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Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Phew!

Had a great time with Shirley, her daughter Nicole and the girls (ages 10 & 9) and jeepers, did they keep me running!

We went on the "Pirate Cruise" on the first day -- this was definitely for the kids.
Gena and Emma ready to board the Pirate Ship
But fortunately, they had an upper deck, for "adults only" where they had free beer and wine and a smoking section, so we could escape the lower deck chaos, which included face painting, treasure hunts and other "pirate games".
Upper deck, that's Nicole (in pink) and Shirley next to her.

Then the next day,  believe it our not, we went on a "speed boat tour" in the Gulf of Mexico:
Shirley & I ready for the "ride of our life"!

Nicole and the girls in their boat ready to launch.


On the water (we, Shirley and I) are in the yellow boat (barely visible) way in back.....

I tell you, I was scared shitless at first! We had "tour guide" in the first boat, and each boat followed him in a line. There were five boats all together, Shirley & I were in Boat #3. And it was a bumpy ride!!! It was a two hour tour.... (Glad Shirley drove! ha!) At one point the water was so rough, we were crashed by a huge wave and I was knuckle white hanging on and yelled, "Shirley, this is a crazy way to die!!!!" And we (old ladies) were quite sore afterwards....

But all in all, it was rather fun. And I can take that off my "bucket list" (not that it was ever on it). ha!

And by the way, it was Nicole who booked these tours -- not me. I would have choose lounging on the beach.... or by the pool....

I did get them down to the beach, (it was two blocks from the speed boat place) because I told them they couldn't leave Florida without at least putting their feet in the Gulf of Mexico. So we walked down to the beach:
Shirley & Nicole on the beach

The girls wading in the Gulf.....

Unfortunately, we were not dressed for the beach and the girls put more than their feet in the water. In fact, they were soaked and it was good thing I thought to bring some towels with us....

All in all, a great time. The weather was perfect every day, 82-84 degrees and sunny, evenings a mild 69-70 degrees. And they are from Wisconsin, so they immensely enjoyed that.

When asked, the kids said their favorite part was swimming in my pool! Believe me, they were in the pool every morning, every time we returned from a tour and every evening after dinner and even the morning they had to leave, one last dip in the pool before heading to the airport.

And now, life returns to normal for me, Kona and Ripley.  Spending today, doing laundry (beach towels, sheets, etc.) A lot of work, (both before and after) but well worth it.

Though do remind me how much work it was before I invite someone else down. My back is still aching, and I am ready to be a couch potato for the next few days....



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks like a lot of fun! I'm glad you had company and you got out of the routine.
Yadira

Unknown said...

This was good for you. Very happy you had company. Prepping for their arrival, going places/doing different things WITH them (things you wouldn't have otherwise done), & even clean up detail after they left was good for you. It gave your mind something else to do, a new topic to think about. This was a really good thing for you!!

Hillary said...

Looks like a great time for all....Glad you and your long-time friend and kids enjoyed themselves.....You are becoming quite the adventurer.
Love ya!.

Barb Polan said...

Fun! I hope you got your few days to recover.

J.L. Murphey said...

A lot of work, but that's a good kind of tired.