Barney Fife, Peanut Tillman, and F-18 Hornets?

This update breaks down into three important events that took place, only to have a surprise fourth appear late in the game. So let's get to them one at a time. The first milestone for the entire family was the 6th anniversary that Antoinette and I celebrated just recently. We typically spend our anniversary taking the family to a place that we've never been before. This year, we decided to take the boys to Jekyl Island about an hour north of Jacksonville along the Atlantic coast and spend the day there. We had been there before, but just for a couple hours on a car ride back from Chicago when we timed up our arrival to correspond with the sunrise so we could have breakfast watching the sun come up. Worked out well then and a very nice beach with really nice facilities.

This time we headed up there early in the morning wanting to make a couple stops. The first stop was a place called Driftwood Beach that we had heard of. There is a similar beach in Jacksonville relatively close to our house, so we figured we'd give it a shot. After finding a place to park, we walked down some old dirt trails that led to the beach and it was a disaster. Place looked like a dump as far as beaches go, completely covered in sharp rocks all the way down through the water that were mini-boulder in size. The only good part of the beach were huge oak trees covered in Spanish moss hanging down that looked to be hundreds of years old hanging over the walkways and trails, so we decided we'd take the boys for a walk.

After walking a short distance, the grassy areas began to clear and more beach opened up with some giant trees littering the beach, but the giant rocky shoreline remained. There were also a thousand crabs covering every tree with these bugs covering the trees that looked like giant cockroaches running everywhere. We caught a couple crabs for the boys to look at, let them go, and then continued our walk. After another short walk down the beach, walking around some massive downed oak trees, we came into the area that the beach was probably known for.

Laying in front of us was a massive sprawling beach with sand running out into the ocean, huge oak trees white washed by the tides spaced out enough that they littered the shoreline like giant bleached whale skeletons. The boys loved it. They could run wild all over the beach because there wasn't a soul out there. We walked a long way down the beach and back and then decided it was time for lunch.

After realizing that the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed, we decided to drive down the main drag looking for a place to stop for lunch. Not realizing where we were going, we happened to pass by a place called the Time Out Sports Bar and Grill that caught my eye. We turned in hoping they would have the football games on. The parking lot was quite empty, so we figured they might be closed, but we didn't see the restaurant so we figured we would drive through the lot until we confirmed that. Oddly enough, the only two cars in the parking lot belonged to a middle aged woman sitting in a chair in front of what looked like a motel and a police officer in shorts that were way too short to be deemed appropriate for public.

As we drove past them meandering through this empty parking lot, we came to the end and still didn't see the restaurant, so we turned around and stopped for a second to look for another restaurant on our phones. Just then I look up and here comes the police officer in his squad car. Then he flashes his lights at me. I'm wondering what this is all about, but figure I'll ask him for directions or advice on a good place to stop. When I roll down the window, he asks "what are you folks doing back here?" I'm thinking, well, I have two toddlers in car seats in the back and we are looking on phones sitting in a parking lot with out of State plates. A 6 year old could've probably pieced this mystery together.

Instead, the officer, who I will now respectfully refer to as Barney Fife, after being told that we are lost and just trying to find somewhere to take the family for lunch on a Sunday afternoon, tells me that we are in the process of committing multiple crimes. Crimes? What is this clown talking about? Crimes? I'm sitting in a parking lot trying to find a place to take my family for lunch. What crime are we committing? Barney informs me that outside of the property, there are two other entrances that have two very small "No Trespassing" signs on the front of them. But the entrance we turned into doesn't have one. After a bit of disbelief, this idiot acts like he's doing me a favor for letting me go with a warning. Thanks, Barney. No wonder half the businesses on your island are going bankrupt with geniuses like this guy interacting with the tourists. I'm guessing his XS sized biker shorts might've been all they had available and that could've been causing the attitude problem. After having lunch, it started raining and cut the day short and we decided to head over for ice cream and then make an early run back home.

