Spring Break - Destin

(No, this isn't actually me)

So about three weeks before Spring Break (week of March 15), Gordon & Michelle Bennett invited us to join them in a condo they had reserved in Destin, Florida. At first it was a "No, we really aren't beach people" response, but somehow it turned into "Hey, I guess that might be fun!" It will be Grayson and Hannah's LAST spring break of their high school careers. And, even more than FUN, I thought it might be a chance to actually RELAX. So, we went!

I haven't bought a swimming suit since 1996, when we went to Hawaii with Ambest! Okay, can I just say that the swimsuit purchase expedition was one of the most miserable, humiliating, disgusting, and financially shocking experiences of my life thus far. But I ended up with a granny dress I could wear on the beach. It was the first and only one I tried on, and it was 20% off (and still ridiculously expensive), it fit well enough, it had plenty of fabric, and I quickly BOUGHT IT and left the store to mourn in private.

It went something like this:

 

'Nuff said...

It rained on Sat/Sun/Mon, so we amused ourselves at the Condo by watching "Frozen" like 12 times, cooking, playing games and we went to the Outlet Mall nearby on Monday.

 

 

And while there, I was lucky enough to find some CROCS that I think I can actually still wear to work, even with our new Hitler-esque dress code. They're comfy & soft like my other CROCS, but they look dressier like sandals. The only way Hitler will know they're not regular sandals is if he comes up and makes me take them off and looks at the manufacturer. (Michelle got some Crocs too, we're both believers!)

 

 

LOVE the colors in this one! So bright and vivid...

View from our bedroom balcony

We FINALLY got to go down to the water on Tuesday...it was a beautiful day!

Whitney & Jon & Isla & Elliana Swift; Hannah Bennett, Madison Penrod(?), Grayson, Tyler Nabrotzky & Sam

 

 

My FIRST time to sit and relax on the beach...

 

 

 

 

 
Michelle and I walked up the beach and back several times, and called it exercise. But it was really a chance to people-watch and visit out on our own. Haha

 

At the end of our 8th floor condo, the police had set up a temporary "Spring Break" station, and they were arresting underage drinkers, and those who were old enough but displaying public drunkenness. It was interesting and SAD TO WATCH them bring these young people over, talk to them, let them make a call, then take their cell phones away and put them in the back of the paddywagon to go downtown. UG...you know those parents were getting a phone call they did not want! And that place was hoppin' the entire time we were there!

 

 

 

The "Grandmas" took Elliana on a few of our walks...

 

While we were on a walk, we saw this guy and his 'best friend' getting ready to go out and SURF or BOOGIE BOARD or whatever. We watched them all the way out into the deep water. It was pretty cool to see that brave dog! You could tell this was not the first time they  had done this...

Jon, Isla, Whitney & Elliana Swift; Grandma Michelle & Elliana; Madison,
Hannah2 (whose family was staying just up the beach from us) and Hannah

 Spencer, Tyler and Sam dug holes under Madison & Hannah's towels when they would leave for a little while. Then they'd cover them back up with the towels hoping the girls would fall in the holes when they came back. Um.....it never happened.

 

 

Elliana, Isla, Jon & Whitney Swift

Sam, Grayson & Hannah 

MY SPOT

 

A couple of evenings we took the kids to a place a little ways up the beach called THE TRACK. It had arcades, race cars, mini golf, and a bunch of other activities. That was fun, but of course my crappy camera didn't do well on any of the action shots, so I'm not posting any here.

 

Tyler, Spencer, Hannah, Madison, Sam and Grayson

 

AND NOW, IN THE BIZARRO CATEGORY...

 

One day while we were on the beach this couple came up not too far in front of us. They had two 'tweener' age kids who ran and played in the water. They were Asian, so maybe this is a custom for them, but the man then dug a real shallow trench, rested his head on a towel outside at the end, laid down in the trench, and spread his legs. Then the woman put a hat on his face, covered up his legs and arms with sand, put her backpack on his stomach, and SHE LAID DOWN ON TOP OF HIM between his legs. They just laid there like that for a pretty long time!

