Florida - Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, the Tweed carnival was on Saturday, March 30th.  So, what did I do on Sunday, March 31st?  I flew to Florida to spend some time with my parents.  Notice I said 'I' and not 'we'...that's right, Curt didn't come with me this year, he had his own trip booked - a few months ago, he was asked to join a group of guys on a Golf Trip/Bachelor Party to Myrtle Beach (he doesn't know the groom...but, knows the grooms brother-in-law...and, the group figured that a group of 8 was better than a group of 7, so they asked Curt to go along).  Anyway, Curt booked that trip and I was originally going to stay home; however, after looking at my work schedule, I realized I could go to Florida for the week and I would only need to use 3 vacation days, so the decision was easy!

So, Saturday after carnival, I drove to Toronto to spend the night at a hotel (I found a good 'park and stay' deal at a hotel near the airport) and then flew out at 6:30am Sunday morning.  I haven't flown out of Toronto in YEARS - I forgot how BIG that airport is!  I probably cut my timing a little too close as I arrived at my gate minutes before they started boarding the plane!  I was at the airport in plenty of time, but there was a long line for customs - I was definitely getting nervous.  When I did finally get to the customs officer, he asked where I was going and I replied 'to Florida to visit my parents'...he asked, without cracking a smile, 'would you go visit your parents at this time of year if they lived in Saskatoon?'...I laughed, he stayed stone faced and didn't even look up, just passed my passport back to me and told me to have a good trip?!?!

My parents met me at the airport, and then it was off to check out the new house they were staying at.  The house they normally stay at was already booked, so they were in a new neighbourhood this year.

Everything was great, but there were a few differences - the main one being an safety alarm on the door; because you couldn't fence off the pool within the lanai, every door that led to the pool area had an alarm that you had to press every time you went out, or came back in.  It was a little finicky, and we were a little forgetful from time to time, so it went off more than once - it sounded like a fire alarm, so to say it was annoying is an understatement!  But, we obviously still spent A LOT of time outside enjoying the pool.

Mom & Dad playing cribbage.

A blurry picture of me in the pool.  It had actually just started to rain when my mom took this picture...my dad and I had just returned home from a game of golf, so the swim and warm rain were still refreshing.

 A good ol' self-take.  This was a typical view around the pool...mom and I reading and dad doing sudoku puzzles.

 It was great to get to spend the week with my parents.  Because they live about 3 hours away, I don't get to see them as often as I'd like to...so, the trips Curt and I take with them are always special.

And, I'm not going to lie...getting to eat my mom's cooking and dad's BBQ is pretty awesome too!  And in honour of the time my parents spent doing those two things, here are some pictures :)

Mom in the kitchen...

And Dad at the BBQ...

The weather wasn't as good this year as it has been in the past - it was warm, but we had a few cloudy days and a day of rain.  But, we made the best of those days and did some shopping, so it wasn't a total loss!  Overall it was a great week, I enjoyed having lots of down time and not feeling like we had a busy schedule to follow.  A BIG THANK YOU to my parents for letting me crash one week of their two week vacation!