Alright, family and friends, I am going to try to write about our trip in chronological order with some pictures along the way. Sorry it has been awhile, we have been back almost a month. ha ha! Here it goes.
Tuesday, December 30th, we drove to Kansas City to catch the plane. We flew out with the whole family minus John and Laurie and their boys. They flew out from Denver. We had a connecting flight in Nashville and then off to Jacksonville. I was so nervous about how Lily would do on the airplane, but she actually did amazing. We moved her around a bit to sit with Grandma, Grandpa, and Gigi and she was quite polite. "Hi, hi, hi" to the people around us.
Lily and Caden sitting with Aunt Gigi and Papa.
Virgie was able to put her asleep for a little bit.
Here we are for our first flight as a family. Lily ate a lot of gold fish, cereal sticks, and pretzels. We did not want her ears to pop and she didn't complain much. We finally arrived at the Jacksonville airport!!!! Yeah!!!! We went to go claim our luggage and get our rental cars and
car seats, but there was a slight problem. It took awhile, but we finally got our Hummer and Mini Van. Good combination, I know. It was dark there and about 50 degrees. Thank goodness to Matt's GPS, we were on our way to our hotel. Nothing could prepare us for the wonderful hotel we were about to stay in. We drove up to the hotel on A1A and saw all the mansions that led up to it. Oh my goodness. When we checked in we talked to the lady about golf packages, spas, attractions, breakfast, and more. She told us we were in the "Georgia House" on their property, just across the way.
We walked over, parked the Hummer and Mini Van right in front and I basically ran to our door to check out the view. Mom knew they were ocean view, but we didn't know it was going to be as great as it was. Everyone came through our room and went out our back door. It was very dark, but we could hear the waves crashing. It was a 5 foot walk and we were on sand with the beautiful ocean in front of us. We stayed out there a little bit and couldn't wait for morning so we could get a better look at it. John and Laurie still weren't there, but they would be another hour or two, so we went to the resorts restaurant just down the road. It was a classy place right on the beach. I ordered
Mahi Mahi and it was delicious. There were some Clemson fans sitting next to us and they bought us a round of drinks. I think they were a little tipsy, because Dad went up to them later at the game and they had no idea who we were. ha ha!
We went back to our rooms and John, Laurie,
Mav and
Guire were there shortly. We talked for a bit and decided to get some rest for the next day.
Wednesday, December 31st (New Years Eve)
The men were all going golfing this morning so we woke up early. Matt and I went out our door to check out the ocean. We beat the sunrise! Virgie and Maverick had been up even longer than us and were already walking up and down the beach looking for shells. I did get to capture the sunrise!
Virgie and Mav.
Eliza, Sydney and Maverick. Maverick loved looking for the best seashells.
This is looking at our "Georgia House" from the beach. Delanie and Maguire enjoyed playing on the beach!
Lily didn't quite know what to think of the beach. It was cute to watch her observe everything.
The water was too cold to swim in, but the kids enjoyed running from the waves. Delanie had to keep her arm wrapped up so her burns wouldn't get wet. She did a great job taking care of it.
We played outside all day while the men were golfing. We did get to enjoy a wonderful breakfast at the main lobby area. The Florida wait staff is so polite and we were treated so great our whole stay there.
Grandma and the kids next to the enormous gingerbread house.
This fountain was in front of the resort. Another cute picture. I wish Syd was in it.
Lily is standing on a million little seashells.
Lily walking on the beach.
Matt, Dad, John, and Scott just got back from golfing. They had a good time (even though Dad was wearing jeans, ha ha!) They said the course was beautiful.
"Look at my hands mommy. What is this? It won't come off!"
She does not like when her hands are dirty. Do you like her shirt? She was even cheering on the Huskers. Thank you Heather for a cute outfit. The skirt was a little to chilly.
Here are a couple pictures of the golf course.
Matt and I's room. The hotel provided a pack n' play for Lily.
That night we went to the Jacksonville Landing for the Husker pep rally. The Landing is right on the water downtown Jacksonville. There were tons of people there. It was pretty fun! Lily liked dancing to the fight song that the band played.
We went out to eat at the Cracker Barrel on our way back to
Ponte Vedra (hotel). Since it is New Years Eve, we grabbed some drinks and went back to the hotel to celebrate. All the kids were tired and we were too, actually. We ended up playing pitch while Grandma slept with the babies. Happy 2009!!!!!!!!! Go Huskers!
Thursday, January 1st Game Day!
I got Lily dressed in her adorable Husker cheerleading outfit and Matt and I got our Husker gear on. We went to breakfast where Lily talked to everyone and flirted, even with Clemson people, ha ha! Mom was staying with the kids during the game and we hired a Nanny, Caroline to help her to be an extra set of eyes and hands. It actually worked out quite well. We took the two Hummers to the game and Scott and Eliza met us there with Scott's brother and sister-in-law.