 

 

It just looked so strange! People were walking by on the beach, taking pictures, snickering...and we were too, so I can't comment on that. After awhile, they both just got up, called their kids, and left.

 



The water is just so beautiful...love it!



 

I must admit I had a hard time just SITTING ON THE BEACH for hours at a time doing nothing. I only ended up going down there two of the four days we could go. It just felt weird. But I'm sure if we went more often, I could get used to it. But I spent a little time in the condo organizing photos, working on some RS stuff, and just relaxing that way. And yes, getting those types of things done does relax me.

 

 

My FAVORITE SUNSET photo from the trip

Tyler, Spencer, Grayson & Sam

Me & My Boys

 

Madison, Tyler, Grayson, Hannah2, Hannah, Spencer & Sam

 

Yes, it's blurry, but the only one that's half-decent.

Look at the BRILLIANT colors of the water in this one!

 

 

Another WATER COLOR WONDER!
 

 



Our view out the balcony on the other side of the Condo:

 

 

 

The plan was to get a great FAMILY PHOTO sometime while we were down on the beach. But the boys didn't want to wear khakis and a polo to the beach (heaven forbid), so we ended up just stopping by the roadside directly in front of our condo on our way back out of town. They turned out okay...well...nnnyeeeahh...  probably won't be using them for the 2014 Christmas Card.

 

Harris Crew

Best of FRIENDS!

 

 

Bennett Crew

Swift Crew
 

The TEENAGERS

ALL IN ALL, we had a great time!

 

And although we could see dolphins way off in the distance, we didn't even run into sharks, gators or scary things like this:

 

 

 

So, I guess now I understand why people have believed for years that:

 

 

New Jersey / New York

 

Finally getting to post about my FABULOUS trip to New Jersey last month! Of course, the purpose of the trip was to film an episode of CorizonTV on "Clinical Excellence." The DVL film crew consisted of Jimmy Chaffin, Rebecca Warren and the new camera guy, Jason Marlin. 

Flying into the Newark, NJ airport was a bit scary, because many airports around the country were closed due to the "polar vortex" crazy cold weather we've been experiencing across the country. And with the ice and snow, it was a bit dicey! But although there was ice and snow on the runway, there was no slip-sliding around, and our landing was smooth, thank heaven!

And as we were landing, I kept seeing all these circular silo looking things, and couldn't help but think of  #9 in my previous post -- see *HERE* Maybe my question has been answered??

Once on the ground, the New Jersey skyline was somehow familiar to me, but I don't remember ever seeing it in real life or TV or movies, so go figure...

SNOW, SNOW AND MORE SNOW!

WE COULD NOT BELIEVE how much snow was on the ground! I guess it just keeps snowing inches and inches, then it freezes, never melts, then snows AGAIN and it just keeps piling up! People were stranded because they couldn't get their cars out of their driveways, or UNCOVERED on the side of the road where the snow plows had covered them and then they had frozen. It was freaky to see SOOOO much snow on the ground. The news was even reporting they were out of salt for the salt trucks, there was no place to PUT all the snow when they shovel it, and there was no relief in sight for this ridiculous weather!

We drove around for awhile looking for somewhere to grab a quick lunch, but there were no Subways, McDonalds, or anything like that in downtown New Jersey! Rebecca checked YELP, an on-line restaurant resource, and found a couple of places. After discussion, reading reviews, and looking at photos, we decided to try a place called Harvest Table.

Jimmy & Rebecca walking out of Harvest Table. And Rebecca wore these thin, tiny flats with ALL THAT SNOW!
However, I will say, she also brought boots, and wore them the rest of the trip. HA!

It became the running joke of the trip, because it was itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny, BARELY big enough to turn around in, had maybe 6 tables total, and the food was cooked right there in front of you. They even had a 9x13 pan of homemade brownies for their dessert selection! The pictures on YELP, though technically accurate, were VEERRRYYY deceiving. We went back and forth whispering as to whether or not we should leave, but decided to stay. I had the grilled turkey avocado sandwich, and it wasn't bad! But I don't believe we'll be putting it on our agenda in the future. Lunch was just not...stellar.

