Florida Trip

Friday, SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

We got up at 4 am and loaded the kids in the car and drove to the airport in ABQ. The kids were so excited to actually fly on a plane. We made it through security and to our gate without any problems. I just felt like we were entertaining everyone in the long security line since there were no other kids to be seen in the airport, or not at least 3 kids in one family.

The kids did great on the plane rides. Jack hadn't ever flown before and Kate flew once when she was one. They loved it! Dave sat with them and I sat behind them and then in front of them with Ty.

We met Vaughn and Marianne at the Hollywood, Florida airport. It was so nice to have them come with us. They were such a big help with the kids. It made it more of a vacation for me and probably more fun for the kids too. Luckily, we were able to rent a van, so we didn't have to caravan everywhere and we headed to our hotel.

We stayed in the Marriott Beachplace Towers across the street from the beach in Fort Lauderdale. It was perfect -- a separate bedroom for Grandma and Grandpa, a hide-a-bed couch for me and Dave, lots of cushions for the kids, pack-and-play for Ty, dining room, full kitchen, washer and dryer in our room, etc.

Saturday, SEPTEMBER 26, 2009

We went across the street from our hotel and checked out the beach. I don't have a lot of pictures, since my camera was all fogged up from the humidity and I didn't notice for a little while. I got pictures from Vaughn's camera, but our computer crashed and deleted them. I'll have to get them and post more.

Our hotel is the middle one.

That's Kate getting in the water.
The kids loved the warm water. It took Jack a little while to not be really scared.

After we showered and de-sanded ourselves from the beach. We hopped in the van and drove an hour south to Miami. We decided to check out Miami Beach.

Did I mention that it was REALLY hot?

I love seeing pictures of Vaughn's legs in Dave's shorts. :) That shows how hot it was because Vaughn never wears shorts.

Miami in the background

Miami Beach -- who needs a double stroller? Okay, so we did. Next time we go on a trip we're taking our double jogger.

HUGE barge (can you tell it was hot?)

We liked watching the cruise ships leaving. You could hear their DJs talking and party music going. Some people even waved to us.

We drove around Miami for a while. Then we finally found somewhere good to eat (Cheesecake Factory -- it was really yummy, so I thought it was blog worthy). Then we drove back to our home sweet hotel.

Sunday, SEPTEMBER 27, 2009

We went to church in a Fort Lauderdale ward. It was kind of neat to hear them talking about preparing for their upcoming ward temple trip, hoping that someday they'd get a temple closer to them than Orlando. Then a week later in General Conference Pres. Monson announced a new temple in Fort Lauderdale.

After church we drove down to the Florida Keys. We stopped in Key Largo at the visitor center. Dave is showing off how strong he is inside a diving suit. Then we drove down a little farther. I think we stopped in Islamorada and took some pictures. It was really hot and super humid!

Our almost perfect family picture...

Jack did not want to smile and look at the camera. He was too busy throwing rocks into the water.

Jack could not stop throwing rocks. Dave took a million picture of him throwing. Here are a few...
Kate wanted to have her picture taken with me...

and with Grandma...

and with Grandpa...

Doesn't this picture look like it's on a set, not on the beach?

Monday, SEPTEMBER 28, 2009

Today was the first day of Dave's conference, so we had the whole day to spend without him. The kids wanted to go swimming instead of to the beach, so we went to the hotel pool.

This is how Ty enjoyed the pool. (Great baby!)Little fish.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for playing with the kids!

After swimming, we checked out the rest of the hotel. They had a kid area with this great play place in it. I would love to have one in my basement. Oh wait, I would really love to have a basement too.

We took Vaughn to Dave's conference in Hollywood so he could listen to Dave's presentation. Marianne and I were going to take the kids to a wonderful park, but it started pouring rain. So, we drove around Hollywood and then ate drumstick ice cream cones in a grocery store parking lot.

After the conference was over we drove to IKEA for dinner -- Dave decided that my meatballs are better than IKEA's :)

SEPTEMBER 29 - 30 , 2009

This is hotel where Dave's conference was held -- the Westin Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, FL. It was about a 20 minute drive from our hotel in Fort Lauderdale. We decided to spend our last night in the Diplomat. Dave had a banquet to attend that night (to get his prize $ for the student paper contest). I went with him and Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids.

We went swimming twice in this pool. The kids didn't even want to go to the beach because the pool was so great. It had a beach entrance on the upper pool and a deeper pool on the lower level. They loved it!

Jack just wanted to play catch with whatever he could throw -- Kate's swimming shorts, goggles, etc. Eventually we got little beach balls for the kids to play with in the pool. Jack kept Grandpa busy.

Kate is still a little fish. Hard to believe at the beginning of the summer she wouldn't even put her head under water.

This is how Ty enjoyed his time at the pool -- asleep!

After swimming we packed up our stuff from our hotel room and took Vaughn and Marianne to the airport. Then we came back to the hotel and picked up Dave from his meetings and we headed to the airport.

On our short flight from FL to Atlanta the plane wasn't too full, so we got both back seats (6 seats for the 5 of us). It was great. The kids were exhausted, so they slept. Too bad that wasn't the long flight. Then we flew from Atlanta to ABQ. And then we drove home. Nice vacation and nice to be home.