A few weeks later, I had a great deal on some Bears tickets, so I decided to take Billy to the Bears vs. Jaguars game. He'd been to an Ohio State game with me last year when Ohio State played Florida in Jacksonville (we lost), but never a Bears game. Might be a long time before he ever gets to one in Chicago, so of course I couldn't pass on this opportunity. Would've loved to take AJ, but he's so distracted at this age, keeping tabs on both of them would've been crazy and Antoinette was impartial to going anyway. So instead, I invited a co-worker and the two of us took Billy to the game.

It was hot. Real hot, but Antoinette packed us plenty of water and snacks, so we figured we'd be fine. After arriving at the game, we took seats that were empty close to ours which allowed us to put Billy in the shade. Eventually, we had to move back to our seats, but luckily as the Sun was going down, the scoreboard shadow covered our seats for nearly the entire game, which was perfect. The Bears went on to beat the living hell out of the Jaguars and Billy got to see a great game. He was talking about it for weeks after that and still is asking me if we can go back and see another game. Outstanding experience for him and I and who knows when there will be another shot at going to a Bears game while we live in Jacksonville. Billy did great, wearing his new Chicago Bears outfit. About two dozen people cheered him as we walked by (there were probably more Bears fans than Jaguars fans in the stadium).

And then there's AJ. AJ being AJ. AJ was acting up on the couch and this time, he fell off the couch. After a loud smack, I get up to look at AJ, no stranger to split and fat lips from jumping on or over things, only this time, it wasn't your rudimentary split lip. AJ has an entire chin covered in blood just seconds after the noise came from behind the couch and he's crying, which is unusual for AJ. By the time I get over there and pick him up, the blood is all over my shirt. It took a little longer to stop the bleeding than normal this time, but once we did, it was pretty clear AJ had the granddaddy of all split lips. We decided against stitches even though the Pediatrician recommended it and after a few days, when things started to settle down, it was clear that was a good idea not to have the stitches as the lip healed up on its own. We are almost 100% back to regular AJ and it doesn't seem to be bothering him anymore. He's also back jumping off of everything he can possibly climb up onto, but that was a pretty crazy incident.

Finally, there's the Air Show. The boys had been to the Air Show here before, but it had been a few years, so we decided to take them back now that they were a little older. This time, we broke the trip to the beach into a pair of trips over a two day period of time. The first trip, we had a beautiful October day with 82 degree temps, no humidity, no clouds, and bright blue skies to watch the planes. We picked out a great spot on the beach where someone had dug two giant holes in the sand that conveniently kept the boys very occupied while Antoinette and I set up some beach chairs and just relaxed. The boys got to see US Army jump team parachute back to the beach, got to see a couple aerobatic prop plane acts, and before we left, got to see a an F-18 Hornet flying over the beach.

On Sunday, we returned to the beach just in time to see an F-22 Raptor flying around the outer reaches of Jacksonville. Then we capped off the show with the Blue Angels. For anyone who has ever seen the Blue Angels, I don't have to tell you, but for anyone who hasn't, it is truly something you have to experience in your life. I've included some video footage in the entry that I'm incorporating here, but ultimately, they are amazing, extremely entertaining, and the boys loved them.

One more funny story happened on the beach though. Billy told me he had to poop, so with no public bathroom in sight, we started to wander down the beach to the main road and look for a place to use the bathroom. I spotted a KFC and figured that would be perfect after a half mile walk. While we're walking, I hear Billy say, "Dad? I like her butt." What?!? I turn to see what he's talking about and to our left, there are a pair of twenty somethings in skimpy bikini bottoms holding up signs advertising parking spots. For a Dad, that's one of those rare "that's my boy" moments that you really get a kick out of. Antoinette thought it was pretty funny when we got back to the beach and you KNOW Grandpa thought it was funny.

AJ turns 2 in a couple weeks and I'll probably be incorporating that into the next update. Until then...

Mickey Mouse + Labor Day = Perfection

About 6 months ago I found out that the Seaworld tickets Antoinette bought last Labor Day weekend were actually season passes when she asked me if we were heading back to Seaworld again this year and I told her probably not. At that point, she advised that we were wasting the season passes we had that would expire on Labor Day. What? Turns out the tickets we had from last year were good for as many visits to Seaworld as you like within that 12 month period, so if we could scratch together a quick visit, we could take the boys back again for free.

