Make Believe Boulevard

Isabelle's new school is called "The Learning Experience". They only had a 3-day program spot available for now so she goes Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Summer camp starts next week and she'll start the 5-day per week program (hooooorrayyyyyy!!!!).

Summer Camp there is uber-cool, there are 2 water days every week (splish splash, not swimming in a pool). They have themes every week so the kids will learn while they play and play while they learn (I love it!).

She will probably continue there in the Fall for her PreK-4 program (TBD based on where we buy a house). But this place is pretty amazing. It has this room/area/town called "Make Believe Boulevard" which is a mini-replica of "Main Street USA". They have a Fire House, Police Station, Restaurant, Grocery Store, House, Doctor's Office, Gas Station, etc. etc. etc.

Each mini-building is two-stories tall. The "street" has a staircase on the far right side so you can go "upstairs" in each of the buildings. If you keep walking along the corridor "upstairs" then you get rewarded with a curved sliding board at the end of the street that lands in a ball pit for extra giggly fun.

They don't get to go to "Make Believe Boulevard" every day, I'm learning it is used as a reward for group good behavior. So I'm hoping they get to go more often because Isabelle loves it and talks about it all afternoon after a trip to the big MBB.

I wouldn't mind hanging out there myself one of these fine days. I need me some make believe right about now.

A Monk and a Bunch of Young Chicks

Not sure if y’all read “A Monk Swimming” by Malachy McCourt. This was the brother of Frank McCourt who wrote the best selling “Angela’s Ashes”. Both stories were about the same family, and the same poor upbringing in Ireland, and their relocation to America. Both books were very different but equally engaging (at least to me).

If you did read “A Monk Swimming”, you may or may not remember what the title refers to. I still, to this day, laugh when I recall it. The book is almost 15 years old so if you haven’t read it, and you don’t know the story, but you want to read it, except I’m about to ruin it…too bad. Stop reading this blog post.

When Malachy grew up in the devout Irish Catholic family that he did (like me), he learned the Hail Mary prayer (like me). But he never saw it written on paper (I still don’t know if I’ve ever???). It’s not recited during Mass and I think my parents taught me the words before I ever went to school (like Malachy).

So Malachy recited his prayer like a good Catholic boy, but he misheard the “lyrics” and recited…

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed are thou a monk swimming, and….

And thus the title of his memoir.

Tonight, I was putting Izzi to bed. We do an “Our Father” and a “Hail Mary” every night. Then we tell God what we’re thankful for. Then we say any special prayers that are needed (if you need one, just let me know in the comments).

Like any Catholic will admit, the prayers become pretty “rote” on a daily basis. I hadn’t really tuned into Isabelle’s recital of the “Hail Mary” lately. Turns out, she has misheard some of the lyrics too. I’m not going to correct her at this point, I think it’s adorable. So, in case you wanted to know, Isabelle’s “Monk Swimming” kind of goes like this…

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed are you and young women...

God bless you, my little woman.

Housing Slump Stumper

We put a contract in on a house this past Friday. Ed and I were really excited, it had 4 bedrooms, a huge kitchen that opened into the living room and a “split floor plan” which is a big deal in Florida. You get a master suite on one side of the house and your other bedrooms are clear on the other side. It’s nice for visitors because they can have a little privacy on the other side of the house (even if Isabelle’s room would be over there too).

This house we put a contract in for was even better. It had 4 bedrooms with a three-way split. So we had a master on one side, 2 bedrooms in the middle of the house, and then a 4th bedroom and bathroom on the far end of the house behind a doorway that led to it’s own hallway. It also had an exterior doorway, so this was a built-in in-law suite which is so perfect for all you fine folks who WILL visit us if we ever get settled.

We’ve widened our search beyond the original town of Safety Harbor for a few reasons. 1) There wasn’t a lot on the market over there. 2) The houses were all built in the mid-80s and needed new roofs if we were going to get a decent price on homeowners insurance (which is exorbitant down here!!!!). 3) Because of the lack of supply, and the steady demand, there are actually bidding wars and escalation clauses occurring over there. Have we regressed 10 years? What’s going on here?!?!

