Finishing up in Florida

Wednesday night was our last night in Florida.  Thursday we woke up in Tallahassee, ate breakfast and headed west to Alabama.

Here's a review of the rest of our time in Florida:

We spent 3 nights in a 5th wheel trailer about a half hour west of Ft Lauderdale, in Loxahatchee. We found it on airbnb.com. It was easy on our wallet and a place where we could relax and decompress for a few days. (We are finding we need to take a down day or two to really just do nothing. Or more appropriately, spend time planning, washing the car and just running around at a playground.) Michelle, the host, was super sweet. Although, on our first night she warned the kids to not go near the canal behind the trailer because there are alligators in it. I think I was more freaked out than the kids. Other than my nightmares of alligators it was nice and relaxing, the kids could run around the yard and play with the dogs. I loved hearing the crickets and seeing the stars at night.  Those simple things are so good for my stress levels.

The church building was almost a half hour drive, each way, and had a very small congregation.  It made me appreciate my 15 min walk to church and the dozens of families in our ward in NYC.

A favorite playground (so far).  She's mastering the monkey bars and so happy!

Sunset in Loxahatchee.

After leaving the trailer we hopped between Ft Lauderdale and Hollywood beach for a few days (we stayed according to where we could find good rates).  We stayed in some beautiful resorts right on the beach and had a great time.

We loved the fun pool at the W Hotel in Ft Lauderdale.

They were like the birds facing the cool breeze.

Blossoms in Ft Lauderdale!

Playing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Hollywood Beach (and boardwalk)

In Hollywood we stayed at the Westin Diplomat.  The pools were quite amazing.

A funny door from the bathtub to the hotel room.

View from our window.

One of two pools.  The other one is directly beneath this one with a waterfall.

Morning sunrise with my girl.

After bopping around the resorts in Hollywood and Ft Lauderdale for a few days we were able to stay at, ready for this, Brian's cousin's husband's parents' house in Pembroke Pines (about 30 min east of Hollywood, FL) for 3 nights.  Carmina was an amazing and very generous host.  She made us tons of delicious food, insisted on doing our laundry and gave up her own bed for us.  She is Portuguese and has lived in the U.S. for about 10 years.  She spoke very little English and all we could say in Portuguese was, "Obrigada" (thank you), which we said frequently.  But we managed to communicate well with smiles, gestures, a google translator, and if necessary we would use Ze (her son who is married to Brian's cousin) to translate over the phone.

Simon loved Carmina, despite his solemn face.

Trolley ride through the community.

Also, on the trolley

  Carmina lives in a community for people 50+ years, so the ladies loved having the kids around.  Theo was a nanny in NYC for many years.  And she showered the kids with gifts and kisses.

This is what every meal looked like.  Always more delicious food than we could eat.

After spending 3 nights in Carmina's home we headed back west, to the Gulf side.  We stopped at Sanibel Island along the way.  It was another stop that was not long enough.  I hope we can go back there and spend a week riding our bikes around the island and do some more shell searching.

Then we landed on Sand Key in Clearwater for 3 nights before venturing out of Florida.

We bought Isabella these snorkeling goggles (they cover her nose) and now she swims like a fish!  I realized she just didn't like holding her eyes and nose shut while she was underwater.  We are now teaching her how to come up for air.  But maybe she's growing gills.

I attempted to take the kids to the water, but they kept stopping every few feet.  So we just played and they were just as happy.  I'm learning.

The hotel had tennis courts and balls and racquets to borrow.  Isabella loved it so much that we have since bought her a kid size racquet.  She's doing really well.  But she has a great teacher.

We just landed in New Orleans last night.  Hopefully I can get a chance to do some quick posts about our trip from Clearwater to NOLA.  

The Perfect Evening

While we were staying on Sand Key in Clearwater, Fl we had one of those evenings to remember.  It was dinner time, I had the quinoa boiling in the rice cooker.  Brian ran out of the hotel room to get something from the car.  All the kids rushed to join him--any excuse to get out.  From the parking lot Brian called up to our balcony, "Romeo, oh Romeo..."  "Kiasa, come on out for a little walk.  It is so beautiful!"  I strapped my sandals on, did a quick check of the rice cooker and headed outside to meet them.

