. 

The first couple of days of our trip, it absolutely dumped buckets of rain. Hello Florida!? They call you the Sunshine State?? We were concerned that we might not see the sun at all our our vacation and Dayven grumbled that we have terrible luck and the crummy weather just follows us. Must have been my punishment for gloating to anyone who would listen that I was going to Florida for Spring Break. What's a girl to do when it rains? Head out for some shopping! I put a hurtin' on Target, or at least as much as I could with a husband and 4-year-old in tow. Just when we had exhausted all indoor activities (one can only go to the library so many times), the clouds parted and the sun shined through. 

They loved my parent's dock. The only rule was a grown up must be with them.

Going for a cruise in Poppy's car. He's building it from scratch.

We did all the usual things we love to do in Cedar Key - cruise around town in the golf cart, walk along the dock to see what they're catching, ride bikes, go to the playground and just enjoy being outside in the fresh air and sunshine. We ate many meals outside on the deck. Hadley loved it so much, she'd throw her hands in the air and sing in the most joyous voice "OUTSIDE! outside! OUTSIDE! outside!" as she ran around barefoot. We just started leaving the door open at my parents house so the kids could come and go on the deck as they pleased. Hadley would actually cry if someone closed it.Wyatt loved going anywhere on the golf cart and requested a ride every day.

It was nice for my parents to spend time with the kids since we only see them a few times a year. We often show them pictures and talk about Nana and Poppy so they know who they are. My parents go by "Nana" and "Poppy", but I guess we refer to them so often in the same sentence (i.e. We're going to Nana and Poppy's house), that Hadley was confused and thought they were one person. She referred to my mom the entire trip as "Nanapoppy". When we asked her who my dad was, she paused, then said "Nanapoppy!"

Wyatt couldn't stop eating his ice cream cone long enough to pose for a picture.

Uncle Josh and Hadley strolling on dock street

Have golf cart, will travel!

It was fun spending time with my brother, Josh.

We hooked up with a childhood friend of mine, Danny, who now runs a fishing charter for a little time on the water. We hadn't seen each other since our high school graduation so it was fun to catch up. I'm normally not invited to join the boys on their fishing trips because they say I'm high maintenance and I talk too much. What?? We cruised around the island, fishing off the flats and a few spots where the trout are known to bite. They teased me for my over-the-top dramatic casting and said they needed to clear the bough of the boat to let me cast, but hey, it got the job done. Once I caught my first fish, I got the fever. I had many more bites than I was able to hook. For a while, every time I was in the middle of telling a story, something would bite and by the time I started to hook it, it had gotten away, confirming the guys' point about my talking too much. There was a spurt where we were all just hooking them left and right, which was so much fun. Many did not meet the 15" requirement and had to be thrown back, but there were plenty of keepers too. We caught a few Catfish, which we of course tossed back. The rest were trout. We took plenty home, freezing some and grilling the rest for dinner. Delish! It's so beautiful and relaxing out on the water and we had a great day.

Cedar Key celebrated it's annual Old Florida Celebration of the Arts festival while we were there. I haven't been there for the festival in years. My mom was on the committee so she volunteered me for the artist registration and check-in. It was fun to meet all the artists as they rolled into town and started setting things up. There was a variety of fine arts - painting, sculpture, mixed media, glass and jewelry. We even found a really cool piece for our home.


Dayven had to fly on to Arizona for a work conference and the kids and I hung out in Cedar Key a few more days. We went to Orlando a day early before he flew out for some family fun. To Disney or not to Disney? I thought long and hard on this one. Wyatt loves all things Disney and I knew he'd be over the moon if we went, but there was also a good chance he'd be terrified to ride anything and completely overwhelmed by the whole experience. Not to mention we'd be lugging around a crabby nap-skipping little sister. When we told him we might not be able to go to Disney world, he said "Maybe when I get older we'll go. We can just go to the Disney store at the mall instead." We knew if the Disney store at the mall was an acceptable replacement, obviously we had our answer of what we should do. We decided to do Downtown Disney instead, which is just a series of Disney-themed shops and restaurants along the waterfront. On my brother's advice (you're taking Wyatt to FAKE DISNEY!?), we decided not to tell Wyatt that it was the real Disney world. He seemed fine with the idea of Downtown Disney and was thrilled to see it all. We visited the world's largest Disney Store, checked out the Lego store, got some treats at Goofy's Candy Shop and rode the carousel. We went for a swim at the hotel pool while Hadley napped, the headed to dinner at the T-Rex Experience, a dinosaur cafe. It was such a fun theme restaurant for kids, with animatronic dinosaurs, Pterodactyls, Woolly Mammoths, an ice cave, giant squid and periodic thunderstorms. The kids loved it. We topped the night off with a ride on the monorail around the Disney property to check it out. The perfect trip!

Make your own Light Saber station!

Swimming at the hotel pool is just as fun!

Here we are kids, Cinderella's Castle! I know, it just LOOKS bigger on TV!

