On Tuesday, January 14th we pulled our kids out of school and hour early and began our drive to Salt Lake City! The weather had been VERY snowy the past couple of weeks and we got lucky with a small window on Tuesday of no snow during the day! However, after we made it to Salt Lake and were safely tucked into our beds at our hotel at 8:00pm, Josh's dad called to tell us that they had just closed part highway I-15 because of blowing snow! We were so happy that we had left when we did and made it down to Utah with clear roads!
We went to bed early that night because we had to wake up at 3:45 am the next morning! The hotel we had stayed at, the Microtel, allowed us to keep our Buick parked there for two weeks for only $30. Then we took their hotel shuttle to the SLC airport at 4:30am in order to catch our 6:30am flight out!
We made it to the airport and got all of our luggage tagged and checked. Then our flight went through Chicago, had an hour layover, and then on to Tampa, Florida. We arrived in Tampa at about 4:00pm on Wednesday, January 15th. It was so nice when we arrived to actually feel WARM!! They were having an unusually warm spell and it was about 80 degrees and sunny!
We got our rental van and headed south to North Port where my dad lives. We stopped for dinner along the way and arrived at his house at about 7:30. Once we got there, we spent some time chatting and then went to bed by 9:30 because we were all VERY tired.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16
The next day, Thursday, we ate breakfast and then headed to Caspersen Beach. I had read about this online and how you can find shark teeth there, so the kids were excited to go "hunting" for shark teeth. There weren't too many people there, but of the ones that were I would say about 75 percent of them were also looking for shark teeth! It must be the spot!
My kids looked for a little bit, but mostly they were just excited to be swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand. The weather couldn't have been better! It was sunny and in the low eighties. We stayed there until about 3:00 and then our hunger motivated us to leave and get lunch at the nearby Sharky's On the Pier. We ate lunch at a table that was right next to the sand and the view was beautiful. Caleb got the nachos and when they came out before anyone else's, we all were staring at them like hungry piranhas. He did share a few... but not many.
After we finished eating, we walked down to the beach again (this beach was called Venice Beach) and the kids played in the sand and waves some more.
Finally at about 5:00, we headed back to North Port. The kids rode on the golf cart around the neighborhood (it even had Christmas lights in it) and Caleb talked to my dad for a long time about 3D printing and other exciting things. lol Avery loved just sitting with the dog, Arissa, on the couch and watching TV. Later on, Melissa's son, Christian, came and we played cards around the kitchen table and the boys taught everyone how to play "scum." We also talked about how Grandpa Bestor had taught me how to play poker when I was a little kid and my parents would leave me with grandma and grandpa to go out to dinner. Dad thought it was funny that I had never told him that before. (I think I had, he just has dementia.)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17
On Friday morning, we headed to the Mote Aquarium. Christian came with us too, but Melissa had to work in the morning so she met up with us at about 1:00. It was about 30 minutes north in the Sarasota area and we arrived at about 10:45, just in time for the 11:00 shark feeding. The museum wasn't very crowded at all, which was really nice. We saw sharks, otters, jellyfish, and alligators and were even able to touch star fish and baby sting rays.
After we were done at the aquarium at about 12:30, we went into town and met up with Melissa for lunch. We ate at this little restaurant downtown that had fish and tacos and wraps. After lunch, we drove over to a beach called Lido Key. They weather wasn't quite as warm as it had been the day before, so the kids played on the beach but didn't really get into the water and swim around as much.
We played around on the beach until about 4:00 and then we headed back down to North Port. I don't remember the traffic being as bad as it was the last time we were there a few years ago. It took us a while to get back to his house with all the traffic. My dad said that it has grown so much in the past few years and he is also getting sick of all the people moving there. North Port isn't as bad as the Sarasota and St. Petersburg/Tampa area though. It's also mostly old people.
That night we played cards for a while again from about 5:30 - 7:00 and then we went out to a sushi place for dinner. Caleb was pretty excited to eat sushi, since we usually only bring him home our leftovers from when we go out to Da Pineapple Grill. I have to say though, I have tried a lot of sushi places and my favorite is still the little old Pineapple Grill in Rexburg.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 18
The next morning, we woke up early and got everything packed up again. We had to leave their house by about 9:30 so that we could drive back up to Tampa, return the rental car to the airport, and then take a cab to our cruise ship. So we said goodbye to Poppy and Melissa and Christian (who my boys really loved) and also to the little doggie, Arissa (who Avery really loved!)
