Day 22 January 29
Happy Kansas Day! Happy I’m so NOT there!!! (Please, just go ahead & kick me out of my home state…please!)
I worked on Trips at a Starbucks this morning, grabbed breakfast out at a little place called Wolfs Den in Wesley Chapel, then took the long way back to Sara’s traveling through some of the forested parts of the state.
This trip was on again, off again, no plan, then a crazy plan. It ended up being fun & I saw a lot of Florida beauty, ate some good food & drank some great beer. I was gone 4 days, ate 4 dinners out & drove almost 1,000 miles. I learned more about Tacoma’s. I rarely took off my warm jacket & wore my rain coat a whole bunch. I turn my tiny car back in on Wednesday & am excited to see Danny & his fat lip arrive Saturday morning. For the remainder of my Snowbird experiment, my time will be spent with favorite two little girls…I can’t wait to see them later today!
Day 23-33 January 30-February 8
For the next 10 days, I just played & played & played some more with the girls. Danny arrived on Saturday to spend a week with us. Some of the highlights were: Sara taking Danny & I to see the play, “Hamilton”, which was fantastic! Orlando’s new art center is super beautiful. Emma’s birthday was so much fun, followed by a kid party in the park on Saturday. In between was more reading, dressing up, picnics, bike riding, walks around the park, swinging, crafts, hide n seek, tag, & lots & lots of hugs! Danny & I also had a dinner or two out, & some late night walks downtown exploring some breweries.
It’s going to be so hard to leave everyone here & this nice weather. Kansas is getting hammered with snow, ice & super cold temps…& I don’t miss any of it...But…I do miss my cat! I’d say this experiment was super successful! I don’t think I drove Sara & Kevin crazy, I think I was truly helpful while everyone was sick, I had fun with Jill & on my solo food trip…mostly it was great when Danny was down here & we could enjoy the kids together! We’re trying to figure out a way to come more often…we miss them so much!
rAnDoM
Airport Tragedy
Danny’s plane had just landed in Orlando when the airport went into shutdown mode. A TSA worker had jumped from the 10th floor of the hotel inside the airport causing mass chaos…how horrible for him, his family, & all those who witnessed it…many of those were children. Danny was delayed about a little more than an hour in getting off the plane. We were all so excited to see him & glad they hadn’t sent him & his plane to someplace else.
Doggie Strollers…yes that’s a ‘thing’
At the RV show in Tampa, there were soooooo many people pushing doggie strollers…it was pretty comical. And once you notice that, you begin to notice all of them. Mostly older, retired, RVers & their tiny dogs…guess you had to be there, but Jill & I were cracking up!
WaWa
It’s pronounced just like you think…like a baby crying, but it’s really a Indian word or so I was told by one of the workers at this popular Florida gas station chain. I fell in love with these stations! Super clean, open 24 hours & mostly staffed by people under 20 (or so it seemed). They were nice, friendly & could care less if you slept in their parking lot! I’m a fan!
Best Idea Ever
So, Jill bought her Mercedes a couple of years ago & has had an irritating problem with it from the start that no one can seem to fix. On this trip, I’ve spent a lot of time on Google trying to find a solution, I know that many others have the same problem. Now I drive super old cars…not much electronic stuff on them…no car play, no bluetooth. But the minute she gets in the car, the first song on her playlist starts blaring. She doesn’t like it & is constantly having to hit the pause button. This has gone on for a couple of years! So, during our week together, I was hell bent on fixing this problem. I was stupefied that a company like Mercedes & Apple didn’t have some fix (who’s ever device was causing the unstoppable problem). So, while I didn’t find a true fix, I discovered a super cool ‘bandaid’. Some creative guy, that must have known hundreds of people encounter this same problem, created a song titled “AAAAAAAA Silent Song”. No words, no music, no nothing. It comes up first on her playlist. Now you still have to hit pause, but you’ve got 10 minutes of sweet noise-less silence to do it. I found the song & Jill downloaded it & from that point on, the problem didn’t seem to exist.
I hope the guy is making thousands of dollars!