Grandpa and Oma and Hotel Swimming

Last Saturday, we rushed home from the boys' soccer game, showered, ate lunch, loaded the van, and were off to some place in southern Georgia for the night. Grady cashed in some of his points with Hilton so we could break up the 10 hour drive. Thanks to an Olive Garden gift card we enjoyed a nice dinner out rather than the traditional fast food we usually endure on our family road trips.

We left first thing Sunday morning for the remaining four hours of our drive to Tampa, FL where we were planning to spend the day and night with Grandpa and Oma Peeler. The boys were thrilled that they had a backyard pool and two large, playful dogs. Annalyse, however, was less than thrilled and made her opinion about the dogs known whenever one of them would so much as look in her direction.

Thankfully, Oma has endless patience and was willing to carry Annalyse around the house and yard. (Or maybe Oma was just willing to do what it took to stop the whining?!) Grady's dad cooked us a fantastic dinner with some good 'ole southern BBQ spare ribs, coleslaw, hush puppies, and coconut cake. He also delighted the boys with some new baseball cards and baseballs - huge win.

Our short visit was over Monday morning as we bid farewell and drove just under two hours to Orlando where we had a full week of fun and adventure waiting for us at Disney! We spent all of Monday enjoying Animal Kingdom... but more on that later. Lots of pictures to sort through and organize still.

During our week in FL, we spent a a couple of evenings enjoying the hotel pools and hot tubs. It seems like it never matters where we travel to, the first question my boys ask is, "Where is the pool at this hotel?"

I heard temps were in the 60's here at home while we were gone, and, talking with my parents who were vacationing in Northern Michigan last week, they said they were enjoying snow. Us? We had days of mid-80's and, thankfully, no rain.

Now that we're home and unpacked, I've officially retired the swim suits and pool gear. I've enjoyed a beautiful weekend of sunny, cool weather and have my house back in order. Leaving home is always fun, but settling back into "normal" is a good feeling for me, too.