At about 1:00 we arrived at the Carnival cruise ship and went through the whole boarding process. This involved showing birth certificates for my kids and passports for Josh and me. Once on board, we texted Cody and Lindsey and found out they were on board already too! Lindsey and Cody Summers decided to come with us when we went out to dinner with them in September and told them all about our cruise plans for January. They quickly booked the same cruise and my kids were really excited about them joining us! They have four kids. The oldest is named Colter and is Caleb's age. He has played quarterback on Caleb's football team (and Caleb is center) so they've formed a good friendship between football and school. They also have a daughter who is 9 named Landyn who gets along really well with Avery. Then they have two little boys who are 5 and 3. They mostly just provided entertainment for us on the trip. lol
The first thing we did when we got on the boat was EAT! (And we ate and ate and ate for the next five days!) One of the best things they have on the ship is this burger place. It has some of the best burgers and fries I have ever had. Overall, Carnival's food was maybe a 6.5/10, but the burger place was like 9/10. So we ate some burgers and walked around the ship and then went back to our stateroom so the kids could get changed into their swimsuits.
Okay, let's just talk for a minute about our stateroom: Room M63 on the Carnival Paradise. When I booked the cruise, one of the first questions it asked online was, "How many people are traveling?" I put down 5. Then I went through the options and saw that they DID indeed have a stateroom that would fit five! So I selected the location of the room and chose M63 and so on. Now, I remember it saying that I DID also have the option to choose to book two separate rooms. So I am aware that I COULD have done that. However, as I crunched the numbers it came out to be about $400-$500 extra to book the two rooms instead of just one. I decided to just do the one, thinking, "Well how bad could it be? We won't be in our room that much anyways, right?" In retrospect... I think I should have booked the two rooms. Was it doable? Yes. Were we packed in there like sardines? Yes. But did we survive? Barely. lol
Basically when you walk into the room, there in a little walkway about 3 feet by 4 feet. That was really the only floor space we had available in the room. The rest of the room consisted of a "king sized bed" (two twins pushed together, because honestly how could they have gotten a king sized into that doorway? They couldn't have), two little beds that pulled down on each side from the walls above each side of the king bed, and then a little mattress on the floor for Avery. Caleb and Avery actually did take turns sleeping on the mattress on the floor. That was nice of Caleb. And honestly, when we were all tucked into bed and sleeping, it was fine! It was the times when it was morning and we were all trying to get up and showered and use the toilet and get dressed in 12 square feet of space! That was when it got tricky! That and trying to find a place to hang five people's wet clothing over the course of five days! But we survived! It should've been a reality show. It was pretty funny. Here is a picture of our little stateroom for five! I didn't TOTALLY cheap out as you can see and i DID get the "oceanview" with a window. So there's that.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 19
We were at sea all day on Sunday. I personally would prefer to be docked at an island rather than being at sea. I get kind of board just being on the boat all day. It's fine in the evenings when you want to eat and relax, but during the day I would rather be exploring someplace new! However, with kids along, it was nice to have all day free access to the buffet and have the swimming pool that they could play at while the adults just sat around and chatted. So that's basically what we did on Sunday! We also played mini-golf on the top deck.