It was a perfect night!  Overcast, slightly breezy, but warm.  We dipped our feet in the warm pool and chased each other on the cool green grass.  It was perfect!  The kids had big smiles and perfect rosy cheeks.  It was so perfect we decided we should run to the beach and dip our toes in the Gulf.

I was a bit hesitant because, even though our hotel was right on the beach, the water was about a 1/4 mile away (or so it seemed).  But we danced our way to the water with the warm breeze blowing through my hair and the giggles of the giddy children playing in my ears.  We were the only ones on the beach.  The sun was setting behind the heavy clouds.  The colors were magical: grey, pink, aqua, and purple.

I grabbed the boys and stripped them of their pants before they even touched their toes to the water.  (I have learned my lesson: they never just put their toes in.)  Isabella glanced up and down the shore and then asked if it was okay if she took her pants off too.  I helped pulled her jeans off over her sandy feet.  And they were off.  All three chased the tiny gulf waves in and out, running too and fro.  So happy and giddy.  I briefly disappointed because I had failed to grab my camera*, or even my phone, for my "brief" pre-dinner walk outside.

I paused took a deep breath of the fresh, salty air and just watched and listened to the kids.  This was their moment.  Memories were being made.  Their freedom and happiness filled my soul.  It was perfect!  Everyone was so happy; not just in their smiles, but the sparkle in their eyes, and the movement of their little bodies.  Their bodies exuded joy and touched my motherly heart.

I didn't want the moment to end.  It was so perfect!  But my motherly wisdom told me it would be best if I ended it before the kids fell into the chilly water and we had to walk back wet and tearful.  As the sun was setting even farther I called out, "Two minutes!"  I gathered their pants off the sand and less than a minute later (I kid you not!) both boys had been knocked down by a waist high wave and were crying.  As Brian and I laughed at the irony and scooped them up Isabella tripped and fell into the water as well.  Overtired tears and screams ensued.  And that once pleasant walk to the beach felt like a grueling mile trek all the way back while hauling wet, whiny, damp children.

It was so perfect!

*All the photos were taken two weeks prior, when we stayed one night in the same hotel.  But it was so very cold and windy (for Florida) that day.  We liked the hotel and beach so much we decided we needed to return once the weather was warmer.  We are so glad we did.

The Original Southeast States Tour Route

Middle of southern Florida.  The endless, flat croplands reminded me of the San Joaquin Valley, where I was born and raised.

This is the planned route we settled on before we took off on our adventure a few weeks ago.


View Larger Map

Several things have already changed and more changes are expected.  For example, we decided to hightail it to Florida to warm up.  We have spent a lot of time here seeing a lot of this beautiful state, playing on the beaches and swimming in beautiful pools.  Then we plan to go to Charleston, SC on our way back north, when it's warmer than 55 degrees.  There have been and will be more stops than what is indicated, but this is just a guide.

It's fun to see how this map is morphing into our life.  I love that this guide is what we are living and making into memories.  This is a quick look at our amazing, ever changing life.

Our Trip...in Numbers (so far)

driving on St. Augustine Beach

Last year, on my birthday, I did My Life...in Numbers.

Today, on my 35th birthday, I am going to write out Our Trip...in Numbers (so far).

We packed 5 people into 1 small civic on 2.23.13, 14 days ago.

We have driven about 1,800 miles.

Spent almost $160 in gas.

Driven through 10 states and 1 federal district.

Slept in 9 different locations.

The longest we have stayed anywhere is 3 nights.

Two (2) lotion bottles have exploded in our bags.

We have met a dozen really interesting people.  Mostly from other countries.

We have lost:

• 2 sippy cups
• 1 shoe
• 1 pair of sunglasses
• 5 socks (no matches)
• Simon, only once
• a bit of sanity

We sent back 1 big box full of stuff we realized we don't really need.  And we can probably send back another.

Making pb&j sandwiches for the kids in Hollywood Beach.  A young woman walking by said to my kids, "Your mom is a hero!"  Isabella was a little confused, but I felt flattered   

The Carini's Crazy Adventure

We have been on the road for almost 2 weeks now.  I had the best intentions of posting about our adventures regularly, but, of course those intentions fell by the wayside.  I have a slew of excuses, not limited to, a lack of internet service, a week of sick kids and husband, and simply enjoying the adventure.  I'm hoping and planning on doing more detailed posts about how we are doing this (in a civic!).

