Wow! WHAT A DAY!
Today started off a bit late. Lisa got up at 9:50 (Gabe woke Lisa up with "I'm having a hard time with this stupid suitcase"...he was trying to get his underwear out and had everything all over the floor. :) I got going about 10:10 and we all made it down to the hotel restaurant about about 10:30. We found a seat outside, right next to the water, and sat down. It took a while to get started with our breakfast because Gabe was so into the goings on in the water. We were sitting literally a couple of feet from the concrete wall next to the water and down a few feet below, there were lots of seashells to collect. We finally all got some food ordered and I helped Gabe down to the waters edge so he could fish shells from the sand. He's really taken an interest in shell collecting; all day long we collected shells and when he went to a beach store today, he made sure to buy a big shell as a souvenir. We saw a lot of seagulls and a very crafty egret that came down to try to get some handouts (the egret was especially funny, being so tall he could stand on the ground and still look down at the table of some nearby customers, but when the waitstaff were around, he would duck down under the level of the tables until they left). As we left, the seagulls massively swarmed our leftovers and the egret immediately dug into what was left of Gabe's waffles.
We went back upstairs after breakfast so we could get ready for a day at the beach. We all spent some time getting changed and cleaned up (none of us had showered since our long travel day the day before.) We finally got our act together and went walking toward the beach.
Our hotel sits about 500 feet from the edge of the actual beach. Even though the hotel's patio is right next to the water...but the water next to the hotel is in a sort of inlet to the gulf where ships come and go to get to the open water of the Gulf (Gabe was really fascinated by a huge pirate ship we saw going out to sea during our breakfast. We are going to see if we can take him on that trip tomorrow if things work out.)
We got to the beach and realized we had no towels! Luckily, there were umbrellas (that came with two chairs) for rent (for $18 for the afternoon) and we got one of those because face it, you need shade on the beach in Florida. It was a great investment and we were really glad to have it all day as we came and went to and from the water.
Here's where our umbrella was located (from my Blackberry's GPS).
And HERE is the GPS fix from our balcony.
Our time on the beach was a ton of fun. Gabe was a little intimidated by the salt water and powerful waves at first, but he soon got used to the idea, at least in limited doses. He and I dug a really nice sand castle and I bought us a boogie board which Gabe learned to ride really easily (I helped him get going and he would ride the waves all the way in to the shallows...probably rides of up to 50 feet or more). It was a pretty hot day and we spent all afternoon swimming and riding the board and playing in the sand and water and generally having a great time, returning from time to time to the cooler shade of our umbrella for rest and water. By the time we were heading back at about 2pm or so, we were all hot and tired and extremely salty and sandy.
We came back here and took showers and cleaned up. We went for a little walk to "Crabby Bill's Crab Shack" and had a great little late lunch/early dinner. The whole day was a little skewed timewise and really, what we ate at 3pm there was more like lunch than anything else. Our view from Bill's was great, we were on a second-floor balcony and all we could see was water, sandy beaches, and palm-tree lined streets. Gabe was a tad out of it and was clearly starving. He spilled his entire water glass twice all over the entire table; I really think he was just too exhausted to concentrate on what he was doing. We are definitely going to have to keep a careful eye on how tired and hot he gets during the week to keep things fun for him (and us).
We went back to our hotel where were to meet some of Lisa's friends from high school. We met her friend Amy and her family (Matt, her husband, and her three children Austin, Luke, and Savannah) and her other friend Karmin. Both girls were super nice and all the kids had a wonderful time playing with Gabe. We spent the whole afternoon playing in the hotel pool (we threw the Waboba ball I recently bought online all over the pool; that is a really fun little toy!) and visiting with her old friends (and Amy's family). It was a super nice visit and we all (re)made some new friends.
By the end of the day, Austin and Luke were telling us about all the fun Gabe would have if he could come visit tomorrow (Amy offered to watch Gabe for us for a little while tomorrow so that we could go out and have a little evening to ourselves). We may take her up on it!!
After Amy left, we hung out with Karmin for a while and had a few drinks and a little evening meal for Gabe and I. Gabe was exhausted and was happy to munch messily on watermelon that Amy bought and Pringles "Cheezeums" (he basically claimed the Pringles can with "These are mine!") Lis and I took some photos of the sunset and said our goodbyes to Karmin and we all went upstairs to get cleaned up and ready for bed.
Like I said, what a day! We have another long day (Day 2!) ahead of us tomorrow here at Clearwater Beach before we head off to Walt Disney World on Monday morning. Time to get to bed! :)
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Day 0 - Great Summer Vacation, Here We Come!