Then in the evening, it was the night of the big NFC Championship game between the Packers and the 49ers. And guess what? Our team is the Packers and the Summers family loves the 49ers. So we were in for quite a night of lively game-watching. Unfortunately, the Packers decided to go to sleep and ended up losing 37-20. I also decided to go to sleep at half time, taking Avery back to our state room and getting her tucked in after a long day out in the sun. The boys all stayed up and watched the rest of the game in the Queen Mary lounge on the 9th level. It was pretty awesome that the buffet area was literally just one staircase above them, so I'm pretty sure Caleb made about ten trips back and forth for more food during that game. (At least the stairs gave him a little bit of a workout each time.) So even though the packers lost, at least I didn't have to make any food! Here is a picture of Caleb and Colter, Caleb in his green shirt and Colter in his 49ers hat. You can see from their size difference that Caleb is the center on their grid kid team, while colter in the quarterback. Every time Caleb would eat another burger andI would say, "Caleb!! Slow down!! You're gonna get huge!" Lindsey, Colter's mom, would laugh and say, "NO! I WANT him to stay big! He's protecting my baby on the field!" haha
MONDAY, JANUARY 20
Monday morning we docked in beautiful Grand Cayman at 8am. I was REALLY excited to see Grand Cayman. I wish we would've had more time there. We were told we had to be back on the boat by 2:00, so we were eager to eat breakfast and get off the boat as early as possible.
Let me just note this so I can remember it... taking a cruise that requires a water taxi to get off the boat and over to the island you are stopping at is a PAIN IN THE BUTT! I have never had to do that before. It has always been that our cruise ship docks and they lay down this little platform and you just walk right off. You have to show your little ID card when you get on and off and put your bags through a security belt, but it's just a constantly flowing line of people and it's usually pretty fast.
However, I guess in Grand Cayman they don't have those big docks that can accommodate cruise ships. So basically all the cruise ships just pull up into the bay and park and throw down their anchor somewhere, and then you have to wait for a little "water taxi" to come and take batches of people over to the shore where there is just a small dock.
FINALLY, at about 8:30, she announced, "They have a water taxi!" and we all filled like cattle (or kind of stampeded like cattle) down the stairs and out the little walkway to get on board this smaller boat. The boat had two levels and I asked her "how many people can fit on this boat?" I think it was about 200-250. So I'm sure it still took them a while to get everyone on shore from the cruise ship.
The water taxi ride itself was pleasant, it only took about 5-10 minutes to ferry us over to the island. It was just one of those open-air ferry boats with rows of benches on the top and bottom levels. But the weather was great and we were excited to see Grand Cayman!
We set foot on the island probably at about 8:50 and then started walking towards the little cruise passenger welcome area. Having been on a cruise before, I was prepared for the feeding frenzy that would be happening as soon as our group was seen by the local taxi drivers and merchants. All cruise ship passengers are basically like walking dollar signs to them and they immediately started hounding us with questions about, "Where you want to go? I take you there! You want to go to beach? I know a great beach! You want shopping, pretty lady? I take you to great shopping place!"
There was a lady taxi driver that started to engage with us about this tour she offered and I just said as we were walking, "We just want a cab to take us to Smith Cove," to which she quickly replied, "I take you to Smith Cove! I can do that!" I said to her casually, "Well what does it cost? We have a big group." She seems the big group of 11 people and says, smartly, "It usually is $5 per person but I give it to you for $4." I glanced over at Josh and Cody who were nodding like, "Yeah, let's just do that.
So with that, we all hopped into her big blue van (luckily it fit us all) at she drove us to Smith Cove. I had read about Smith Cove online and had decided it was a place I wanted to check out. Everyone had said it was kind of a "local beach" and that it was good to get there early in the day when the locals were in school or at work and before other cruise ship passengers found out about it. It was only about a 5-10 minute drive from the cruise port down one beachside road the whole way. So that lady made a quick $44 on the way there and then we also arranged for her to come back and get us in about 3 hours at noon. So in total, she made about $88 plus tip for a quick drive there and back! Pretty good for her, I'd say! Maybe I will move to Grand Cayman and become a taxi driver.
When we arrived at Smith Cove, the only other people there were two college girls that were busy trying to take perfect selfies on the beach. They probably loved it when we showed up with our seven kids and started rolling around on the beach and swimming in their background. lol They left pretty quickly after we arrived.
Then we had the whole place to ourselves for a good hour or so, which was awesome. The swimming area was small but perfect for our little group. Avery and the little kids loved just playing on the beach and letting the waves roll them around in the sand. Gabe and Caleb snorkeled out a short distance to this big rock that had some coral reefs around it. I went out one time with Gabe too, using Caleb's snorkel mask. We saw a big school of fish and some other sea life. The full-face masks that I bought worked way better than the old style of masks with a separate mouth piece.
