Our week in Florida

Guess what? Our trip to Florida was fantastic! I was skeptical and wondered if our vacation would be a vacation at all as I madly prepared to leave my five children with Grandma for over a week. I wasn't sure I'd be able to detach my mind from the kids and all the things that needed to be taken care of at home. Would they get to school on time? Would they remember to take their lunches, homework, Valentine's day stuff to school? Would Grandma remember to pick up Grant in the middle of the day and then the older kids in the afternoon? So many details of a mother's life....

Much to my surprise, however, the worries subsided rather quickly after we left. I'm sure it had to do with the fact I was prepared and organized for Grandma when we left and also that the kids were behaving so well when we called for updates each evening. Or maybe it was that we were in such a beautiful place and I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without having to stop every ten minutes for a potty break or having to break up an argument between siblings. I was free.... and it was sooooooo nice.

Jason and I spent a few days in Ft. Lauderdale, which is a beautiful city right on the beach. The weather was nice and sunny, although a bit windy and cool. If you're wondering where all the old people live when they retire I'm pretty sure it's Ft. Lauderdale. We couldn't help but laugh as we realized we were the youngest people everywhere we went!

One night we got dressed up and went out to eat at a super fancy restaurant called Steak 954. The food was outrageously tasty and had outrageous prices to match. But, hey. You only get to do stuff like this every once in awhile, right? They had a beautiful jellyfish tank lit up with black lights that made the jellyfish glow. They were gorgeous.

We drove down to the Everglades and took an airboat ride, which was fun, but COLD! There weren't many alligators out because of the cold weather, but we did find one lying in the grass catching some sun and we ran over another with the boat. It shot out from underneath the boat right where Jason was sitting and scared him to death.

Our next adventure was on a two-day cruise to Nassau, Bahamas. We boarded the boat and headed out in rough seas. In fact, they were so rough we all looked like drunk people walking about the boat. Jason and I don't get the least bit of motion sickness, so we loved it. It made for an entertaining time on the dance floor that night as we (and a few other brave souls) threw down some dance moves on the rockin' disco dance stage. It was super fun and I got to get my dancing feet moving again. I've been wanting to go dancing for a long time, which just doesn't happen with five kids around (except for dancing in the kitchen, which doesn't count). The next night the cruise ship was packed with people we hadn't noticed the night before. It turns out they were all down in their cabins trying to hold down their lunches from the rocking boat movement! Man. That would stink to be on a cruise ship and sick half the time.

We loved our time in Nassau. It's a beautiful island with beautiful people. We tried our best to stay out of the tourist traps and get out into the city to explore, although we purchased our share of local tourist loot to bring home to the kids. We took a two hour taxi tour of the city, which gave us a good sense of the island and where to head out on our own. Our tour guide, Leroy, was a local Bahamian complete with island accent and all. He was great. After that we headed out on foot to shop and explore the city. We walked along the beach and waded in the ocean. It was a bit too cool to swim, although there were a few brave souls in the water. I had to get a picture to prove I put my own two feet into the beautiful, Bahamian ocean. I have never seen such a beautiful color of water. I wanted to stare at it for days, it was so unbelievable.

For lunch we searched high and low for a good place to eat with local, native food that was truly authentic. We didn't want to sit in a restaurant with a bunch of tourists eating a cheap imitation of the real local cuisine. We finally found a little restaurant called Yo Andros that was completely packed and when we walked in the door we were the only white people there! Perfect. We tried conch fritters, which were AWESOME! Conch meat comes from those beautiful pink and white seashells you see at the ocean in which you can "hear" the ocean. They prepare conch in a variety of ways and the fritters we had were super yummy.

Then we ate some grouper fingers, which were basically fish and chips style fish strips made with grouper instead of cod or other bottom fish we usually have in the States. Holy guacamole! I mean, holy grouper! It was VERY tasty fish. And being the seafood snob I am, because I've always had access to super fresh seafood caught straight from the ocean and eaten on the same day, I was very impressed. The taste of the fish was similar to crappie, which is my favorite fish to eat. It was slightly sweet, light, and super-duper good. Can you tell I loved it? Plus, the side dishes were fun too. Fried sweet plantains, potato salad, peas and rice. Mmmmmm. I wanna go back. Today.

After our cruise, we headed to Orlando for the last part of our trip. I felt guilty going to Disneyworld without the kids. What kind of parent does that anyway? As we watched all the families stand in lines with their wailing children and listened to kids whine about wanting to buy every souvenir in the park, we dodged and weaved through the maze of forty bazillian strollers and hit every ride we wanted to go on in record time. It was great!

We also explored Epcot Center, which was my favorite park, and Hollywood Studios. The last day of our trip we took it easy and walked around Downtown Disney and relaxed in our hotel room. We were tired!

We had a wonderful trip and it was a real blessing to be able to spend some quality time together as a couple. We didn't even get sick of each other! (Not that we ever do, I just had to put that in there.) We so appreciate Jason's mom who sacrificed her time and her sanity to be with the kids while we were gone. She did a fabulous job, the kids had fun, and she even tidied up the house and made dinner for us before we came home. What a mom, eh?

This new-found freedom could be dangerous, however. Sorry kids, we just might have to do this again....