Well, Day 1 of our awesome Florida vacation was incredibly busy and Day 2 is almost over too, so I guess it's time to make a post!
Day 0
Yesterday was our "travel day" and it started early (for me). I had to give a training presentation to basically everyone who works at Red Hat in support who lives in South America. That lasted a bit longer than anticipated because some folks joined late and we spent the rest of the morning in a mad rush to get our final odds and ends taken care of (first my work odds and ends, then all my final bits of packing and preparation). We got Jasper ready for a trip to Chad's and turned off everything in the house and finally hit the road about 2pm and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I was really surprised at how easy it all was to get through the airport actually. Parking was a breeze, we had no major problems with the bags. We got our bags checked in outside, bypassing a long line at the Southwest ticket counter and were through airport security almost as fast as we could walk there. Gabe was in great spirits the whole day and we were all having a great time. We got to our gate without hassles; Gabe loved riding in the tail end of the shuttle train at DIA and watching all the cool lights and spinning fans on the walls as we made our way to Concourse C. We stopped by McDonalds (Concourse C's food choices are pretty limited and we were in a bit of a rush). Lisa and I got fish sandwiches and Gabe had some chicken nuggets. After touring the gate for a while and looking out windows, we finally got onboard our plane.
There was a little bit of worry about getting three seats all in a row (Southwest has a weird boarding arrangement), but I was early in getting our boarding passes the previous day and we managed to get three good seats together behind the wing where Gabe could see out the window and look at the landscape easily. We had a bit of an annoying neighbor in the form of a little girl who sat directly behind Gabe who literally sang some of the most annoying songs the whole way there. I had to laugh when Gabe (who was at the time watching the movie Transformers on the MacBook) turned around to her and said, "Would you PLEASE shut up!" I figured out a way to bump up the volume on Gabe's headphones a bit more and he seemed not to hear her afterwards, but it was pretty funny stuff. :)
Gabe got sick as we landed (poor fella) and hurled just a little bit into a barf bag. He seemed okay after we touched down though and I worked with him, wiping off his face with a wetnap and fanning him with an emergency card and generally trying to keep his mind occupied with happenings outside the window.
Orlando airport is a nice place. I've been to a lot of airports, but this was the only one I've ever seen that had charging stations and desks for laptops (and free internet access) all up and down the terminal (the charging stations even had USB chargers built into them for iPods and the like). It was late and the place was mostly quiet. We took a cool little elevated train that ran outside (rather than through a tunnel like Denver's) and delivered us to the baggage claim area. We got our bags without much fuss and we headed to the rental car agency.
We ended up with a nice little Dodge Caliber (in silver) and headed out of town toward Tampa and Clearwater Beach at just after midnight. The trip there was mostly uneventful. Gabe had a nice nap and Lisa and I talked the whole way there. I noticed that the cops were thick and we passed a LOT of pulled over vehicles; but then, I guess it was a Friday night around 'drunk driving' hour. We got to our hotel and I was pleasantly surprised to be reminded that we'd already prepaid for our rooms and that we were basically all set for checking in with no muss or fuss.
We have a really nice two-room suite here at the Holiday Inn. One side has been designated Gabe's while the other is ours. Both are well appointed with large flat-screen TVs, though Gabe's side is clearly meant as an add-on to the main bedroom look of ours (Gabe's side doesn't have a 'bed' per se, just a fold out couch, which of course he thinks is super cool.) It didn't take him long to take over his side and set up a lot of various play areas for the toys he's brought.
We all went out about 2:00am or so and hung out on the balcony for a while, looking off into the inky blackness that we all assumed was the ocean while we ate some vending machine snacks (cheeze-its, chex mix, and pretzels). Finally...after a LONG long day, we tucked Gabe in and headed to bed. As Gabe drifted off, he told Lisa, "Thank you" ("For what?") "I think this is going to be the best vacation of my whole life. When I grow up, I don't wanna work for Walt Disney as an Imagineer" "No?" "Yeah, I wanna take care of sick animals..." "You do?" "Yeah. I wanna be a vet." :)
Day 0
Yesterday was our "travel day" and it started early (for me). I had to give a training presentation to basically everyone who works at Red Hat in support who lives in South America. That lasted a bit longer than anticipated because some folks joined late and we spent the rest of the morning in a mad rush to get our final odds and ends taken care of (first my work odds and ends, then all my final bits of packing and preparation). We got Jasper ready for a trip to Chad's and turned off everything in the house and finally hit the road about 2pm and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I was really surprised at how easy it all was to get through the airport actually. Parking was a breeze, we had no major problems with the bags. We got our bags checked in outside, bypassing a long line at the Southwest ticket counter and were through airport security almost as fast as we could walk there. Gabe was in great spirits the whole day and we were all having a great time. We got to our gate without hassles; Gabe loved riding in the tail end of the shuttle train at DIA and watching all the cool lights and spinning fans on the walls as we made our way to Concourse C. We stopped by McDonalds (Concourse C's food choices are pretty limited and we were in a bit of a rush). Lisa and I got fish sandwiches and Gabe had some chicken nuggets. After touring the gate for a while and looking out windows, we finally got onboard our plane.
