Ma Vie Folle

Okay, so we’re in Boca Raton, FL.   The kids have been bickering since we arrived at the airport to leave.  From home.   Every single look somehow warranted a smart ass remark from one of the others.   And every sentence uttered earned a snotty reply.  Every eye roll, every glance was a personal assault.   Ahhh, it was paradise.  Three teens and a mom on vacation on the other end of the country.   A total sparring match from start to finish.  A great way to spend a butt load of money.   NOT.

There were good times, don’t get me wrong.    I’d say they only hated each other about 80% of the time.   It was mostly the girls.  The boy tried his best, like me…to get through it.   I like to sum up their issues in this way:

One had sinus pressure.
One had cramps.
One had  sisters.

The beach at Boca was beautiful!  We arrived in the seaside city about 5 pm and went directly to the beach less than 1/4 mile away.   It was $16 to park (I KNOW!) but the attendant took one look at me on the verge of my first nervous breakdown and waved me through saying, go ahead and stay as long as you wish, no charge.

The first thing we saw upon entering the beach was a big yellow sign warning of sea lice.  BONUS!  It’s like free souvenirs!   A dip and a body full of sea lice.  Awesome.  But we had no issues with sea lice thank God.

Another cool thing on this stretch of beach was the protection of endangered sea turtles.  There were nests EVERYWHERE with eggs buried in the sand!  You’ll notice in my pics, these are marked by pink caution tape all along the beach.   At night people residing along the beach are not allowed to keep their back lights on after dark because it will encourage the turtles to approach the light.  Wild!

The morning after we arrived, we went back to the beach early to eat breakfast and to swim.   Well, I didn’t swim.   Being of the germ-a-phobe persuasion….the fear of the aforementioned sea lice kept me out of the water.  lol.  Of course, I let the kids go in.  What better repayment for bad attitudes than a little sea lice?   (just kidding)

There were a ton of people exercising on the beach.   And a few taking a tae chi class which was cool.   But seeing people doing push ups and sit ups just made my mind wander to ‘lots’ of sand in unseen crevices.’   I bet it takes longer to pick the sand out of their cracks than it does to exercise.  Just sayin.   Yuck, lol.

Anyhow, the weather was balmy with a beautiful breeze on the beach.   My iced coffee kept me company while I watched the kids play in the water and laugh and get pummeled by the warm waves.  The straw in my cup was coated with the taste of sea salt from the mist in the air.    Watching them having fun and giggling brought back days of long ago when they were little.   And, of course I had to keep waving my hand for them to come in closer.   No matter how old they are…I’m still their mom.

(if you wanna see them bigger just click)

So Middle Child is looking at colleges.  *sigh*.   One on her list is Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL.  Financially it’s nearly impossible to check out all 5 colleges on her list, especially the out of state ones…but we got a GREAT deal on a flight (also covered by our miles!) and….it’s within hours of Universal Studio’s new Harry Potter thing!

I tend to be very organized.  To a fault sometimes.  So it surprised me when, at 9pm the night before we left…I was still drying laundry to pack, and getting things together for the week for Shane because…..he wasn’t going!  Nope!  He doesn’t like to fly!  Woot!

Woot?  You say?  You’re going on a vacation alone with three kids?  Yes, woot.   We can enjoy a ride through Florida without his lead foot making us see the scenery at 120mph…and walk through the park like normal people rather than blowing by slow walkers enjoying their vacation.  He’ll meander about the house in his skivies for 4 days and we’ll bring him home a souvenir golf ball.   He’ll be gloriously happy.

Being the cheap-ass frugal person I am….I made everyone get out a small duffel bag and pack all their stuff in a carry-on.   No $25/per checked bag in this party.   Everyone was to roll each item tightly to fit in their bag.  Of course upon opening the boy’s bag…I found a rumpled up pile of clothes in no order.   *sigh*  “did you just pick stuff up off your floor and cram it in here?” I asked, smelling the clothes for the truth.   (they smelled clean!)  WAIT!  “One pair of underwear?” “I wasn’t done packing yet”…“Pack at least 4″….”FOUR?  For God’s sake, how long are we gonna be gone?”

We booked the trip through Expedia.com.  Great deals, but OH WHAT A PAIN.   First off, we had to do it over the phone because there were issues online.   So our agent….in where else but….MANILA?….took our reservations.   When the confirmation came via email, my name was spelled wrong even though I spelled it for him 600 times.   So back on the phone for another 1 hour wait for them to call the airlines and change it.   24 hours before the trip I printed off the boarding passes.  ALL the names had an issue.  All missing middle names (boarding pass/drivers license must match)…and, my name still spelled wrong.  UGHHHHH.   Same thing on the way back.   Spent an hour at the hotel on the phone with Continental getting the names corrected.  So, Expedia?   Not.  So.  Expedient.

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From Fort Lauderdale we took our lives in our hands and drove the I-95 to Boca Raton. Home of Florida Atlantic University.   Scariest frickin 20 minutes since our road trip out west.   We got to our hotel.   The Boca Raton Plaza Hotel.    Don’t stay there.  Let’s just say,

I felt more comfortable keeping my shoes on the whole time.   I looked clean enough….but it was old-ish, the carpet sucked and it stunk.  Stank?  And OMG, check out this great latch on our patio door.  One screw popping out, the other missing.  Yup…I felt safe.

Alan laughed hysterically at the room service menu with the misspelled words.

Here’s the college we visited….Florida Atlantic University.   It was nice.  Hot.  95 degrees.  The perfect day for a 2 hour walking tour.    My sweat was sweating.    Here’s a peak inside FAU.

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More to come on Boca, Orlando and Harry Potter at Universal….in an upcoming post.