So we widened the search to the zip codes all around Safety Harbor. We’ve discovered some really great neighborhoods but don’t know “too” much about them. So we ended up in Ed’s mom’s backyard in a neighborhood called Westchase which is everything I swore I’d never buy. But once you start hanging out in the neighborhood and seeing all the amenities that come with home ownership, it’s hard to pass that lifestyle up considering we’ll be paying the same price for a home that we just left in Maryland. Yet we’ll get 3 neighborhood pools, clubhouse, tennis, golf, and all kinds of activities.

The neighborhoods are pristine, some are gated. The grounds are maintained like a country club. After coming from Selby (which we LOVED, by the way), we’re kind of looking forward to NOT seeing a few things like huge piles of wood in neighbor’s front yards, broken down cars on cinder blocks, boats on trailers blocking the streets, any kind of vehicles blocking the streets, lawn ornaments from a holiday that took place 3 months ago, chain link fences, pit bulls, dirt bikes whizzing wheelies down the street at 11pm (or any hour for that matter), a clubhouse that really exists (not just in the figment of our imaginations or an empty future promise by a Board of Redneck Directors). This is what you get for “master” planning. So what if our mailbox has to be the same color as everyone else’s? And we’re not allowed to leave our garage door open? You know the Truman Show was filmed here in Florida, right?

But alas, that house was not meant to be. We never heard one word from the seller or seller agent past the first day. We got the disclosure documents and HOA contracts to review, and the seller agent assured us the seller was prepared for a quick settlement but beyond that, they never replied and stopped answering calls from our agent. Very odd. The contract had a required answer date of Saturday May 26th or the next business day (which would have been yesterday). So we move on, I suppose. That house wasn’t meant to be. We have appointments today to see some other houses. We’ll let everyone know when the reservation books are open!

Trolleys, and Gators, and Cheetahs, Oh My!

As our crazy whirlwind Florida adventure continues, we decided last minute to hit the beaches for Memorial Day weekend. The weather was supposed to be decent up until Sunday night when parts of Tropical Storm Beryl were possibly gonna rain down on us. So I tried Priceline and Hotwire with no luck. I searched the various travel sites and found nothing. All the beachfront hotels wanted a 3-night minimum and their prices were triple the norm. So I went over to Craigslist and found a hotel for $100/night including taxes. Sold! It was off the beaten path but a really cute place that served our needs (a couple beds to rest our weary sun-drenched bones).

Saturday was all beach, all day with our friends, Dawn and Carl. They have a son, Mason, who Izzi just adores, so it was a great day all around. Perfect blue skies, warm Gulf temps, and small to no waves great for the little ones (and me, if I’m gonna be honest). We had a light dinner early with them in Clearwater Beach and then they went home while we went back to our hotel to shower and get ready to head out for some music, drinks, and maybe some dessert or a late night snack. We decided to hop the trolley to John’s Pass which is a cute area with a boardwalk and tons of shops, restaurants, and nightlife.

We found a waterfront table, got some drinks, Izzi got a strawberry smoothie that was delish, it tasted like ice cream (more milkshake than smoothie). She also said she was hungry and got some fried mac-n-cheese nuggets that were so very tasty. Ed & I nibbled on some stuff but weren’t very hungry. We were pretty wiped from the beach day so called it an early night and headed across the street to the trolley stop a little before 10pm. This is where things went downhill fast. First Izzi had to pee, and she had to go BAD but refused to go in the grass b/c we “were in public”. We couldn’t leave our post to find a bathroom for fear we’d miss the trolley, which was already running late. They claim to run every 30 minutes, it had been about 40 mins so far. By the time we hit one hour, Izzi was crying so I grabbed her and made her go in the grass. Under duress, she relieved herself even if she did splash us both. Awesome!