There was a little bit of worry about getting three seats all in a row (Southwest has a weird boarding arrangement), but I was early in getting our boarding passes the previous day and we managed to get three good seats together behind the wing where Gabe could see out the window and look at the landscape easily. We had a bit of an annoying neighbor in the form of a little girl who sat directly behind Gabe who literally sang some of the most annoying songs the whole way there. I had to laugh when Gabe (who was at the time watching the movie Transformers on the MacBook) turned around to her and said, "Would you PLEASE shut up!" I figured out a way to bump up the volume on Gabe's headphones a bit more and he seemed not to hear her afterwards, but it was pretty funny stuff. :)
Gabe got sick as we landed (poor fella) and hurled just a little bit into a barf bag. He seemed okay after we touched down though and I worked with him, wiping off his face with a wetnap and fanning him with an emergency card and generally trying to keep his mind occupied with happenings outside the window.
Orlando airport is a nice place. I've been to a lot of airports, but this was the only one I've ever seen that had charging stations and desks for laptops (and free internet access) all up and down the terminal (the charging stations even had USB chargers built into them for iPods and the like). It was late and the place was mostly quiet. We took a cool little elevated train that ran outside (rather than through a tunnel like Denver's) and delivered us to the baggage claim area. We got our bags without much fuss and we headed to the rental car agency.
We ended up with a nice little Dodge Caliber (in silver) and headed out of town toward Tampa and Clearwater Beach at just after midnight. The trip there was mostly uneventful. Gabe had a nice nap and Lisa and I talked the whole way there. I noticed that the cops were thick and we passed a LOT of pulled over vehicles; but then, I guess it was a Friday night around 'drunk driving' hour. We got to our hotel and I was pleasantly surprised to be reminded that we'd already prepaid for our rooms and that we were basically all set for checking in with no muss or fuss.
We have a really nice two-room suite here at the Holiday Inn. One side has been designated Gabe's while the other is ours. Both are well appointed with large flat-screen TVs, though Gabe's side is clearly meant as an add-on to the main bedroom look of ours (Gabe's side doesn't have a 'bed' per se, just a fold out couch, which of course he thinks is super cool.) It didn't take him long to take over his side and set up a lot of various play areas for the toys he's brought.
We all went out about 2:00am or so and hung out on the balcony for a while, looking off into the inky blackness that we all assumed was the ocean while we ate some vending machine snacks (cheeze-its, chex mix, and pretzels). Finally...after a LONG long day, we tucked Gabe in and headed to bed. As Gabe drifted off, he told Lisa, "Thank you" ("For what?") "I think this is going to be the best vacation of my whole life. When I grow up, I don't wanna work for Walt Disney as an Imagineer" "No?" "Yeah, I wanna take care of sick animals..." "You do?" "Yeah. I wanna be a vet." :)
Monday, April 6, 2009
School's back in!
Sure is quiet around here today! :) Gabe is back in school after being out for Spring Break all week. This is his 'special' week at school because it's his birthday week and he got to take in a big posterboard with a lot of photos of him on it and talk about the photos in class today. Lis said he was super cute. We should have some pix of his "first presentation" up on Flickr soon. I have a couple of meetings today and then I'm taking off all of the rest of the week and next Monday...just because. :) Gabe went to gymnastics today and Lis is out running some errands while he is doing his open mat...so everything is 'back to normal' around here until the end of May when school is back out for the summer.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A little bit of wii!
Played a little bit of Wii with Lisa and Gabe this morning. They let me sleep in until about 9:30. Lisa had made blueberry muffins...mmm-mmm! We're both sore from the Ab Ripper yesterday, but looking good! It's amazing how much difference that workout makes.
The sun is shining, but there's some snow left on the ground. Looks like it's going to be a great day!! :)
The sun is shining, but there's some snow left on the ground. Looks like it's going to be a great day!! :)
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Saturday Workouts
Lis and I both had good workouts today. We both did the P90X Ab Ripper workout together (that thing is -hard-!), which is like 350 core/ab exercises. Then she ran 3 miles (at about 5.5 mph for pretty much the whole time) while I worked on the heavy bag while she was running. Fun fun! :)
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