It was a perfect place to hang out for those few hours. I just wish that we had until like 4:00 on Grand Cayman instead of until 2:00. Because then pretty quickly it was noon and the lady was back to drive us to the port again. We debated having her take us to this other beach called Seven Mile Beach, but it was about 20 minutes to the north and I'm sure she would've charged us another $50 each way! And we probably only would've had about an hour there and then we would've needed to leave to catch the last water taxi! So we took her cab back to the cruise port area at about noon and then just walked around for a half hour or so. We stopped in a few gift shops and I bought a Grand Cayman magnet. Avery was on the lookout for a stuffed animal, but she didn't end up getting one until the next day in Cozumel. We were all getting hungry for lunch, so that was another motivation to just get back on the boat where the free food would abound! Cody and Lindsey were also wanting to take their two youngest kids to this "Build-a-Bear" activity that started on the boat at 2:30. So we boarded the water taxi at about 12:45 and headed back. I wish we could've stayed there until 4:00 and seen Seven Mile Beach! Guess I will just have to go back!
We stayed on deck and relaxed until about 4:00 and then decided we better do at least one nice dinner in the formal dining room since we had brought along fancy clothes. On a cruise, there is the option to eat in the formal dining room every night if you want to. The waiter will come out and take your order and then you will sit and wait and they will eventually bring your food like at a restaurant. The problem is, when you have 7 kids ages 3-13, that doesn't really ever sound that appealing. So we basically ate in the buffet dining room every night except for one.
We decided that night should be our "fancy night", so at about 4:30 we left the pool deck and we all went back to our rooms to get ready. Cody and Lindsey's family had gotten two rooms side-by-side since the max room occupancy was 5 people and they had 6 total. So they were kind of forced to get 2 rooms. Like I said before, we had only gotten one room for our family of five, so they times when we were in there all trying to get ready.... got a little crazy. Somehow we managed though and we were able to go out on the top deck at the very back end of the boat and take some nice family pictures. It was nice having another family along because we always had someone to take our pictures! haha
After we got our perfect pictures, (well... not all of them were perfect.. note Avery in this one....)
then we headed down to the dining room and ate dinner. One of the best things I had to eat on the whole cruise was the appetizer I had for dinner. it was these beef skewers and they only came with two little pieces of meat, but it was soooo good. Then I had salmon for dinner and that was also good. The dessert was the famous Carnival Molten Lava cake, which is good, but honestly the one i make at home is better. Here is a picture of Gabe sitting among Cody and Lindsey's littlest boys, who thought Gabe was really cool lol and also a picture of Caleb and Colter.
After dinner we went to a comedy show and then went to bed! Most nights we either went to a show (there was a comedy one, a Hasbro game night one, and a couple of others) or we played cards sometimes in the dining area while we ate late night snacks. You can never eat too much on a cruise!
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21
On Tuesday morning, our boat docked in Cozumel, Mexico! I was a little sea sick from the night before because it had been really windy and the boat was rocking like crazy. The rest of my family had slept through it (luckily) but I was having kind of a hard time sleeping. I got up one time and used the bathroom and I had to hold on to the hand rail in the bathroom because the boat was rocking so much I thought I was going to fall off the toilet!
But luckily then we docked and I was very happy to be on land! This time, we didn't have to take the water taxi either, so I was grateful for that! We docked a little bit later that the previous day. It was probably about 10:30 when we got off the boat. Then we walked to the little cab driver station and found someone to drive us to this resort called Playa Mia. We had made reservations in advance to spend our day there and my kids were really looking forward to going on this inflatable water playground that was supposed to be out on the ocean.
