Finishing up in Florida!

We only had a few days left of summer vacation and we made sure that we used them wisely while at Nana and Grampa's house in Florida.  It was a great way to unwind from all of the travelings we had done for the past 3 weeks.  There was a lot of water involved (pool, fountain and beach)...

and a few impressive rainstorms...

Which just forced me to come inside and pack the 4 large suitcases and all the carry on bags we would be taking back with us.  I even got a little help from ChaCha...

Our final night we celebrated Nana's birthday (a week early) and saw a spectacular sunset before calling it a summer...

The next afternoon it was off to the airport yet again (if you are counting that makes 5 flights in 10 days!)

We made it home the next morning after a smooth flight and no sleep so this is pretty much what Stinkerbell looked like for the next few hours...

We are over the jet lag and into our second week at school already but we are already planning our next adventures.  Stay tuned!

Coral Club Beach

With over 1700 km (1100 miles) of coastline, you can't visit Croatia without hitting the beach.  I mean, I guess you could, but why would you want to?  Since we were staying smack dab in the center of Old Town, we didn't have a pool with our hotel much less any water so we found a great Beach Club and booked sun chairs for the day.  We arrived early, set up our things and proceeded to relax in the warm sunshine.  We swam, we read, we played cards.  We jumped, we ate and we attempted to paddle board (the board was broken).  But most of all, we had fun!  Just what the Dr. ordered.

 Ok!  To both of those things.

  

Seaside Sunbathing in Aqaba

Since we had gotten shown the door quite early at Wadi Rum, we showed up at our next destination too early for check-in.  Thankfully, I had planned ahead and packed our swimsuits, sunscreen and coverups in a separate beach bag.  So we stored our luggage at our resort, changed into our suits and were lounging at the edge of the Red Sea by 9 am.  And that is where you would have found us (or in the pool) until dinner time.  We figured that we had walked, toured, climbed and hiked enough for the past few days.  It was time to just relax and enjoy the only seaside town in all of Jordan.  We thought about taking a boat tour.  We contemplated snorkeling.  But it all seemed like too much work.  We opted instead to just laze around.  Wise choice indeed!

 The view from my chair.

 My crazy people in the Red Sea.

 Burying Stinkerbell.

She got out!

 Seaside lunch!

 And Ice Cream.

 A final jump in and swim back to our beach...

  

 And another day with another beautiful sunset was under our belts.  This was another first though as it is the first time I could watch the sun set over one country (Isreal) while standing in another (Jordan).

And to all a good night...

Celebrating Christmas in Florida was a first for us as.  We were happy about the prospect of sunny weather, beach time and seeing the whole family just after but it was also a bit strange to not be skiing for the first time in many years.  We got over that pretty quickly while soaking in the Florida sunshine.  And we might have been in a new spot for the holidays but that doesn't mean we didn't bring all of our traditions to the beach - Ugly Sweater decorating, Nana and Grampa reading the Night before Christmas before bed on Christmas Eve, leaving out cookies and milk (and even carrots for the reindeer since Santa called personally to remind us).  We even did something new and decorated ugly socks.  It truly was beginning to feel just like Christmas...

And then we donned our Christmas jammies (that we got in our stockings) and went to bed with visions dancing in our heads of the presents we would hand out in the morning.  Those duties, as in all years past, fell to the girls while the adults had their mimosas and Kringle (flown in from Wisconsin, per usual). 

All in all, it went off without a hitch.  Stinkerbell and MadHatter loved the presents they got from everyone (Stinkerbell does not have a poker face - see proof below) and we all enjoyed watching them rip into their gifts.  Sadly, we did not have any time to play with them because we were due to leave for a few days with B's side of the family and we had to get packed.  We bid Nana and Grampa a very Merry Christmas and set off in our sleigh for Boca Raton.

I hope everyone had a day as fun and filled with family and loved ones as we did!  Merry Christmas to all...