In Search of Sunshine Day 4 - Miami

 

Awoke early, but not that early after a good nights sleep. Holiday Inn Express beds are pretty comfy, never have a problem sleeping on them. Hubby fetched me a coffee from the breakfast room, as its about 200% stronger than the stuff in the coffee machine sachets. A leisurely get up including planning the day. Which included a trip to Walmart (yes we DID go there and two malls yesterday) to purchase swimming shorts for Hubby and Jordan who hadn't bothered to look yesterday.

Kitted out for the day and sat nav primed, we headed off to south Miami and Grapeland Water Park to let the boys have a bit of time to have fun. Satnav took us the the spot - or so it kept telling us as we circled a park with swings and other 'park' things, but def no water! A local out walking a miniature greyhound told us he'd lived here all his life and had ever heard of the water park! However, modern technology prevailed and he used his phone to contact someone and gave us directions to where we should have been. Note to self - dont trust POI directions.

We arrived at Black Beards Beach. A great little water park for younger kids, not Aquatica or Typhoon Lagoon but very clean and cheap (Adults $12, Kids $6). No food or drink can be taken in but it was clean, well run and def worth a visit for a half day.

Here is a pic of the water park, and a great shot of Jordans legs in his pedal pushers! All he needed was an hankie on his head and he'd have looked the classic Englishman at the seaside. Too Cool Dude.

The outcome of the trip was that everyone but me got sunburn! Even though we had applied sunscreen, we had spent longer than we ought to have done in the Floridian sun. Nothing too serious, but means no trip to South Beach tomorrow.

We stopped off at Costco on the way back so hubby could have a look at a few things, had hotdogs for $1.50 with a free drink. Bargain!

Hubby dropped Alexander and I off at the hotel so he and Jordan could go back to the mall from yesterday for more clothes. You can tell there's a theme going on here yes? We love shopping, but only where there are bargains to be had. I wanted a quiet afternoon so volunteered to stay with Alexander in the hotel.

It also meant I could do some laundry! I know, I'm on holiday so why would I want to wash and dry clothes? Well we bring very little with us you see. We buy new things and wear them. I also like to have the travelling stuff ready for travelling home again, and usually take home mostly clean clothes, that only need ironing when I get back. Sad aren't I?

Tonight we went to a kids place that both boys love. Even at 19, Jordan still likes to get his cup of tokens, and spend them on the games to win tickets. Tickets to exchange for bits of tat. The deal was they could have pizza there, some time on the games, but then go back to the hotel while we went for something to eat. So off we went to Chuck-E-Cheese.

If you've never been to one, all I can say is imagine a huge room full of kiddie game machines, flashing lights, bells, chimes and horns. Fill it with dozens of hyper kids with a cups full of tokens to put in the machines so they win a string of tickets each time they play. Add pizza, pop and a massive crazy mouse called Chuck and you will get the idea.

Parents sit in booths and chat while collecting a pile of tickets. Some parents seem as excited as their offspring, especially when very competitive and faced with a basketball throwing game and a hi score of 416 to beat!

The grand finale is feeding the tickets into the 'Ticket Cruncher' to see how many you have won. The paper slip is passed proudly to the bored assistant behind the counter who points at the pile of plastic tat in the glass case marked 100, 200, 300 etc. No point even looking at the good stuff on the shelves behind cos only local kids who visit regularly will get to collect 5000 tickets to win a small Nerf Gun!

The tat yesterday was so poor that Alexander's measly 400 points couldn't be spent. So he opted to go for a Goody Bag and a credit slip to use at the next Chuck-E-Cheese stop in Orlando. Can't wait.

Eventually we managed to dump the kids back at the hotel and go for dinner alone. Was a bit later than I like but we weren't goi g to miss out on a peaceful meal together. We headed off to Tony Roma's just along the road. Although highly thought of by some, I found the menu a bit limited. I don't like ribs or seafood, and didnt fancy steak, so I went for a chicken and peach salad. Hubby had scampi pasta,both were very nice, but wouldn't have us rushing back. We didn't even have dessert, instead I had a Baileys Coffee. Now call me old fashioned, but you do NOT use squirty cream on a liqueur coffee. Was possibly the worst one I have ever had. So to summarise, Tony Roma falls into our 'Satisfactory' eating out category.

Chicken & Peach Salad

Scampi Pasta

Back at the hotel room, it looked like a bomb site! Obviously some kind of pillow fighting or cavorting had been going on, despite their denial when asked. Wasn't long before we were all tidy and snuggled up under the duvet being lulled to sleep by the drone of the air conditioning unit.

 

 

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