However, after riding in the cab (which took about 15 minutes) and arriving at Playa Mia, we learned that because of the winds they had pulled the inflatable playground onto the beach and it wouldn't be out for the day! My kids were sooo bummed. That was like, one of the things they were looking forward to the most. We debated not even going in to this resort once they told us that, but the problem was, we had already paid for the cab to take us there and we would've had to pay for another cab to take us anywhere else. Plus, with the winds being so bad, they said all of the beaches were going to be "red flag", which meant you couldn't swim in them. Honestly, I think if we would've maybe found a remote beach on the south side of the island, we maybe could've gotten away with swimming (because honestly there aren't any lifeguards anywhere) but we decided with kids it was probably better to play it safe and stay at Playa Mia. They did have a couple different swimming pools and some water slides, which was good that the kids at least had those! There was also a buffet that was open all day and they could go and get food whenever they wanted, so that was part of what made it less stress. When you travel with kids, you really have to consider what will be the easiest and keep everyone happy. If it would've been just me and Josh and other adults, I probably would've been more willing to be adventurous, but with kids... not so much. Just give a chair on the beach and let me relax. lol
So here are a few pictures of Playa Mia. It really was a nice place and I was impressed with the quality of everything they had there (minus the food... which was about the equivalent of fast food Mexican and some chicken fingers and fries, but the kids liked it!). If it hadn't been windy and the kids would've been able to do the water inflatable course and some kayaking and snorkeling, it would've been like ten out of ten stars. Or maybe still nine because the food could've been better. But because of the wind and it limiting the activities we could do, it was more like six out of ten stars.
Gabe and I also took a little walk down the beach. I wanted to just walk down a little ways and see what else was down there. It was basically a few different beach clubs including Paradise Beach club and one called Mr. Sanchos'. After walking by Mr. Sanchos (which I had also considered booking) I was glad we had chosen Playa Mia. The crowd at Mr. Sanchos was more... how do I say this... white trash. And also some non-white trash. It definitely seemed like a little bit more of a low-class hang out spot. Playa Mia seemed more like a family hang out spot and the facilities were a little cleaner and the chairs were nicer. The beach was basically the same. Here are some pictures of the walk in between Playa Mia and Mr. Sanchos where it was open and unspoiled and we even saw a group of horseback riders come by (right after Gabe had peed in the trees.) lol
So at about 3:30 or 4:00, we decided to start packing up our things and catch a cab back to the cruise port area. We walked around a little bit in and out of some shops. When we first got dropped off, the cab driver I think wanted to drop us at his friends' shop or something because it was across the street from the safety bubble of the cruise port area and all the shop owners were very aggressive Mexican salespeople like, "Come in my shop! Come in here!" Cody and Lindsey did go into one shop and they found some little backpacks for their kids. But then we crossed the street and went into the little cruise passenger shops area.
I thought the port area was really nice in Cozumel. They had some cute shops and everything was really nicely kept. We ended up finding a pink dolphin stuffed animal for Avery, which made her really happy. We also bought Caleb a Nacho Libre mask because I wanted to and it made me really happy to see him put it on. lol
By about 5:00 we were back on board the Carnival Paradise and we let the kids do a little more swimming after dinner. It was chilly that night though and the pool was basically empty except for the crazy Idaho kids!
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22
Wednesday was our last day on the cruise and it was just another day at sea. I think the cruise would've been great if this last day would've been a day at Carnival's private island. I feel like I could've used one more day of just relaxing on a warm beach and letting my kids play in the waves. I was kind of sick of the boat by this point. I honestly even would've been good just being back in Tampa by Wednesday morning. It was colder and windy too, so the pool and water slides weren't that appealing for the kids. We tried mini golfing, but it was tricky with the wind blowing the ball everywhere. We were in sweatshirts on the deck and it was still pretty cold. So we did the only other thing there was left to do... we ate. We also played cards for a while, which was fun. But I think we were all just kind of ready to be off the boat, so it was good that the next morning was our last day!
I didn't really take a lot of pictures the last day, but here are a couple more of the ship and us playing cards!
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23
We docked back in Tampa at about 8am. We had debated sending Cody and Josh to get rental cars and then coming back to get us, but we decided to just all get off the cruise ship at the same time and I think that was the wise choice. It took about a half hour to go through the whole process of getting off the boat. You have to show your passports and birth certificates for the kids, get your bags off, and it's just a lot of waiting in lines and stuff.
Finally, we were kicked to the curb with all our suitcases and ready to go get our rental car at the airport. We decided to just take the big coach bus that was waiting there ready to take people's money. We paid about $40 for all five of us to ride to the airport, which was about 15-20 minutes away. On the way there before the cruise we had taken a Lyft, which was like $28 including tip. But now after the cruise, we were tired and not willing to wait around for a Lyft to save $10.
