Florida Fun with Papa

It was great to spend a couple of days with Dad once we arrived in Miami.  

Here was our view on Friday morning

June 24, Friday

I got up this morning at 5:45 AM. As I was getting ready, Michael and the kids went to get breakfast at the Windjammer. Room service wasn’t an option today. We were supposed to leave our rooms at 7:45 AM and we finished just in time. The kids were all ready to go and so was Michael. It was too hard to get an elevator so we just went down the stairs with the suitcases. I had run back to the room really quickly to get the luggage tags that said our number on them but nobody asked for them so I think that was a waste of time. There was a long line through the main dining hall to get out but it wasn’t too bad. Dad kept calling us and I tried to tell him we were trying to get off the ship and I would call him when we got off. The line to get through customs was very very long if you had a birth certificate instead of a passport. For the passports, we breezed past everyone and there was no wait. They already had our pictures so it was done by facial recognition so that was nice. We finally made it out and saw Dad. He had been waiting for us for a while and had parked in the garage. He had driven to Miami yesterday and stayed at the Best Western last night. We got to his truck and put some of the suitcases in it. Michael and Emily and Jonny kept a couple suitcases with them and got an Uber. The directions to get to the rental car place at the airport were confusing. I had Andrew and Daniel with me and I was trying to navigate for Dad. We missed the turn and ended up at a different Enterprise that wasn’t at the airport so we had to turn around and it was only a mile away. Michael and Emily and Jonny got there before us in the Uber so I don’t know what route we were going but it was not the quickest one. By the time I got there, Michael was at the front of the line so it didn’t take us very long to sign for the car. We had a choice between two minivans and we chose the one that had only seven seats instead of eight and seemed to have a bigger space in the back for the bags. We decided to go straight to the airboat ride. I drove and Michael navigated. The airboat ride place only had Porta potties so that was disgusting. We took a little time putting on sunscreen and then we went to the back for an animal show. They had baby alligators and they let us touch them and hold them and I got some cool pictures.

Then it was time for the airboat ride. There were two ladies and a father and son with us on the ride. The tour guide told us some cool things about the sawgrass and the other plants, but we never saw any alligators so that was a huge disappointment. Luckily, we had seen some alligators in the canal on the drive over. 

We quickly got out of there and drove to Florida City where our hotel room is. We ate a nice lunch at Golden Corral. 

Then we headed over to the Best Western to see if we could check in early. By then, it was about 1:45 PM. The lady said she was going to give us four rooms right together but they weren’t ready yet so we decided we should go ahead and see the movie now. Andrew had been begging to go see Jurassic World with Papa on this trip so that’s what we did. The theater only had five rows and they were huge reclining seats. When we first got there, we were the only ones in the theater. 

Then right before the movie started, everybody started arriving. A group of three people came in after the movie had already started and they were talking very loudly. Michael kept shushing them and then I was shushing them. Finally, they were quiet. Halfway through the movie, the older lady with them got a phone call and started talking on the phone. We told them to hang up the phone and put away their phone and they looked at us like we were being completely unreasonable. The old lady gave me a look like she wanted to kill me. It was so bizarre. I don’t think we’ve sat next to ruder people in a theater. We have the worst luck no matter where we go, no matter what state were in. The movie theater was in a cool place, kind of like Fat Cats. They had an arcade and bowling. After the movie, we headed back to the hotel. It took a few minutes but they gave us the keys to the four rooms that the lady said we could have. Unfortunately, the keys that Dad were given were to a room that was already occupied. It’s always disturbing when hotels do that because that means that they could give your key to somebody else. This was the Best Western Gateway to the Keys in Florida City. They clearly didn’t have it together. I was so angry. We went down there and the best they could do is put him in a room two doors down from us. That wasn’t such a big deal, until I realized that the room Dad was going to be in would’ve been a third connecting room. They could’ve put us in three rooms that were connecting and then Dad could’ve had the separate room. Everyone was exhausted so they went to their rooms and rested. Emily and Jonathan slept for like two hours. I think Jonathan actually slept for three. I even took a little nap. Michael woke me up to tell me that Andrew was asking to go get food. So, we all met up together and tried to decide where to go eat. Nobody had any better ideas, so I suggested Waffle House and everyone was OK with that. The service was pretty bad but everyone was happy with their food. We stopped over at Krispy Kreme across the street. Jonathan wanted to go in and look at the donuts but it was only open for drive-through. We came back to the hotel and I gave dad his Father’s Day gift. We read a chapter in the Bible and had prayer and ate our donuts and everyone went to bed. 

