Four Christmases

We're back from Florida! We had a wonderful time with all of our family, and at the Gators game of course. This recap is going to be another two-parter, starting with all the family fun. In a later post I'll share the details of Game Day. Even with dividing these up, they'll probably be a couple of lengthy posts, so please bear with me!

We left our apartment in NY around 6:00 a.m. on Saturday (January 3) to head to the airport. We flew home with Achilles, which is always a bit nerve-wracking. You're never sure how he'll behave. This time we were testing out a pet travel anxiety remedy our pet store had recommended, plus some roast turkey which we discovered on Thanksgiving can put Achilles into a nice little coma. He actually did fairly well on the flight - he slept the first half of it, but then he woke up and FREAKED OUT for like 10 minutes. Barking, thrashing about, the works. But then he settled back down and slept the rest of the way. Okay, I can handle that.

When we landed in Tampa we waited forever for our luggage then took the shuttle to pick up our rental car. Then we headed to St. Pete, where we hung out at my Dad's house for a bit before making the drive up to Weeki Wachee to spend the night at my Mom's.

We got to Mom's around 5:30 or so. We got the grand tour of the new cottage Gary is building for them, which is coming along nicely. I'm very impressed! Then we had a delicious dinner (Swiss cheese chicken, mmmm), drank some wine, chatted, and the boys watched some football. Then we crashed. We were so tired!

On Sunday, Mom and Gary made a delicious breakfast. Then we all got dressed and left to go canoeing - Achilles included! We canoed on the Homasassa River and even saw manatees! It was a beautiful day and although it was quite a nice little workout, it was also very relaxing and enjoyable.

The W. family in front of the canoe place

Canoeing!

Mom and Gary

Achilles, very interested in the paddling

Mom, Achilles and me, all watching a pelican

There's a manatee in front of Mom and Gary's canoe! It came so close to us!

The whole gang after our trip

By the time we got back to Mom's house after canoeing, we had just enough time for a quick lunch on their porch before we had to pack up to head to our next destination. Although having so many Christmases and so many different family homes to visit enables us to stretch out the holidays and milk 'em for all they're worth, it doesn't allow us to spend as much time as we'd like with everybody. It seems like our visits always have to be cut short because we have to run to the next visit. So that's always a little tough! But, such is life.

Our next destination was The Villages to spend the night with Eric's dad and stepmom. Once again, we arrived in time for a very yummy dinner prepared by Suellen, a bit of wine, and some catching up. After dinner we exchanged gifts, then we watched some television and chatted some more before heading off to bed. Another exhausting day!

Ron and Suellen

Suellen, Ron, Eric and Smiley catching up

All of the dogs helping me open Achilles' Christmas gift: holisitic dog treats!

Achilles enjoying one of his new treats

Ron, Suellen and Smiley

Achilles enjoying MY Christmas gift - a very soft sweater!

On Monday morning, Eric and his dad got up early to play golf. Meanwhile I slept in a bit, then Suellen and I went to the library. By the time we got back, the men had finished golfing and we all went out to lunch. We got to eat outside, which was so nice. I'm really starting to understand the mentality of snowbirds, I must admit.

Eric and his dad on the golf course

Sandtraps in the shape of "UF!"

After lunch, Eric and I decided to head back to St. Pete to beat the Tampa rush hour traffic. So, back in the car we went, and off to my Dad's house again. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing. We were still so, so tired.

Tuesday was designated as my Dad's day. He made pancakes and sausage for breakfast (he makes great pancakes!), and then we exchanged some gifts. He had mailed our Christmas gift to us, but we had a couple small things for him and Heather and I had to exchange gifts as well. Plus, the animals had gifts for each other!

It's just not Christmas without subjecting one of the animals to some sort of Christmas attire. This year, it was the cat's turn.

Achilles opening his Beggin' Strips from his Aunt Heather

My dad opening the photobook I made for him with pictures from his trip to New York

Lucy opening her gift from Achilles. Poor Lucy was sick most of the week so was stuck outside. Poor girl!

