I left on a jet plane

In January I decided I needed a vacation. I know I just went on one in October, but one of my  new years resolutions this year was to make it out to visit my lifelong friend Katie in Florida before they move. It needed to happen early in the year since there is no way I'm going there in the summer. Can you say "surface of the sun"? As it was I got fried.

So I booked my flight and got a rental car. I decided that the end of February, beginning of March was going to be the best time to go since it was in between shows at work, before my sister got home in March, and before it really started heating up in Florida.

My lovely roommate Chelsea was kind enough to drive me to the airport at the crack of dawn. Actually it was LONG before the crack of dawn. It was a full day of travel, with a stop in Vegas and a stop in Atlanta before finally making it to Orlando. If I had it to do over again I would definitely fly into Fort Myers, but since I was unsure of my plans when I bought the ticket, Orlando was where it was at. I got in my car and headed to Naples.

Experienced my first toll booth (not as intimidating as it was in my mind) and really made the drive without a hitch. Katie met me at the Fort Myers airport and we headed to her house in Naples. Sadly by the time I got there her kids were already in bed, but I did get to see Brielle for a minute when she got up once because she had a nasty little cough.

Friday morning I got up and went for a run. I was thinking it'd be a breeze since I'd be running at sea level instead of 4500 feet, but no. It was a hard run. Once I stopped to think about it, the fact that I was probably really dehydrated from traveling and had only eaten peanuts and pretzels the day before would hinder a good run. Whatever.

Once Taylynn got home from school we headed to the pool. It was SO beautiful. We played in the pool for a while and it was just so fun to be with my girls. Taylynn had been really shy to me in the morning, but in the pool all that was gone.

That night Katie and I headed to the pier and then over for a river boat ride. The boat ride was really fun.We went cruising around Port Royale and it was ridiculous to hear how much the homes cost. There were two for sale. One was $16 million and the one on the other side of the river had just been reduced for the low low price of $9 million. HOLY BUCKETS! We went out on the Gulf of Mexico to watch the sunset and then turned around and headed back in. On the way in we had dolphins jumping along side our boat! It was SO cool!! I had never seen a dolphin in real life before and it was so fun to have them swimming along with the boat. There was even a baby!

After the boat ride we walked around some cute little shops. Naples Soap Co. was a favorite. Their hand scrub was amazing and I'm really regretting not buying myself some. :/ Then we went down to 5th avenue (Maybe I'm making things up but I think that's what it was called). There were some great shops there as well. We got some Kilwins ice cream and then headed for home. We stopped on the way for some Pei Wei and ended the night with a movie. I don't remember what it was called but it had Liam Hemsworth in it and that's all you really need to know. :)

Saturday morning we were up and getting ready to head to the beach. It took us a while to figure out plans and actually make it there but we had a blast once we did. I had gotten a sunburn the day before from the pool so I made sure to put some sunscreen on. I tried out some paddle boarding which was fun, was made into a mermaid in the sand and got to spend some quality time on the boogie boards with Bri. She is hilarious. She was giving me all kinds of dating advice and what I got out of it is that I really just need to be more romantic.

On the way home from the beach we stopped at Rita's for some Italian Ice. Little did I know that this stop would change my life. Yes, I am being dramatic, but seriously I love it! Then we went home to change our clothes and head to dinner. We were going Floridian and went to Cracklin' Jacks. Marc got a platter of deep fried south. A.K.A. fried frog legs, fried gator and some other fish of some sort. I gave the frog and the gator a try. It wasn't my favorite but I didn't hate it. I went with something safe and got the clam chowder. It was delicious.

Although I had put sunscreen on at the beach it didn't seem to have done any good. I was fried to a toasty little crisp. Aloe was my best friend for the next . . . two weeks. Seriously. It was that bad.

The next morning we headed to the beach for a quick shell hunt and found some pretty good ones. We also got to see a baby sting ray!!

At church my sunburn was a treat. The girls would bump my leg and I would want to scream, but I made it through. After church we grilled some steak and asparagus and it was divine. So so yummy.  I wasted the night away watching some movie awards show and finally headed to bed.

Monday I tried the running thing again, but I think I headed out a little bit late because it was already pretty hot and I'm sure that my sunburn and swollen feet didn't really help anything. Even though I had that nasty sunburn, I wanted to go to the pool again, so we did. I was looking a little pale from the sunscreen that was smeared on really thick. No chances here. Monday night we  . . . ate some dinner and . . . I don't really remember. But after the kids went to bed, Katie and I headed to Rita's. My last hurrah in Florida.

Tuesday morning we packed my stuff and all the kids in the car, dropped the kids at school and headed to the airport. It was an uneventful drive back to Orlando and another long flight home, with stops in Jackson and Chicago. The home teachers picked me up from the airport and then it was time to crash.

It was a fantastic trip and I'm so glad I got to go and visit Katie and her family. I love them all so much!