Back in Cedar Key, we continued our low key vacation. We took the kids to the beach to search for Fiddler Crabs and seashells. Cedar Key is not known for having huge beaches, but what they lack in size, they make up for in charm. It's so relaxing just walking along the water, letting the warm sand squish between your toes. We just wore regular clothes, assuming we'd just play in the sand, but the kids quickly figured out the water is much more fun and started wading out in their Crocs. The tide was on it's way out so it was pretty muddy. The dirtier they got, the more fun they had. While we were there, a couple of students from the marine science class at school came down to check their crab traps and drag their net for specimens. The kids got to see crabs, fish and horseshoe crabs.

Checking out the crabs in the trap.

They dragged the net and brought in some fish and horseshoe crabs, which they later let go because they're protected.

She couldn't keep her hands off Nana's birdbath.

He would have spent all day in the hammock if we let him.

On the last day, we headed back to Orlando to spend the night in preparation of our early flight. We attempted to squeeze in another trip to Target and check out the outlet mall. To say it was disastrous is an understatement.  Shopping with crabby kids on a hot day = super fun! We topped off the day with a gourmet meal at McDonald's, just for the sake of keeping the peace. Imagine me thinking I could actually do something I wanted on my birthday?? I told my mom that I was going to pretend it was March 8. Thinking about it being my birthday just made me depressed. We had such an awesome trip up until this point, I'm not sure why it all just fell apart on the last day.

The calm before the storm...

We had a six hour direct flight from Orlando to Edmonton. I was sweating this flight so I had every treat, snack, toy and bribe imaginable to make it through. The kids did really great for the majority of the flight. Wyatt watched movies on his ipod. Hadley even napped for a portion of the flight. We had about one hour left to go and I was almost smug at how well it had gone. Then Wyatt started whimpering and told me his stomach hurt and he had to go to the bathroom. Hadley was sound asleep so I quickly asked a kind looking woman to hold her while I took him. I wouldn't normally pass her to a total stranger, but she seemed nice when we were chatting earlier and I could tell Wyatt didn't have time on his side. We raced to the back of the plane and I set up the portable toilet seat (SO grateful I decided to pack it) that fits over the repulsive airplane seat. Poor Wyatt had terrible diarrhea and was quite upset about it (forgive me for sharing this detail buddy, but it's important to set the story up). Maneuvering in those tiny bathrooms with two people without touching anything takes talent worthy of Cirque de Soleil, I might add. We were barely situated back in our seats and the woman had just handed Hadley back to me when Wyatt started whimpering again and telling me his belly was hurting again. I quickly passed Hadley back to the woman and started rushing Wyatt to the front of the plane. A few hiccups and gurgles and the first gush of vomit was out. We made it to the front of the plane and I frantically interrupted the flight attendant in the middle of his book and begged for something, ANYTHING that Wyatt could vomit in. There was someone in the bathroom and I knew the clock was ticking. Too late! Wyatt began spewing in all directions like the exorcist.  I was madly trying to catch as much of it in my hands as I could. It was splattering all over our jeans and shoes and the flight attendant was painstakingly slow at getting a garbage bag open. Finally, he handed it to me and I pushed Wyatt's head into it to catch the next round. The first 5 rows of people on the plane watched the scene in complete horror. HORROR! Finally, the woman finished in the bathroom and opened the door and inched her way along the wall to avoid us. We shuffled into the bathroom and began cleaning up. I'm pretty sure I used every last paper towel on that plane. Every crew member on that plane except the pilots was scrambling around, squirting cleansers and requesting more rags and carpet cleaner. Once the drama passed and he seemed like he was done, I just broke down in tears. It was a long couple of days and I think I had just reached the breaking point. We shuffled back to our seats, barf soaked and tear stained. I must have looked like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. People were incredibly nice to me, offering me tissues, patting my back and saying "It's ok. You did a great job up there!" People for at least 2-3 rows in either direction were telling me not to worry, they have kids too, they understand, it's hard traveling with them, etc and offering to carry my bags or help me get to my car. I have never had so many condolences and offers of help from total strangers before. Seriously, my faith in humanity is restored. Once all the madness had died down and the plane was quietly taxi-ing in, Wyatt piped up in the loudest, most chipper voice "I wuv airplanes! Mommy, dis was such a fun day!" Really. I can't make this up. I couldn't even respond. The woman who was holding Hadley just held her the rest of the flight. Her husband was so sweet and insisted on carrying my purse and the kids backpacks and pushing my stroller to customs for me. They are about to become first time grandparents this summer and we joked they've had their trial by fire and they're now ready for anything. By the time we got home, I had a raging migraine. We took baths, ate a quick dinner, bathed Finley (who was disgusting from the kennel), two extra strength Excedrin for me and we all went to bed.

I'm feeling much better today and I can laugh about it now. It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do. Aside from the fact that we're waking up at the crack of dawn and Hadley is walking around the house demanding "outside! outside!" all day, we're settling back in. Despite the insane trip home, I will vacation again with my family...just not any time soon. ;)