 

June 25, Saturday

We had to get up by 6:30 AM today to get ready so we could make sure the kids ate a good breakfast so we could leave by 8 AM. Poor Andrew burnt his hand on the waffle maker at breakfast so that set us back a little bit but we finally left at 8:15 AM. Michael drove and Dad navigated and we got there right about 8:45 AM for our 9 AM fishing trip. We started right on time. 

We spent about 30 to 45 minutes going out into the ocean. The first few places we stopped, nobody was catching any fish. He had to move the boat to a different location about three different times. By about 11 AM, the kids were looking pretty miserable. Nobody had caught anything and it was hot and they were all very tired. I asked Daniel how he was doing, and he said, “nothing but broken hearts and crushed dreams.” 

The kids were really excited today at the opportunity to catch a fish. Finally, the last two places we stopped, we started catching fish. Emily was the first one and she caught a white grunt. 

Jonny caught one shortly after that. 

Then Michael caught one, then Andrew, then Daniel. They all caught white grunts as well. 

We watched a lady catch a shark. It was pretty big, but not super big. 

Another catch for Andrew

Michael caught an eel and a fish together, then the eel ate the fish. He says that counts as two and Dad agreed. The fisherman on the boat who was helping us shook them off the hook so I never got a picture or video. Andrew caught two more fish, a schoolmaster and a yellowtail snapper. Daniel caught a second white grunt. Michael caught five fish total. He also caught two yellow tail snappers. Jonathan caught a second fish, a schoolmaster. 

Emily only caught the one. I still hadn’t caught a fish so I kept trying and Dad and I caught one at the same time. He got a schoolmaster and I got a white grunt. 

I was pretty happy that everyone was able to catch a fish. Soon after that, we headed back. I had fun standing at the bow of the ship and doing the “king of the world” pose. I couldn’t get Andrew to do it with me or any of the other kids. The guy driving the boat was laughing at me, not in a mean way but he was. 

We arrived back just a few minutes before 1 PM. We got a quick picture and then figured out what to do for lunch. 

I had researched and found three different options for lunch. We ended up going to Sharkey’s Sharkbite grill since it was close. Everyone was hot and tired and wanted to go somewhere with air-conditioning so Dad went in and double checked and it was good so we all went in. I got the fish and chips but exchanged the fries for veggies. Emily got shrimp tacos. Andrew and Daniel got chicken tenders. Jonathan got calamari for his meal and added fries to it. We also got a pork nacho appetizer and calamari appetizer. Dad got a blackened mahi burger and Michael got a shrimp and scallop burger, with shrimp and scallops mashed up into a patty. He really liked it. 

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel. We all went back to our rooms and rested and took naps. Actually, I don’t think any of the boys took a nap but I’m pretty sure Emily did. It was raining and storming but I did get a nap. At about 7 PM, we all headed over to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. We took two cars because the boys have been whining about being squished in the back of a minivan. I had called Texas Roadhouse to see what the wait time was and I was shocked to hear that there wasn’t a wait so we went right over there. It did annoy me that they put us at a booth for six people with a chair on the end. We were pretty cramped. I wanted to try something different this time so I got the barbecue chicken and sirloin combo and I ordered the sweet potato as a side. Everyone loved the food, as usual. Michael ordered a ribeye but got a sirloin but he decided just to eat it because he didn’t want to wait for them to make a new one. We also got dessert this time. Dad really wanted the bread pudding that was advertised and Andrew and I got the cheesecake and Michael got a brownie with ice cream. 

We came back to the hotel and read half of a very long chapter and had family prayer. Then we all got ready for bed. 

 

June 26, Sunday

I’m so grateful we got to go on this trip!! It was another morning of getting up crazy early. I set my alarm for 5:45 AM. I think I hit snooze once. I got all ready for the day by 6:45 AM and started packing. By 7 AM, Dad and most of the kids had gathered in our room. By about 7:20 AM, Michael and the kids loaded the car and everyone went to breakfast and I did a final check on the rooms. I met everyone at breakfast. Then we got the receipts and turned in the keys. We said our goodbyes to Dad and got on the road. By the time we dropped off the car and walked inside, it was about 8:30 AM which was perfect timing. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:30 AM. We took the tram over to the airport and checked our bags. The bag drop was really weird because once we tagged our bags, they didn’t have any agents to take them and weigh them so the lady just said to leave them in a big group of suitcases. That really bothered me. I like to know that it’s going down the belt and nobody can mess with my stuff. Security was interesting, also. They didn’t make us take off our shoes and they didn’t make us take out our liquids. Our flight was blissfully uneventful. We made it home safely but everyone was tired. It was a fantastic trip and I’m so glad we were able to go!!!!