Despite a few hiccups, somehow we made it to Ft. Lauderdale for Spring Break this year!  First of all, we had hastily booked our Spring Break destination to Hilton Head months ago not realizing that it’s cold there in March!  So we scrambled around and switched all our reservations to Ft. Lauderdale and It’s a good thing because it was 40 degrees in HH!  We’re not giving up, because we still really want to go there, but next time we might actually research the weather beforehand!  duh!  In addition, this was booked before Jake had 3 soccer games pop into the calendar.  CRAP!  Jake does not accept missing his games very well.  He’s a die hard. And Brian, being a crazy fearless traveler, decided to let Jake fly down to Florida BY HIMSELF 24 hours after us so he could still compete in two of his games.  He must’ve drugged me or put a crazy spell over my brain because I actually agreed to it!

Let’s cut to the chase – Jake (my ‘worrier’ child) flew down to FL by himself, I was so wound up and stressed I barely remember my first day in FL, I checked my watch every second, speed-texted Aunt Jenn for hours (she probably wanted to block my phone number), and I have never been so happy to see Jake in all my life.  Most of all, I will NEVER do that again.  Pure torture.  Thank you Aunt Jenn for getting this sweet boy on the plane, enduring crazy mom texts, and Jake, I’m very proud of you for being so brave.  He actually thought he was pretty hot stuff doing this!  And he saved us by bringing several items that we left at home by mistake.  I’m pretty sure we would’ve never made it through the week without Reece’s mermaid blanket!!  Whew!

I was totally out of sorts until Jakey arrived.  As soon as we got him safely in the car, I felt like a new person and we grabbed a late patio dinner at Panaretto Italian Bistro.  Yummy

My sister and her hubby, Scott, joined us for the first 4 days of our trip and it’s always a treat. They have the flexibility and are always up for a vacay!  We sort of neglected to tell them that Jake wasn’t joining until Day 2 – they thought we were joking at first but then when he never appeared in the airport they realized it was not a joke!

We stayed at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort which is absolutely beautiful and has everything a family would desire…beautiful private beach and grounds, pool, and $17 cheeseburgers.  I had to throw that in there because the food and drinks were so expensive it cracked us up!  This is why our hotel room looked like an unorganized overstocked pantry.  We sent Brian to the store right away to get snacks and drinks and have become masters of smuggling our own provisions to the beach/pool.  This place is pricey and eats up a lot of Marriott points, so we smashed our family of 6 into 1 room and brought along 2 blow up sleeping bags for the littles.  The view was perfectly AMAZING and I wouldn’t change a thing.  Except it would’ve been nice to have Shauna & Scott’s room adjoining with us.  No such luck there…it’s Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale…it’s packed!

The beach and the beautiful water goes on for as long as your eyes can see!

When we arrived at 11PM, Reece decided to put on a one-handed cartwheel show in the lobby! See…I’m telling you…I was not myself!  Why was I letting her do that!?  The better question is…why was uncle Scotty letting this go on and encouraging it!?

here’s a video clip…

We walked to breakfast a few mornings at which time Reece would always miraculously get a side cramp 15 steps out of the hotel lobby.  I’m kicking myself for getting rid of my stroller.  But let’s face it, she’s almost 7 and an athlete….why in the world is walking such a problem!?  Our breakfast spots were St. Barts, Cafe Del Mar, and h2O Cafe (the best breakfast sandwich in the world).

We spent every waking hour on the beach enjoying the waves, playing soccer, pitching and catching baseballs, throwing a frisbee, boogie boarding, playing in the sand, finding seashells and sunbathing.  Reece told us that sunbathing was really hard work!  She cracks us up all the time!  I could fill up a notebook of funny things these kids say.

Morgan brought her blow up couch she got for Christmas and it was all the buzz on the beach!

Reece’s skin is so fair, she always gets a burn regardless of the gallons of sunscreen we put on her!  The second morning we were walking to breakfast (through a triathalon…not kidding!) and I overheard a lady saying she thought Reece had two black eyes!  I think she may have shed her entire first layer of skin this week.  And as always, we had to make a trip out to buy a protective swimshirt!

