Beach Trip Part 1

We just returned from St. Pete last night. Actually we stayed on Treasure Island. We had to cross a drawbridge to get there. Matthew really liked that part.We left Saturday morning and went to spend the night in Gainesville. Sunday we got up and went to church with Nana and Dale. The church is beautiful. It is an old Spanish style church that is still white stucco. It has the original pews inside. After church, we headed down to St. Pete. Because we were leaving from Trenton, FL, we did not go 75/275. It was a nice divided highway most of the way there with NO traffic.

(Our Condo from the beach)

We got the the condos around 4:30 and the kids and I hit the beach. They had a good time. Matthew insisted the entire way down there that he was NOT going to the beach, he just wanted to go to the pool, but when we got him there, he loved it. Brian took him way out (it was waist high on Brian) and as soon as he saw a wave coming, he would grab Brian around the neck and try to get on his head. If anyone went out without him, he would stand at the edge of the water and scream for them.

Poor Brooke, this was how she swam most of the time.

The boys, this was when Matthew FIRST got in.

Brooke is as bad as Brian about swimming, I made sure that I could see that green mask every few minutes even though the next day, she dropped it and lost it in the waves!

Brian was being silly and almost lost his pants. Matthew thought that it was hilarious!

Pretty much everything we needed was within walking distance. There was a Publix and Walgreens across the street, a really good pizza place and lots of little shops. The Publix was COOL. You parked underneath and had to ride the elevators up to the actual grocery store. That would be nice when it was raining, but I cannot imagine having to tote my kids and groceries down that four times a week. I think that Nana and Dale were shocked at the amount of food that my family goes through. The sandwich meat that was supposed to last the entire time we were there lasted one meal.

The first night there, the pool closes at 10. We got out around 9:40 and took the kids back up and got ready for bed. We had the "poolside effeciency" condo package where it was actually 3 rooms and they all could connect or you could lock them up and have individual rooms. Our bedroom faced the pool, the common room had 2 queen beds and it faced the pool, that was where the kids slept. In addition to the pool, Bazzie's Beach Bar lets out into the courtyard. At midnight, I was screaming at the kids who had jumped the fence and were beating the crap out of each other with pool noodles. Then as soon as security got THEM out (and it involved the teenager, she could NOT have been older than Brandon losing her bathing suit! I did not know Brandon was watching until the next morning!) the crowd comes flowing out of Bazzie's and is so drunk, they are screaming and hollering and carrying on. By this time, it's 1:30 (am) and I was pretty ticked off. But just as soon as I picked up the phone, I looked out the window and there were the cops busting up the party. So finally, sleep! Nana and Dale had NO idea what had gone on during the night. Their room was beside ours and it faced the south AND the main air conditioner was in their room so they heard NOTHING. It was neat though, we could lock our door (not for long, someone was always beating on it) there were 3 bathrooms, one for me and Brian (the TINY one), one for Nana and Dale, and then the common room had one, the kids used it, it was HUGE. There was a full kitchen in the common room too and both of the bedrooms had a mini fridge and a coffee pot and microwave. The maid service was fantastic! Our lady was hilarious and was forever bringing us more towels and washcloths and cutting up with the kids. One day she started the vaccuum and Matthew started screaming so she chased him around for a few minutes. She even washed the dishes in the sink after I told her that I would get them later. She said, (in very broken English),"Lady, you on vacation, I wash dishes!" Oh! And we ALL had our very own tv's!

So that sums up day one, stayed tuned for the rest of the days, and yes, it does involved more lost bathing suits (not ours). Next time, we will NOT be getting a poolside condo!