John, Laurie, Virgie, Dad, Matt, Maverick, and I hung out in a parking lot for awhile (tailgating), and then decided to go check out the stadium. There was a huge tailgate right by the stadium. Maverick got to catch a football with other kids at one of the stands.
Laurie and Eliza!
Then Maverick got to do pull ups at the Marines stand.
It was funny, we then ran into Marcy Ganz!!! She took this group photo of us with the stadium in the background. She had great news! Mark and her are engaged!!! Yeah! He actually proposed at the Landing on New Years Eve.
Congratulations Marcy and Mark! We can't wait for the big day! (can you tell Marcy is showing off her ring! ha ha!)
Well, we then thought we should go to the game and check out our seats. As we walked in, there was a huge bar area with a lot of eatery places. We could have been tailgating in here the whole time!!! Oh well. Anyway, John had gotten the football tickets and told us they were good seats. He was right! We were 7 rows up from the Husker bench on about the 35-40 yard line. It was awesome. I have never had this great of a view at a Husker game.
There is Bo Pelini raising the trophy! I am so glad we won. It made our trip even that much better!
Another group picture!!!!
We got back to the hotel to Grandma and the kids. They had a great time too. It was a little colder this day, so there wasn't as much playing outside. We ordered some pizza and hung out at the hotel that night. Us ladies were getting the chance to hang out in the morning while the men had the kiddos.
Friday, January 2nd
Mom, Laurie, Eliza, Virgie, and I went to breakfast and tried to plan our day of fun. We then went to the spa to check for openings. We were disappointed they didn't have five massage (message as John would say!! ha ha!) appointments together for the day, but we knew that was a long shot. So, Laurie and Mom set one for later and Virgie and I got one for the next morning. We decided to drive around and check out the scenery on the A1A. We went to St. Augustine and looked at some tourist attractions we wanted the kids and men to come to. Then we found a strip mall and went shopping for a couple hours. We ate at a restaurant on the water. It had little doors by the windows to feed the fish or seagulls. It was interesting.
We then called the men to bring the kids over so we could all hang out. They had a fun morning playing on the beach. When they got to St. Augustine, they all ate and then we walked over to the fort "Castillo de San Marcos." St. Augustine is said to be the oldest city and this was a fort to protect Spain from pirate raids and Great Britain. This fort was finished being built in 1695. I could tell you more, but it would be me copying our pamphlet, not actually information I remember. ha ha!!!
Caden was not scared of them at all, until one of them brought out weapons from the room. ha ha!!! Good picture!
The bunks inside the fort.
They show the crowd how they use to fire off canons. It was pretty loud.
I thought the walls of the fort were interesting. They were made of rock and seashells. It was neat to see all the holes from old battles!
Chocolate covered strawberry from Gigi, yummy!
She was such a good girl on this whole trip. I am glad Mom and Dad gave us all this experience!
We went back to Ponde Vedra because Laurie and Mom had their "message" appointments and we had reservations at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. John and Laurie have eaten at this restaurant in other cities and wanted all of us adults to experience it. We asked Caroline to come watch the kids again and she did. After a little detour we finally arrived at Ruth's Chris and it was definitely an experience. I had never been to a restaurant where they do everything for the women first: napkin, drinks, food, etc. We had wonderful wine, steak, and side items. A few people even had dessert. Laurie loves their cheesecake and Dad liked the sorbet. :) It was a dining experience that we won't forget. We talked about "when was the last time we have eaten as a family with just the adults?" Uhhhh, before Maverick I think. Good idea John and Laurie!!!
We got back to the Hotel and Caroline said the kids were great.
Saturday, January 3rd
Virgie and I had our massage appointments at 9:00. This was my first massage and Virgie's. We were both expecting women, but to our surprise we both got a man. ha ha! Talk about awkward. Anyway, the facility was amazing. I wish we could have had more time to enjoy it. We had to hurry because we were flying out today. There was a hot tub, sauna, heated swimming pool, drinks, and food. The massage was very relaxing and it was hard to imagine that we would soon be leaving.
We went back to the hotel and went to eat breakfast with everyone else and then off to packing for the trip home.
The Georgia House with our Hummer and Mini Van in front.
The main house.
Maguire and I!
Matt, Virgie, Mav, John, Guire, and Laurie enjoying our last day in Florida.
Lily was playing with Uncle John and decided to take a nap before we left for the airport.
What a wonderful trip!!!! I hope we can go back to Ponte Vedra. We all missed Mullen. He would have had a great time as well. Words can not explain the absence I feel in my heart for him. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him.
Thank you Mom and Dad for such a wonderful trip!!!
