2 Days in Ft. Lauderdale

It's time I update you on our trip. We left the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. I had to speak in church that day, so we left right after my talk, which went pretty well.
We went home to finish up packing so we could leave at 12:30. Promptly Ben and I collided in the kitchen resulting in a glass jar of chocolate hazelnut goodness crashing to the floor. Then Lucas had aiming problems in the bathroom resulting in wet tile, and finally Evan had a blowout on our bed, which severely disturbed Ben so he took the sheets off to pre-treat them. It was awesome, but we managed to make it to the airport on time, without tears.

We got to Ft. Lauderdale and picked out our rental car. As we were trying to figure out where to drive Lucas threw a fit because he wanted his very own map, which we eventually provided thanks to the Alamo lady. We checked in to our crappy hotel on the beach and made a quick dash for dinner. Ft. Lauderdale was packed because it was a holiday weekend. There were a lot of annoying people cruising around (check out the guy in the blue boxers sagging his pants) and I was brought to the realization that I'm getting old... or maturing, I guess. I am not amused by the stupid t-shirts sold in the beach shops, and was offended by the g-strings hanging in the window for my 3-year-old to see. (But, we may or may not have been amused by the shirt that said, "Please tell your boobs to stop staring at my eyes."I won't tell you what the g-strings said.)
Anyhow, we ate at a loud restaurant/bar that night. Lucas licked the ketchup bottle... or was it the salt shaker? He then had the time of his life playing in the waves in his clothes as the sun was setting. He had a great time falling, running, and falling again. I was nervous because it was dark and noisy, and I'm a little crazy.

We tucked our kids in bed by 10:00 - Lucas in the crappier of the two beds and Evan on a folded up bedspread on the floor by the mini-fridge. I couldn't sleep that night. My pillow felt more like a sandbag and I started thinking about the abundance of filth in the room, eventually imagining my body being nibbled by bed bugs. I was happy when Evan finally awoke at 7:00 so I could take him out until Lucas woke up.

That morning we headed to a grocery store to buy lunch food and then head to the beach. At the beach Lucas dug, built a sand castle, and played for all of 30 minutes. Then we decided to hit the pool at the hotel. It was much easier there. Ben and Evan enjoyed a nice nap together in the warm breeze and Lucas enjoyed a little girl and her Ariel, Sebastian, and Flounder toys. We went on a drive up the A1A to some cute neighborhoods so the kids would sleep. Our attempt at naps for ourselves were halted by a crying baby, then a screaming kid.

For dinner we ate at Oasis Cafe, where they have swing tables. It was fun. We tried to stay out late as to avoid the grossness awaiting us in our hotel room. We even ate gelato at a swanky cafe in the Hilton.

I think I got a bit more sleep that night, but took Evan out in the morning once again to discover that it was raining. We survived, though, and enjoyed the tranquility of the early morning beach, then the early morning pool, then the early morning crane working next door. At 9:00 the boys were awake and came to see the crane with me. It provided Lucas with some much needed entertainment as we packed to hit the road to Key West.

We checked out at 11:00 and headed South for what we thought would be a 3 hour drive, but really took us about 5 hours. It was really pretty, though, driving through all the keys. Evan slept almost the whole trip and Lucas was a really good boy and managed a nap, too. We pulled into the property management company just as they were getting ready to close for the day. Thus began our adventures in Key West...