We got to the airport pretty quickly and were able to easily go in and get our rental car from Enterprise. The Summers and us ended up with identical matching gray Dodge Grand Caravans. I meant to take a picture of Josh and Cody posing in front of each van, but I never did, dang it!
Once we had our vans, we drove south toward St. Petersburg. We decided to drive to the Fort De Soto area. It was just a really scenic, quiet little area right at the southern tip of the Peninsula. There is an old fort there that was used during the Spanish American War. We walked up and down the beach and looked for sea shells. There weren't as many as there were down at Caspersen Beach with my dad, but it was still really pretty. The weather was probably high sixties with a little breeze, so not exactly swimming weather. But it was sunny and it was still a pleasant day. We stayed down there until about 2:00 and then we headed back north along the coast toward Treasure Island where our hotel was.
We stopped at Chick Fil A for lunch (Gabe's pick) and we all got our soda fix. None of us had purchased the soda package on the cruise, so we were all excited to get that sugar high again! haha Then we drove to the hotel we would be staying at, which was called the Molloy Gulf Coast Cottages and Motel.
I was so glad we booked this place. I had actually booked a different place called Pelican Point first and then when Lindsey ended up deciding they were coming on the cruise, I cancelled Pelican Point so we could try and find someplace together. Later on, we drove past Pelican Point in Clearwater and I said to Josh, "That was the first place I had booked and I cancelled it," and he was like, "That was definitely a good choice!" The Molloy was soooo cute. It was right on the beach and even though it was an older motel it was more south of all the hustle and bustle of Clearwater so it seemed a lot quieter. If I were a millionaire I would've stayed at the Don Cesar. But that was like $400 a night for their basic room soooo Josh said no. (Someday when it's just me and Josh... that's happening.)
But the Molloy was seriously perfect for us. I wish we could've actually stayed there two nights instead of just one. We check in at about 3:00 and went to our rooms. Each family had gotten the same room, which was actually called a "two-room suite." It was perfect for our family. When we walked in there was a cute little living area with a couch that pulled out to a bed (where Gabe slept) and a TV and a little round table. Then there was also a little kitchen area. There was a bathroom that could be entered from the living room/kitchen and also from the bedroom. The bedroom had two queen sized beds so Caleb and I shared one while Josh and Avery took the other one.
As soon as we got checked in though, the kids changed into their swimsuits and jumped into the pool. They were happy that this pool was heated and they swam for a long time.They had their snorkel masks on and some dive toys that were provided by the motel, so they had a lot of fun just playing games in the water. The beach was literally RIGHT there by our hotel and it had been our intention to swim at the BEACH, not in the pool, but it was pretty cold to be swimming in the ocean so we were glad they had the pool.
At about 5:00, we had them get out and shower and change. We drove down to the boardwalk in St. Petersburg called John's Pass Village and boardwalk. There are a lot of cute little gift shops and restaurants down there. We remembered going there back in 2015 with our kids and there had been this taffy shop that was sooo good. So of course we had to go there again. It was called Zeno's Saltwater Taffy and they had about 50 different bins of flavors to choose from. We told the kids they could each get a bag and get 20 pieces. When we weighed them at checkout, Caleb's was definitely more than 20 pieces. The lady laughed and was like, "Yeah... he definitely cheated." The favorite flavors we picked out were root beer, pina colada, watermelon, and I really liked just plain coconut.
After that, Avery convinced us to buy her ANOTHER stuffed animal. This time it was a little corgi dog inside a rainbow-colored purse. Then we drove to a pizza shop called Britt's Pizza. I feel like I was kind of sick of food by that point and I just got a salad. Everyone else got pizza and then we went back to the hotel and went to bed!
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24
The kids swam in the pool at the Molloy again in the morning. Then by about 10am we had to make them get out so they could get changed and we could check out by 11. I wish we would've been closer to the airport because it would've been great to just stay there all day and hang out at the beach and swim. But sadly, we had to leave. We walked down to the beach and took some pretty photos first and then were on our way. I wouldn't mind staying at the Molloy again someday!
