Florida part 3: Monday, Tuesday and the trip home

Monday morning we went to breakfast at the Village Inn where I had some amazing french toast. After breakfast I really wanted to go to the beach. We drove around for a while deciding what beach to go to. Finally Rob decided that we should drive out to Clearwater. It was a nice beach but I was mostly excited to be on the beach in February. It was the warmest day of the trip at just about 70. Here is a picture of us at the beach.

We spent a little while looking for shells. We found a few good ones. Later we found out that one had a snail in it and the other was a live oyster. Once we left the beach we drove around a little more and then went to Danielle's. We went to get some lunch and then went to the Aquarium. Here are a few pictures from the aquarium.

Once we left the aquarium we went to get ice cream from Rob's favorite ice cream place. Then we hung out at Danielle's until it was time to meet Rob's friend Heather at Applebee's. We all had a nice dinner and talked for a while.

Tuesday was our last day. We were planning on leaving that afternoon so we just stayed around his mom's house except to get lunch. We did a bunch of laundry so that we didn't have to do laundry when we got home. Shortly before his mom came home we went to the store to get snacks and drinks for the drive home. When we got back, his mom was home. We loaded the car and said good-bye.

We were on the road by 4:30. Rob and I had some good conversations about the future while we were driving the first part. The rest of the trip was not as nice. We were too tired to be driving through the night. I slept first until about midnight when we switched. I had a hard time with my part of the drive. When Rob took over, I only slept for an hour before staying awake with him. When we switched for the last time we were just outside of Indianapolis. We unfortunately got their morning rush hour traffic. Luckily it wasn't too bad. We made it home just before 10 am.

We came home to some bad news. While we were gone, the apartment complex had Rob's car towed because the plates were expired. They expired just before we left and Rob planned to renew them when we got back. Thankfully, it had only been towed the day before we got back and thankfully his dad was able to help him get it out the next day. Despite the bad news, we were both able to get a little sleep. I only let myself sleep for two hours so that I was able to go to bed at a decent time that night since I had to be back at work the next day.

I am sad that vacation is over. Now I really want to move down there. We are talking about moving there in about two years. I wish it could be sooner but I really need to pay off my credit card bills and get some money saved up first.

Florida part 2: Saturday and Sunday

Saturday was the wedding and since the weather wasn't the warmest and my dress wasn't meant for cold weather, we decided to go to the mall to find something to wear over it. Rob's mom suggested that he invite his brother along. Rob really didn't want to but I told him that he should. They weren't exactly friendly to each other the other night and I thought that they should spend a little more time together. They were much nicer to each other and we all had a good time. I got a shrug to wear and then we walked around a little more before getting lunch at the food court. After all the salty food I really wanted something to drink that was not soda or water so Rob suggested that we go to the Smoothie King. It is a health smoothie place that will put all sorts of stuff in the smooties. We split a big one that was strawberry, kiwi, and mango with protein powder in it. It was really good. After stopping to get that we went to Lake park to walk around. Here is a picture.

Once we left there, we drove by Rob's high school and through an apartment complex that we would live at if we moved down there. Then it was time to go home and get ready for the wedding. Here is a picture of Rob and I before we left. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a camera with although we probably would not have taken any pictures since Rob only knew the Groom.

The wedding was nice. The ceremony was all in Spanish but we were happy to find out later that we were not the only ones there who did not speak Spanish. At the reception we were sitting at a table with a few of the groom's other friends but no one knew each other. When dinner was served, one of the couples at our table was, in my opinion, a little rude. They turned their noses up at the food and didn't really eat any of it. Then the girl pulled out a bag of cookies from her purse and started eating those. Sure the food wasn't what we were used to or even something I would make for myself but at least I ate it or at least as much as I had room for (the smoothie still had me full). The whole time I just kept thinking about how I would feel if it had been my wedding and I had just paid for all of these people's dinners and people were just throwing the food away. Anyway.

Sunday was Valentine's day and Rob and I had planned to spend the morning together and then the afternoon with Danielle. After breakfast with his mom and stepdad we went to Lettuce Lake Park to walk around. Here are a few pictures.

As you can see here, Rob was a lot more daring than me and climbed higher in the tree. I was just sitting on one of the branches low to the ground.

I really like the reflection on the water here.