In my attempt to catch up here is a photo journal of what we've done so far.  (Photos are unedited, otherwise I'd never get this posted!)  Warning: this will be lengthy and still missing a lot of what we've done...

We spent a week visiting family in Connecticut before our journey.

Isabella did not want to leave...poor kid

Just the beginning

We drove from Connecticut to NYC, swapped out our winter coats for sandals.  Here are the kids and the car completely ready to go on Saturday night.

We stopped and spent the night in Hanover, MD and then visited my cousin Tara in Arlington, VA.  She was so generous to make us lunch and let our kids run around her bachelorette pad.  We loved catching up after so many years.

We stopped in Raleigh, NC and stayed with my good friend (and former roommate) Jamie Person and her family.  We had such a great time meeting her kids and playing for two days.  It was totally mellow and low key (just what we needed after two days of driving).  We hung out at KidVenture one breezy day and the next day played at Marbles Kids Museum (possibly the best children's museum, I loved it...and so did the kids :0))

Mia, Simon and Mark

Using a real saw...at the museum...crazy!  And awesome!

Mia and Bella

The gang at Marbles Kids Museum

Jamie and Me!

Car ride photos

WARM AIR!!!

Savannah!

Honey tasting at Savannah Bee Company

Angel's BBQ

Savannah National Wildlife Refuge (in South Carolina, of course).

Then we finally made it to FLORIDA!!!

St. Augustine Beach

Fresh Florida strawberries

Pleasure Island in Orlando with cousin Jimmy and his family

Even though our stay at Clearwater Beach was cold we enjoyed the beauty.

After Clearwater we stayed a couple of days in Tampa.  Tampa was a great city and I'd love to spend more time there.

Glazer Children's Museum

Manatee Viewing Center near Tampa

Zipper Skin tangerine: so sweet and juicy!  From Fruitville Grove

Siesta Key Beach

Rotary Park in Cape Coral

Picking wildflowers near our hotel in Cape Coral

The hotel lost our reservation and then upgraded us to a 2 bedroom suite on a high floor.  We check out today...it's gonna be hard to leave.

The Big Plan

Brian and I like to play around with ideas.  Sometimes big ideas.  Like living in New York City.  Or raising 3 kids in New York City.  Or starting a business.  Or traveling for a month on a super cool JetBlue pass.  You know, the crazy, potentially life changing, kind of ideas.

We had always hoped and planned on taking a sabbatical from work and our everyday life.  Brian was in the process of changing jobs and with much research, thought, and prayer we knew we had the opportunity to travel as a family.  We also knew these opportunities don't come very often, so we decided to dive in and just do it!  With much planning and working late into the night we were able to budget, organize and accomplish what was needed to make this trip happen.  From subletting our apartment to homeschooling Isabella.  It wasn't easy.  We had about a month between when we decided to go for it and when we left.  That's not much time to plan a 3+ month adventure for a family of five.  But we are doing it.  It is working and we are enjoying it.

Originally we had planned to do the entire USA in 3 months.  But after much discussion and contemplation Brian and I decided we wanted to travel slowly and thought it best if we only committed to the southeast states.  That way we could take our time and enjoy the journey as much as possible.

We are planning on driving through (or briefly into) 19 states and exploring 6 national parks.  Since we are taking our time we hope to really get to know the South and experience it; not just as tourists.

A few factors are making this trip possible for us right now:

• Brian was in the process of changing jobs, so it was a good time to take a break from work
• We have a good amount of savings in the bank
• Our landlord was willing to let us sublet our apartment
• Isabella is easily homeschooled
• Brian's sister works for Sheraton and we are able to get a good discount on hotels (as availability permits)

I found some very fun family travel blogs while researching for ours.  Many have inspired us and really pushed us in this direction.  Here are some of my favorites:

The Great Family Escape (My absolute fave!  They just started a similar journey in Jan.)
Discover Share Inspire
Married with Luggage
Renaissance Housewife
Family on Bikes
Vagabond Family.org
Vagabond Family.blogspot