Floridaaaaahhhh

I hate the COLD and above all I can't stand SNOW. I hate wearing boots, shoveling, scraping cars, slippin on ice, marching through slop and slush, salt stains on my clothes and wind chill on my face. I'm born a January baby in Eastern Ontario, Canada and I can't stand winter. Go figure. So when I awoke the morning of December 26th to THIS:

I packed the truck, grabbed the child, kissed my sweet hubby who was on a string of miserable night shifts and put the peddle to the metal...

I expected to get from our house in North Carolina to Jacksonville Florida in my first day's drive. But we only got to the South Carolina - Georgia boarder before we ended up in a traffic jam. I was stuck for two and a half hours. We moved only 28 miles. When you have a 21 month old in the car, idling in a traffic jam is not really an option. So I consulted the GPS and pulled off at the next exit in the middle of pretty much nowhere ville to spend the night at a Hampton Inn. This is not a plug - I always stay at Hampton Inns. I usually know what I'm getting when I choose one and so that's my preference.

I packed a lunch so Finley and I could eat good whole foods on our road trip, so we settled into the hotel room where I microwaved some organic soup, made up some spinach, salmon and cream cheese sandwiches and we had ourselves a little dinner, played at jumping on the beds and Finley hit the hay early. I sat up enjoying the Salon Takeover marathon on Bravo. I'm kinda addicted to Tabitha and her organizational no BS attitude now. We don't have cable by choice and really if we did have it - the hubs would NEVER sit through Salon Takeover. So it was a treat! I finally fell asleep when the alarm buzzed to get me up for a 5 am departure. We had to get back on the track to meet our friends in Tampa Florida!

Finley & Auntie Kelly

Lucky for me, my friend Kelly's parents Mike and Peggy are snow birds. Having set sights on a retirement out of Canada's harsh winters they bought a home in Tampa. We were headed to surprise them! And what a surprise it was, as just the day before Kelly and her Hubs Mark had surprised her parents too! It's always advisable when road tripping with a toddler to have welcoming friends on the other end of the destination. We stayed a few doors down in a home used as a rental for when company is in town. It was perfect.

Finley and the fish.

We spent a day at Busch Gardens Tampa. Dudes, THEY DO NOT GIVE BEER AWAY ANYMORE OR DO THE BEER TASTING! Let down. Mark and I were disappointed about that! The company was bought out the year before and that was they end of the one free beer with the almost hundred dollar admission ticket. But we enjoyed the animals and the train ride and the pickle on a stick we snacked on. I gotta find that photo...

Ta Daaaa...Pickle on a stick photo courtesy: Kelly Hill

Finley & I watching the elephants. That's Tina walking up.

New Years Eve -day we went to Fort Desoto Beach. It was finally HOT outside and we enjoyed the day hanging out baking our little white Canadian bodies in the sun.

This is Finster dressed for New Years Even dinner. She was so excited she kept screaming at the top of her lungs. I think my ears and Poppa Mike's are still ringing.

We wore her out ladies and gentleman! January first at 10 am this little gal was out like a light for the beginning of our 10 hour road trip home.

There was no snow when we arrived home. However Finley did throw up for the first time ever ....in the car seat .... 29 miles from home. Ahhh, the memories.