Another 15 minutes or so go by when another couple walks up asking if this was the trolley stop. We THINK so but haven’t seen a trolley in over an hour. They informed us that all the cab companies were claiming a 90-120 minute wait to call a cab and even then they can’t promise it wouldn’t get picked up by someone else. What was going on here? We had meanwhile seen about 6 trolleys going the opposite direction during our wait. So why are they all headed Uptown but none were coming Downtown? We waited. Izzi cried. She was so overtired that she was going into full meltdown mode. Her stomach hurt. But then, this is her go-to complaint when she wants attention. We didn’t believe her, until she hurled all over the ground in front of us. Awesome! This time, we all got sprayed. And the puke kept coming. And coming. She hurled for about 10 minutes when finally the trolley arrives! Awesome! Normally, I wouldn’t get on a trolley with a vomiting child but in times of trouble, you gotta do what ya gotta do. I was absolutely not letting this trolley leave without us. So we carried her onto the trolley. Meanwhile, our kid has a major motion sickness issue. This should be fun. Did I mention the trolley driver was drunk? Oh yea he was. Awesome!

Thankfully we had bought Izzi a new dress tonight (which she was wearing) so I had a dress of hers in my purse. That, and about 3 small tissues were gonna have to save the day. Ed held her in his lap, with her dress up in front of her face. And this little piggy went puke, puke, puke, all the way home. Awesome!

It didn’t stop there, Izzi made a very large black man retch from the sound and sight of it all. Izzi fell fast asleep when we got back to our hotel but puked again in the middle of the night all over the one bed in the room. Awesome! Thankfully there was a spare set of sheets in the room. But we all had to sleep in clothes at that point since our one set of PJs now were wadded up in the hallway with the rest of the chunky clothes. I worried that our weekend was a total bust. We had another night reserved at this hotel and had planned on much more beachy fun but those dreams were fading fast, as we all finally drifted off to sleep.

Sunday morning was a new day, and Isabelle felt 100% fine. Whew! It was food after all and not a stomach virus. Let’s rock and roll, sistah! She and I hit a street festival early (by accident, how fun?). We went back to wake up Daddy so we could go get breakfast. Then we went back to put our suits on, pack for the beach and headed to mini golf since it was still a little cloudy in the morning. We got to feed alligators at mini golf! So cool. So very very cool. Can’t wait to go back and do THAT again. Then we found a smaller, quieter beach and hung out there for a few hours where Izzi got some more boogie boarding lessons from Daddy. She’s quite good, actually.

Sunday night we found a waterfront place within walking distance. We are NEVER going on that damn trolley again! It was a fun night, beautiful sunset, great music, cold drinks, and fun was had by all.

We went home Monday morning after a quick stop for breakfast and while it rained in the morning, it kind of burned off and got semi-sunny. We still had a few hours of holiday weekend left and I was trying to rally the tired troops to go back out and find something fun to do. How about Busch Gardens?!?! We just got our annual passports so we can go over, if it’s crowded we can just leave. No biggie! Well it was NOT crowded and we spent almost 5 hours there having a blast. There weren’t lines at any rides, we literally walked right onto all the roller coasters. Ed & I had to ride solo, obviously, but it worked out fine since there weren’t lines and they do offer a kid swap thing anyway if there was, where one parent waits with the kid and then gets to board the ride without waiting in line after the first parent returns. We finally got to ride the new coaster called Cheetah Hunt. Wow, what a ride. I’m glad I didn’t know anything about it because there are surprises on it that you probably have never seen in other coasters. I was surprised anyway. And it was a good surprise. Can’t wait to go back, maybe without the kid next time so Ed & I can ride together.

Other than those few sketchy hours on Saturday night, it was a great weekend. I’m glad we found that last minute steal so we could enjoy another fabulous Florida weekend in the sand, sun, and surf.

A Day of Firsts

Today was a good day of new adventures in the Siler household.

Ed and I agreed on a house! We went to look at houses for the umpteenth time in the past month and Ed & I agreed that we loved two houses. That's a good thing. The bad thing is that I liked one house more, and, of course, Ed liked the other one more. The struggle goes on.

Izzi hit her first tennis ball! Pop-Pop Bill finally got Izzi out with the little tennis racket he made for her. It took many attempts, a little cajoling, and a lot of instructions, but she knocked one clear over Ed's head and got a piece of a handful of others. She said she's ready to get to the courts tomorrow to give it another whirl. We'll see how long this attention span lasts.