After gifts, we did something that Eric and I rarely have a chance to do while we're in Florida - we went to the beach! We drove down to Pass-A-Grille and enjoyed an afternoon of sunshine, although it was a bit windier than we might have liked. We sat in the sand for a while before walking down to the snack bar for lunch. After lunch we sat a bit longer then headed home.

Eric at the beach

With my dad and Heather

Hooray for Florida sunshine!

Walking to lunch

That evening my dad made us a very summery meal of cheeseburgers on the grill, corn on the cob, and watermelon. Yum! Later that night we put on Wall-E for a bit before bedtime once again. Will we ever catch up on sleep? I feel like we spent the whole trip being tired.

Wednesday, for the most part, was a "free" day. We ran some errands during the day, including meeting up with Eric's friend Eric who let us use his Miami apartment while we were in town for the game. We met him for lunch on Wednesday to get his keys and directions to his place. We also did some Gator-wear shopping (we can't do much of that in New York!). For dinner we went to Eric's mom's house for their weekly Wednesday night family dinner. It was great to see everyone there!

Thursday was Game Day, which will be covered in depth in my next post, as I mentioned. Friday was spent driving back to St. Pete from Miami (with a quick stop at Ellenton Mall). Saturday we were back in business, with Christmas with the rest of Eric's family. Eric started the morning off with a round of golf with his brother, while I met up with the rest of the family at IHop for breakfast.

Eric and Ronnie

After breakfast I headed over to Toni and Gramz's house, and was soon followed by Kelley, Susan, Buzz and Doc. Gramz recently bought a Wii, so we got that fired up pretty quickly while we waited for the rest of the family to arrive. I won a game of bowling! That was fun. I don't usually win at sports, video game or otherwise. Everyone else soon arrived and the Wii fun continued for a bit before we exchanged gifts. As the gift exchange was winding down, Eric's Aunt Patty, Uncle Steve and cousin Tara arrived as well.

Buzz, Kelley, Doc and Eric playing doubles tennis

Toni and Gramz opening gifts

Susan and Kelley

Tara, Aunt Patty, Gramz and Toni

After exchanging gifts, the Wii fun continued while others tested out a gift we gave Kelley and Susan: Catch Phrase! Our friends Jose and Karen gave us that game for Christmas when we had them over for lasagna, and we loved it so much we decided to share the joy. Kelley, Ronnie, Eric and Uncle Steve tested it out first and the results were HILARIOUS. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! Probably my favorite "catch phrase" was Ronnie's guess of a "frog leg pad." So great!

Kelley, Eric and Uncle Steve

Then it was time for the main event: lasagna! Gramz made an absolutely delicious lasagna, as always. It was so good. After dinner, we played a family game of Catch Phrase, passing it around the table. More hilarity ensued!

The whole gang, minus Doc and Toni: Buzz, me, Eric, Ronnie, Stephanie, Kelley, Susan, Tara, Gramz, Aunt Patty and Uncle Steve

Stephanie, Kelley and Susan

Tara and Aunt Patty

Gramz giving clues - she was so good at it!

Uncle Steve, Toni, Doc and Buzz

After Catch Phrase, everyone started to leave. Eric and I were the last to go. We said our goodbyes, then we went to meet up with Eric's friend Eric again to return his aparmtent keys. And that was our visit!

Sunday we made one last stop for some Gator shopping, then watched a replay of the Championship game on TV followed by the celebration in the Swamp, during which Tim Tebow announced that he will be returning to UF for another year! Do I smell another potential championship? Time will tell!

Our flight back to New York was delayed by about a half hour, but our timing worked out well. We returned the car, got checked in at the airport, went through security and were just in time to board the plane. Achilles was very good on our return flight, which was such a relief. We made it back to our aparment by 9:00 that night.

We had a wonderful visit with everyone! Thanks to all for such a great Christmas. We wish we could see you more often but we enjoy every second of the visits we do get. Hope to see you soon - maybe in New York this time?