Florida break

We had a great time in Florida :) If you've seen my photos on facebook, you can probably tell. Despite some off and on sickness being passed around and sunburn (my own stupidity), it was a really nice week.

Saturday: Brandon, Raul, and I flew down to Tampa and met my mom and dad. Dad flew back to Indy an hour later and we went back to Madeira Beach with Mom. We got settled into the unit at the beach club and had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes (awesome restaurant, if you've never been there).

Sunday: Church at the "pink church" in St. Petersburg. Met my extended family (dad's aunt and uncle and cousin and her family) for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Afternoon in the sun. Sunday was the first warm day Florida had seen in awhile, so the beaches were pretty full. Dinner in.

Monday: Morning and lunch at John's Pass in the gorgeous sunshine. Went to Orlando and passed through strawberry country. Got settled into a "questionable" motel and shopped at an outlet mall and Downtown Disney. Dinner at the T-Rex restaurant at Downtown Disney.

Tuesday: Disney World!!! Mom, Raul, and I went to Magic Kingdom for the morning and afternoon. Rode several rides, went to several shows...so much fun being a kid :) Late afternoon we met up with Brandon (who'd been to all 4 parks by this point) and went to EPCOT for dinner. Raul and I then went to Mexico and Norway in the course of an hour. :) Late night ride back to Madeira Beach.

Wednesday: 80 degree day in Florida. Thus, I spent the whole day in the sun, and paid dearly for it. :p Bad sunburn by the evening and an awkward sleep for the next 4 days.

Thursday: Windy windy day! Lunch at by the beach at Sloppy Joe's, watching the high waves and crazy kite boarders (who got kicked off the beach by the patrol). Rest of the day stayed in, but went to my aunt and uncle's in St. Pete to watch American Idol.

Friday: Rainy day...all day off-on showers. Last minute shopping at John's Pass and lunch at Bubba Gump restaurant. Packing, packing, and more packing.

Saturday: Gorgeous day (of course it's the day you leave) to leave early to head back to Indiana. Brandon drove the whole day while Mom watched 3 of the Harry Potter movies and Raul slept. I sat up front with Brandon and read a new book while listening to the Harry Potter movies. My new book is a sort of autobiography about Temple Grandin, who had an HBO movie about her last month. Great movie, and the book is really interesting, too. Stopped overnight in Chattanooga, TN. Not as warm as Florida :p

Sunday: Too short of a night's rest with DST on top of it. It's the first time I've had to deal with it (Indiana switched to it when I was overseas, so I'm totally not used to it). Brandon drove us all the way to Indiana while Mom watched 2 more Harry Potter movies. Yep! All that's left is the 6th one, which I haven't seen yet either. We made a pit stop at a Starbucks outside Nashville to meet my "old" friend Joanne who I hadn't seen in years, and pretty much the only chance I've had to see her is when we were on our way to or from Florida. It was so great to see her. After dropping Brandon off in Indy later in the afternoon, we made it home to Fairmount around 7pm. Whew!

So far this week, I've had a hard time adjusting being back. The weather has gotten warmer in Indiana, and it's really messing with my health. I never felt great, and today I just felt plain old awful. It was a very long, noisy day, too, and that didn't help. I came home and felt even worse. Even though I already had a spring break of sorts, I'm really glad Park's spring break is next week. I need some rest. But I am so thankful for the 7 days in Florida.