Of course I immediately started throwing together a quick trip since Orlando is just a couple hours down the road and found a perfect little resort called Caribe Cove. Rentals here were $85/night for a 2/2 condo in a resort just 10 minutes from Disney with a nice pool, etc. So we booked it for 3 days and began planning a trip that would include a couple days at Seaworld and a day at Disney.

The day finally arrived and after work, we loaded up the truck and headed down, arriving at the resort around 11 PM. At check-in, it turned out that our dates were off and the guy at the front desk told me that we couldn't get into the property until tomorrow. After a little discussion, I realized he was right and I was wrong and somehow I had screwed up the dates. After a little more "discussion", he agreed to let us just check-in immediately and we found our room with paint cans in it and TV's on. After the paint guy picked up his supplies, we finally had a chance to get settled in, grab something to eat, and watch the end of the football game while we got the boys ready for bed.

Our first day out, we were up early to hit the resort pool before the crowds arrived and got there with only 5 or 6 people laying out. The pool was fairly small, but plenty big when there were only a handful of people. It also had an infinity edge that overlooked a small lake, which added a nice touch. We spent a little time there since we are in the process of teaching Billy how to swim and didn't want to miss a weekend of working on it. Afterward, we headed back to get changed, eat something, and then head off to Seaworld.

Our last visit, we missed the dolphin show, so we planned around that and making sure we got good seats for the Shamu Rocks night show. For some reason, Billy took a fascination with maps on this trip, and when we sat down once inside the park, he and I each had a map to look at to determine what route to take to see everything we wanted to see.

We made it just in time to head over to the previously mentioned dolphin show and despite showing up late, wound up with pretty good seats. The show was a little disappointing. More trapeze acts than actual dolphins, but there were some pretty interesting parts when they released what felt like 30 green parrots that didn't just fly by on one pass, but instead kept circling the inside of the stadium over and over and over again, just over your heads. Another pretty interesting part was when some giant bird that seemed about the size of a condor just soared right over everybody's head. Overall, the dolphin show at the Georgia Aquarium was better than this one, but moving on...

We continued making our way around the entire park, stopping to see the dolphins inside the aquarium room, got the kids on the carousel, saw all of the animals are the various exhibits, and even stopped at some ride about a 4D experience called Turtle Trek. Wow!!! If you are clausterphobic, take a pass on this one. They usher you into this place in massive groups of what seems like 200 people packed into a room about the size of a small Conference Room with one wall that is a giant aquarium. Couldn't tell you what was in it though because I was too busy being pressed up against the glass. Then they open the doors and you think you are going into the ride/show/etc. Wrong. Instead, you move to the next room just like the first room, only to make matters worse, they pack you in and close the doors to the previous room, so now you are officially packed in like rats. People are coughing in your face, etc. Not a pleasant experience. Finally, you make your way into the ride, which was actually pretty cool. You get a pair of 3D glasses and walk into a planetarium style room with no seats (that part isn't cool becuase you've been standing in each room so far for 20 minutes per room). When the show starts, you are immersed in a total 3D environment where the movie is playing all around you to make you feel like you are the turtle. Overall, it was pretty neat and we were even able to keep the glasses on AJ's head for the first time in one of these.

Before the night was through, we headed over to Shamu's stadium for the main event. Having been to this show before, we decided to pack up everything that couldn't get wet and get seated early so we could sit in the "Splash Zone" this time. We were one of the first people in line and when they opened the stadium, we moved quickly to the front row and found ourselves sitting right next to the landing platform where the whale comes out of the water. For the next 30 minutes, the whales, which were out of the tank, continuously swam right past the front of the tank, about 10 feet from us, even having the entire pod stop right in front of us and face us as if they were staring at us while we were staring at them. Pretty cool.