Izzi swam un-assisted in the deep end tonight! After a sweaty tennis lesson, Izzi asked Ed to take her into the deep end of the pool tonight so she could "really try to swim for real this time" (her words, not mine). And she did it! She asked Ed to let go of her, which he did completely. And she did a crazy doggy paddle thing from where they were over to the love seat. It wasn't far, and it could hardly be called "swimming" or even a doggy paddle but we all had a very proud moment...most of all, Isabelle. She starts an intense three-times-a-week swim lesson program in two weeks. We think she is more than ready.

We have lots of firsts ahead of us on this new Florida adventure, and we're only getting started!

The Otto Train

When we were packing up and ready to come to Florida, I priced out several options.
1. Shipping Ed's Wrangler down by itself so we could drive in the Liberty together as a family.
2. Sending Ed and one of his MD buddies in the Wrangler for a road trip to Florida. Fly home so we could drive down as a family.
3. Ship both cars and fly down.

And then someone told me about the Auto Train. I'm not really sure why I'd never heard of it before. There are only 2 stations - Lorton, Virginia (just south of D.C.) and Sanford, Florida (just north of Orlando). It runs every day on the same exact schedule. It leaves the station at 4pm and arrives at the other one at 9:30am. Both northbound and southbound have the same schedule.

We got a sleeper car with a private bathroom, loaded both Jeeps onto the train, and the 3 of us cost about $900. When I priced the other options, it was going to cost more since there is no way I could drive the entire 17 hours in one stretch. And I really don't think Isabelle would have hung in there that long either. So with gas, food, lodging, a drive would have cost us a little more than $1,000, not to mention Ed & I would be in separate cars which I didn't like.

Thus, our first trip on the "Otto Train" as Izzi calls it. And let me tell you, it is a VERY fun way to get to Florida. The sleeper car is super tiny, there is not a lot of space to move around so I suggest not bringing too much stuff onto the train. Here was our schedule for our trip:

12 NOON - arrive and drop car off in front, hang out in the station reading, coloring, playing with other kids (it was raining the day we were there so we couldn't go outside but there is a decent playground for the kids, picnic tables, etc.). The shop in the station has basic snacks like you would find at the news stands in an airport (pre-made sandwiches, lunchables, granola/nuts, etc.). But you can bring your own lunch and eat it in the station or outside.

2:30 PM - Board the train. Each car has an attendant. Ours was Chris. He told us our schedule and asked if he should turn our beds down during dinner (the sleeper cars have sofa setup during the day and they convert into beds for night but the attendant has to do that switchover).

3:00 PM - Wine & Cheese welcoming party in the dining car. We hung out for about 90 minutes since the tables were spacious and other guests were hanging out too. We got complimentary wine for an hour and then bought a beer for the last 30 minutes.

4:30 PM - Went back to our private car because the 5pm dinner guests were about to arrive. We chose the 7pm Dinner Seating instead (you choose when you checkin). We got our bags situated, PJs out of our suitcase, and listened to music (the cars have radios with a few stations but we also had our iPod). When you get a sleeper car, you are allowed to bring your own food and booze if you want so Ed & I cracked open a cold beer while Izzi colored and we just chatted about our new adventure.

7:00 PM - Dinner time (included in price of tickets). I got a pasta dish and Ed chose the beef. Both were surprisingly pretty tasty. More complimentary wine so by now we had quite a buzz going on!

8:30 PM - We lingered at Dinner a bit and headed back to our sleeper car around 8:30. We got into PJs and Izzi watched a movie while Ed and I talked about what we needed to do once we got to Florida.

10:30 PM - We were all zonked out a little after 10. I only slept a few hours, woke up around 1am and couldn't fall back to sleep. Ed tossed and turned most of the night too. We had an announcement at 6am that the train was arriving early due to light traffic on the tracks overnight. We pulled into the station at 8 and it took about 90 minutes to get all the cars off the train so we pulled out of there right about 9:30 AM as scheduled.

It was a carefree, worry-free way to travel. Every minute was an adventure and Izzi just thought it was the coolest thing. She slept like a log and we had to actually wake her up when we arrived. She was so surprised to wake up and find out we 'were in Florida already!'.