From there we went directly to Essex County Juvenile Detention Center, and went in to meet the team and scout out our photo shoot for the next day.

After the scout trip, we headed out to Fornos of Spain, which came highly recommended by Bob Orrick from our New Jersey Corizon team. Now THAT food was excellent, and lots of it! Yummmm...('Fornos' is Portuguese for the way they cook or bake their food.) It definitely made up for Harvest Table!

And...I know you are dying for the update on how MY TRAVEL BAG did on her first venture! Well, she was simply FABULOUS at the airport. I felt so chic and stylish...and she was quite at home relaxing in my hotel room. (I've got to come up with a name for her.)

The next day was almost a 12-hour day of filming. WHEW! It was long and drawn out, but we got some great footage, some great interviews, and I'm excited for this next CorizonTV episode. It features the clinical excellence that earned the facility NCCHC's "Facility of the Year" Award for 2013. It was awarded at the convention in Nashville last October (where I sang the national anthem :)  See more *HERE*.

Our Lunch-time 'curse' remained in full force as we tried to order in some sandwiches for lunch. Every place that delivered said they were out of turkey, out of chicken, out of roast beef, out of everything -- BECAUSE THE SNOW had stopped delivery trucks and everything was running was out! So we ordered pizza, and they were OUT OF PEPPERONI, but said if we'd wait a little while they would have some more in. So we did, and they did, and we had very mediocre pepperoni pizza for lunch. 

All in all, a successful day, great people at Essex, and some great stuff "in the can" for our CorizonTV episode.

Needless to say, after our very long day, we were exhausted. But the DVL crew knew I hadn't ever been to NYC, so they had made reservations at a nice place called BECCO in downtown Manhattan, which meant we had to go UNDER THE RIVER in the Lincoln Tunnel. VERY COOL, actually! I didn't get the heebie-jeebies people predicted...

We were driving a huge TAHOE, in downtown NYC, where everything is compact and crowded. We knew we wouldn't be able to find a parking place near the restaurant, so Jimmy pulled up in front of the restaurant to let us out so he could go a few blocks and park. Just as he slowed down, a car pulled out of a parking spot DIRECTLY across from the door of the restaurant. Unbelievable! We pulled right in, the Tahoe actually FIT in that spot, and we walked about 20 feet to the door of the restaurant. Other (smaller) cars behind us were honking at us they were SOOO JEALOUS! It was starting out to be a good night, S-C-O-R-E!

 

Fancy-Schmancy food...mine is the mahi-mahi bottom left.

After dinner, we walked down two blocks to TIMES SQUARE!!

 

We had a great time just looking UP at all the lights and sights in Times Square. That place is insane...so much power wasted in LIGHTS! Seriously...it was fun to actually BE somewhere you see on TV every year on New Year's Eve, but I don't care to go back -- and I would never want to LIVE downtown NYC or anywhere like it. BUT IT WAS GREAT TO SEE ONCE!

After walking around for awhile, we went to find a FABULOUS DESSERT. We went to this place that had the "TITANIC" -- an ice cream boat made of chocolate mousse, bananas, strawberries, oreos, three flavors of ice cream, nuts, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, fried bananas on top, caramel sauce and deliciousness!  And those pastry things stuck in the top to make it look like a ship. I actually recommended (though hard to believe) that we get the "LIFEBOAT" size which is the same thing but built for FOUR people, since there were four of us. But the guys outvoted me, and we got the EIGHT-person version...and I must say, we did pretty good on SINKING that TITANIC!

(look how big it is compared to a regular coffee cup)

TITANIC -- BEFORE

TITANIC -- AFTER

People would stop and stare, point, laugh, and whisper as they walked by our table! One even stopped to take a photo. HA! It was ridiculous -- and delicious!

What FUN! Another city to mark off my bucket list...