When the show began, we locked everything up (so pictures are at a minimum) water tight, and watched as the whales started rocketing out of the water. Pretty much worth every cent for an admission ticket to Seaworld by itself. Seeing the speed and power these things possess on something so big is pretty impressive. The seats we had proved to be perfect as the largest whale (presumably the current Shamu) came out of the water and laid on the platform less than 10 feet from where we were sitting. If the whale could've turned sideways, it felt like we were close enough to get slapped in the head by his/her tail. I strongly recommend that if you ever go to Seaworld, you plan your entire day around getting to this show early and getting good seats.

At the end of the day, we decided that rather than doing two days at Seaworld, since we saw everything the previous day, we would spend the next day (Labor Day) at Disney and then head home a day early, stopping and spending the day at Daytona Beach for the day. So on the second day, we woke up early and headed over to Disney for the day. Driving into the park, traffic seemed a little light, but we didn't think much of it. We got parked, took the tram to the gate, picked up our tickets, entered the park, and headed over to the ferry boat. On our 15-20 minute ferry ride to the park, the attendent told us that the census count was pretty low in the park that day. It was hot, but he didn't think that was the issue.

Once inside the park, we were kind of shocked. Nobody was there. It was fairly empty from what you would expect of Disney World. Again, we stopped to pick up some maps and of course, Billy needed his own. After walking past Goofy and Daisy Duck, just to remind us that we were at Disney, we took our long walk toward Cinderella's Castle and stopped along the way for some Family photos. And then things got a little weird...

We began heading to the rides, based on what we had to see, but when we would get to the rides, nobody was there. We were walking right through lines like we were the only people in the park and at the end of the line, just jumping right onto the rides uncontested. We could've ridden the Buzz Lightyear ride 100 times if we wanted to. In the roughly 10-12 hours we spent at the park, we rode everything we wanted to ride and some twice. Here's the list:

Haunted Mansion (actually had a small line)
Mickey's PhilharMagic 4D twice (temps were over 100 degrees, so perfect for some AC)
Buzz Lightyear twice
Dumbo
Astro Orbiter (worst nausea inspiring ride in the park)
Hall of Presidents (AJ hated this and pretty much talked over all of the Presidents)
Jungle Cruise
Magic Carpets
Winnie the Pooh twice
Peter Pan
Pirates of the Caribbean
Swiss Family Robinson Tree House (really stupid)
Tomorrowland Speedway twice (boys barely made the cut)
Tomorrowland People Mover three times (best and most relaxing ride in the park)

How many times are you going to go to Disney World, see the parades, and still get on 20 different rides (in total)? And we had a couple meals while at the park, took a couple stroller naps, and somehow made it through the day before taking the ferry boat back. Labor Day was definitely the day to go to Disney.

At the end of the day, we got back to the resort, took the boys to the pool again the following morning, loaded up the truck and headed off toward Daytona Beach. Before Daytona, we stopped in Port Orange, just outside of Daytona, to visit some botanical garden we read about that used to be a dinosaur amusement park and still had some of the giant dinosaur statues there. We figured the boys would like it and they did, but the farther into the park you got, the thicker the trees and natural vegetation, and on a really hot day, the muggier, stickier, and more bug filled it got. Before leaving, we stopped to get some pictures next to one of the largest oak trees I've ever seen before and also get some pictures from the remnants of an old sugar producing plantation.

Last stop before the end of the day was for lunch and then a stop at the far southern end of the island about 20 minutes south of Daytona Beach. There is a lighthouse park at the far southern tip, so we ate our packed lunches there under a pavillion and then took the boys out to the beach before heading back to Jacksonville for the day. Quite an eventful time. Pictures are at a premium from this trip, but I've saved some pretty crazy pictures from this weird light show that played out on the castle at Disney before the actual fireworks show. We stopped on the bridge to see it and actually had a great vantage point, catching nearly the entire 10 minute show from start to finish. Words cannot explain this one, so I'm going to incorporate a bunch of it into the video from this trip so you can see it for yourself. It's pretty crazy stuff.

Pics and video will be posted shortly.