Just a picture of one of these cool stalagmite tree looking things.

This bird was working for a long time to get at whatever was inside of that thing. He really didn't care that there was a group of people standing there looking at him and taking pictures.

After we left there, we called Danielle to see if she was ready. She wasn't so we went to get lunch and then went to the Tampa Flea Market to kill some time. It was disgusting there. There were two dirty diapers in the parking lot including one that we ran over. Yuck! As we were walking out Danielle called and said she was ready so we went to her house to figure out what we were going to do. We decided to see a movie. We hung out and talked for a while since the movie didn't start for another two hours. After the movie we went back to her house and hung out some more. At 8 we went to meet a friend of hers at Starbucks. When we got to Starbucks, Danielle, who had been driving behind us, told us that my brake lights were messed up. Basically they were backwards. They would stay on while we were driving but turn off as soon as the brake was touched. Great. When we got home, we looked it up to try and fix it otherwise we were going to be spending the next day at a dealership getting it fixed. Luckily Rob was able to find someone online that had the same problem and posted how to fix it. It was an easy fix. Yay. Once it was fixed we went to bed.

Florida part 1: the drive down and the first full day

I think I will do this in multiple posts so that they don't get too long but I am still able to add all of the details.

Wednesday night after I got home from work Rob and I the leftover pizza from the night before and then loaded up the car. We stopped at Dominick's so I could deposit my check and we could get snacks and drinks for the drive. Then we filled up the tank and we were off. We were on the road by 7. Rob started off driving while I rested and slept. He got us just into Kentucky past Louisville before we stopped to switch. I got us through Nashville. At this time it was about 3 or 4 am and I needed to sleep again. I woke up to the feel of the car slowing down. We were in Atlanta and it was the very beginning of morning rush hour. Luckily it wasn't bad. Once we were through the traffic we stopped to switch again. Rob slept until shortly after the Florida border. I tried to take a picture of the Welcome to Florida sign but it sucked since I was using my phone. When Rob woke up the first thing he said was "we are in Florida! The sun is shining." The weather was really nice but we still had a few hours in the car. By 10:30 I was starving and we needed gas so we stopped for lunch and to fill the tank. Rob drove the rest of the way. We got there earlier than expected and his mom was still going to be at work so we decided to stop at his Grandparents house. They were really nice people and I enjoyed listening to stories from back in the day.

Once we got to Rob's mom's house, she was home from work. We brought everything in and then we all talked for a while. She showed us some of the work that they had done on the house and the back yard. After a while she called Rob's brother Johnny to see if she could pick him and the girls up to come visit. They weren't ready so we visited for a while longer before going to pick them up. I got to meet Johnny and his two daughters Serenity, who is almost 3 and Victoria, who is almost a year. I think Rob had a good time playing with the kids. Soon Rob's stepdad came home from work and brought pizza with. Shortly after everyone left we went to bed. I was so tired and my head still felt like it was in a moving car. It was the weirdest feeling ever. I slept like a rock that night and didn't wake up until 9:30 the next morning which for me is really late.

It was Friday but Rob's mom took off of work so that we could all spend the day together with Serenity. We were planning on going to the Florida State Fair but it was raining. Instead we decided to take Serenity to Chuck E Cheese.

Here is a picture of Rob playing a racing game with Serenity.

After Chuck E Cheese we stopped at the Cuban Sandwich Cafe to get one of Rob's favorite sandwiches. It was pretty good. After lunch we heard a loud bang and then the power went out. The transformer had blown. The electric company said that the electricity should be back on by 8 pm. We decided to take Serenity home and go to Target. Rob needed new pants for the wedding and we also wanted to get the bride and groom a gift. When we got home the power was still out so we decided to go out for dinner. We went to the sports bar that his mom and stepdad go to most Friday nights for dinner. We had dinner, a few drinks and played a few games of pool. Then we went to the Hangout for more drinks and some live music. Before heading over there, we stopped by the house to check if the power was back on or not. It wasn't. The bands were good but the crowd was not really our type of crowd. While we were there, Danielle, Rob's best friend, met us there. I was a little nervous to meet her just because she was Rob's best friend. I think Rob was nervous too because he really wanted us to get along. She was really nice and I think we got along great. However, it was hard to talk since there was a live band right there. Plus, I think we were all pretty tired.