You can barely drag any of us from the beach or pool but in the evenings we had some great dinners!  We loved Coconuts which was right on the inter-coastal waterway.  Some of the other places we ate were Rocco’s Tacos, Shooters Waterfront, Nacho Bizness (food truck), Nick’s (on Hollywood Beach), TacoCraft, Kelly’s Landing and our last night of vacay tradition…pizza on the beach (or pool).

And most nights we played lots of games in our room.  So much fun!

 

One day we took the Water Taxi on a sightseeing tour around the city via the inter-coastal waterway.  Even though the kiddos complained that we weren’t going to the beach, it turned out to be one of our favorite days!  We learned a lot and saw so many enormous waterfront mansions and beautiful yachts. It’s mesmerizing!

We also took a chilly trip to the Everglades and did an airboat tour where we saw some alligators!  This is memorable for Reece because she has mentioned it several times post-vacay and written about it at school!

It’s hard to say goodbye to this super fun vacation and I’m going to give myself a big pat on the back because I am really good at unplugging!  I rarely check my phone, and I completely let go of my normal responsibilities (other than tidying up the hotel room…I can’t stand a messy hotel room!).  I thoroughly enjoy my time, in fact most days I don’t even know what day it is!  On Sunday, I didn’t even realize it was Sunday and thank goodness Brian remembered!  Morgan is going through the confirmation process and is required to go to church every Sunday even while out of town.  She and Brian ventured out to go to church while Shauna and I drank mimosas at a beachfront cafe!  When they returned they had quite a story to tell!  Apparently they showed up to a nearby Catholic church and had missed the service (Brian had mistakenly looked up the times at a church in Miami)!  But as luck would have it or no luck depending on how you look at it… a confirmation class was starting at that time.  So Morgan bravely attended a confirmation class at a random Catholic church in Fort Lauderdale!  She had to work with a “little person” (Shauna and I will laugh about this for a lifetime) and help with the prayers.  She had NO idea what she was doing but she faked it like a champ!  We joked that Father Brian could’ve just signed her sheet since he got ordained online!  Brian thought he was going to leave her there and go work somewhere nearby and Morgan forbid it!  I don’t blame her!  I think Brian’s child safety meter is off…first he makes our 11 year old fly by himself and then he tries to drop our teenage daughter at a random church in an unfamiliar city!  In any case, all of us were super proud of Morgan’s commitment to confirmation.  You go girl!

Each day at 2:30, the Marriott hands out chocolate chip cookies and lemonade.  Our bellies are so full of these yummy cookies, we will never be the same…ie the post-vacay diet starts immediately!  And what the heck do they put in those things to make them so good anyway!?

We escaped the city limits with only 4 souvenirs.  Whew!  Morgan got this adorable ankle bracelet, Reece a surfboard bracelet, and the boys got stuffed animals.  Drew named his Ft. Lauderdale (creative right!?  And his sweatshirt says Miami!  ha!)  Jake named his Philly after his others Phil and Phyllis from previous trips).  We could easily start our own stuffed animal store!

We discovered that Reece is  quite good at using the “Yelp” app and if we ever get back to Ft. Lauderdale, our first stop better be to the Tea Cup Puppy superstore (yep, that actually exists according to the magazine in our hotel room).  We never made it there and Morgan is never going to forgive us!  Jake learned a few tips and tricks about Spring Break courtesy of Scott and I (some of it I’m hoping he doesn’t remember down the road!  What were we thinking telling him that stuff!?).  Jake, I’m happy to stay at a nice hotel with you over spring break.  No back-alley motels for you my friend!

We love you Fort Lauderdale…hope we get to come back to visit again!

I’m happy to slip into the role of a ‘beach bum’ at any time…I think I’ve got 4 others that would be right on board with me!  But for now we are putting our big suitcases in storage until July and trying to get back into a normal routine!