When we checked out, we decided to drive north to Clearwater beach. They had a playground there on the beach that we took the kids to for a little while. Then we walked out on the big Pier 60 and bought a couple things in the bait shop at the end of the pier. If you are ever looking for a HUGE selection of shells (like really cool ones to take home or for decorating) this shop is the place. They had HUGE conch shells for like $4 and tons of sand dollars, sharks teeth, and more. I kind of wish I would've bought a few things there. If I had a beach house that I was decorating, I would definitely go there and find some shell accessories. Here are some pictures of Pier 60 and Clearwater Beach.
And here is a picture of Josh and the kids on Pier 60 from 2015 compared to 2020! How have 5 years gone by in the blink of an eye!?
After we were done at Clearwater beach, we drove inland to the east and towards Tampa again. We decided to get some lunch at KFC as we drove (very high-class lol.) Then we got to our hotel in Tampa (the La Quinta) at about 2:00 and decided to see if we could check in, but our rooms weren't ready yet. We weren't really sure what to do to fill our time, so we googled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Stadium and decided to drive over there. It was only about five minutes away from our hotel. We had been kind of hoping we could do a stadium tour, but they didn't do tours on Fridays we found out. So then we called the guest services number and they said if we wanted to, we could drive across the street to the practice field area and they had this little lobby where we could go in and see their Super Bowl trophy from 2003 and some other memorabilia. So we drove over there and this nice old man let us in the big gate and we went in and saw that stuff. Caleb and Colter were really excited to see the Super Bowl trophy. I joked that I couldn't believe they let Colter in wearing his 49ers stuff.
After the stadium, we went back to our hotel and it WAS ready to check in. The La Quinta was such a let down after staying the the Molloy. It was run down and musty and everything seemed dingy and dirty. But the main reason we had booked it was because of the location. It was RIGHT next to the airport and there was even an Enterprise car rental place literally two doors down. So it was really convenient that we could return the vans there the night before and then just take their free shuttle van to the airport.
There was also a really nice mall across the street, so since were were all bored and their pool was NOT heated, we all walked over to the mall for a little bit. Lindsey and I got a few things while Josh and Cody sat with the kids at the play place. I got perfume at Zara (my FAVORITE perfume which I last bought in Italy in 2018) and we both got some shorts at Victoria's Secret. (They were $6!) Now I need to plan another vacation to someplace tropical so I can wear my new cute swim shorts! ;)
After the mall, we walked back over to our hotel and ate dinner at the IHOP which was conveniently located in between our hotel and the Enterprise rental place. We had lots of pancakes and bacon and eggs and then went to bed in our hotel by about 9:00.
We had to wake up at 4:20am the next day in order to catch the 4:45 shuttle to the airport. We basically just rolled out of bed and put on our clothes and grabbed our suitcases and went on the shuttle. When we got to the airport, we said goodbye to the Summers family and headed to the American Airlines counter to check in. They were flying on Delta and they had a direct flight to Salt Lake, so they got home a couple hours before we did. We had to fly to Dallas first and then we switched planes are arrived in SLC at about 1:30. When we got to SLC, we thought there was supposed to be a free shuttle that took us back to the Microtel hotel where we had left our car. But after waiting on the curb for about 45 minutes, we decided the shuttle was NOT coming and we called a Lyft instead.
Finally, at about 2:30, we were back to our Buick Enclave and we made the four hour drive back to Rexburg. We arrived back home at about 7:00. Then the laundry began... Our house was in a state of disaster for about the next 24 hours as we tried to put things away and do laundry and get back to life as usual. Luckily, there wasn't any snow coming down as we drove home from the airport. It did snow a couple days later and as I write this (it is now a week after we've been home... I am slow..) my kids are off school again for another snow day!
We have had SO MUCH SNOW this winter! It is February 3, 2020 and I don't even know how much snow we've had so far this winter, but it feels like literally 20 feet. I'm not even exaggerating. Right now I have these huge five foot tall piles of snow on each side of my driveway that will melt a little bit and then it just snows some more! I think it's safe to say... I am definitely ready to plan another vacation. Until then, I will just look over these pictures again and again and pretend I am someplace warm!
