Family Vacation 2010

Our week in Florida, as remembered by where we ate each night:

Saturday - Dinner at Wildwood BBQ - at the Postcard Inn on St Pete Beach (see also Wednesday). The Spicy Shrimp Diablo appetizer was killer at Wildwood, and the cornbread was great. The meat was good, but I did not care for the coleslaw.

We ended up eating here twice. Once on Saturday night before Larry got here. Larry was still on the road with the Element, bringing Edie and my library table that I have waited over 15 years for.

Earlier in the day, we had made our requisite visit to Bealls. We stopped by my apartment briefly, but opted to go to the hotel right away instead of going to the beach by my place.
Only Kevin and Larry's room was available for check in. They went to the pool, while I went back home to get my luggage. By the time I got back, the other room was ready. Mom, Kathy, Ryan, and I were staying in a 3 bedroom place. It was nice to have my own bed, much less my own room, this go-around. I unpacked and put things away in the closet and in my dresser. Each bedroom had its own flat screen TV, which was great for me too, as I like to fall asleep watching TV. The rest of the condo had pretty fixtures and lighting. Kathy and Ryan had the master bedroom with a new claw-foot tub in it. Ryan did a little bathing and a little swimming in that tub.

Our condo - this is a stock photo from the Residence Inn site
but this is what our room looked like.

The room had pretty wall-length curtains in front of the sliders out to the balcony. Our view of the gulf was not as good as Kevin's I was told, but I thought ours was just fine.

The view from our room onto the beach of Treasure Island.

Sunday - Dinner at Frenchy's, which is always enjoyable. I decided to try mussels for the first time. Frenchy's is not the ideal place to try mussels, but they were fine. The buffalo shrimp of course was delicious.

Mom and me at Frenchy's doing our best celebrity smoochy pose.

We spent most of our days going to the beach in the morning and going to the pool afterward until it was time for lunch. It was stingray season, but we only saw one little baby one this year. Not like last year, when we were invaded daily by troops of stingrays right near the shoreline. Still, we did the shuffle. Mom got in the ocean a couple times, although it was quite an exhausting trek across the sand for her (and us).


Monday - Dinner at Post Corner Pizza - We met up with Cara, Susan, and their kids. After some initial pouting and silence, Ryan joined the girls at their table and enjoyed himself. Later we went over to the Pier 60 to go swimming and perhaps the kids would have some playground time and/or ice cream. As soon as the kids and I had changed into a swimsuit, it started to rain with lightning. We huddled around the snack and gift shop, with dozens of other people trying to get out of the cats-and-dogs rain.

Ryan, Gabby, and Darcy playing around in the
heavy downpour on the snack shop deck.

Eventually, Cara and Susan left with their kids, as there was little sign of the rain stopping. A while after they left, the rain did let up a bit. Ryan and I attempted to get in some swimming. The light was almost gone from the sky and I had some trepidation about swimming right at nightfall. I always heard that shark attacks happen more often at dawn and dusk. Still I went in. We puttered around in the water by the pier from about 2 minutes before a flash of lightning in the sky signaled the end of our swim. Kathy waved us in and the rain started to fall again.

Tuesday - Larry and Kevin went to visit some of Larry's friends. Kathy, Ryan, Mom, and I went to BJ's Brewhouse and then to see ToyStory 3. I had heard good things about BJs. I ordered the fish and shrimp tacos, Mom ordered the pulled pork BBQ sandwich, Ryan got a cheeseburger and Kathy got the fish tacos. I thought the food was good, but Mom was disappointed that she got BBQ sauce all over her white pants.

Toy Story 3 was a very very good movie!

We Elshoffs had a good time in the pool everyday. We, of course, do not act maturely or with dignity. We like to do tricks, play games and just be stupid. We took turns throwing Ryan into the the air. We played leap frog, waltzed in the water, and tried to stand on each other's shoulders, legs or backs. At one point, I was doing a flip under the water. Ryan was watching me with his goggles. My skirt-type bathing suit lifted up to reveal the flesh-colored cups of the shelf bra. When I surfaced, Ryan exclaimed out loud, loud enough for all the people sunbathing around the pool to hear: I saw your nipples Aunt Kelly! Below are pictures of some of our fun.








































Wednesday - Kathy, Ryan and Mom ordered in pizza, which they said was quite good. Larry, Kevin, and I went to Wildwood BBQ, because Larry had not gotten to eat there yet. Kevin thought he would like it. I ordered the shrimp diablo and sticky ribs. Both were good. I had a drink called The Cruiser. Mom had ordered 2 of these on that Saturday night we had eaten there. They were delicious. Because I was not driving, I decided to have another drink. I ordered something called a Cherry Bomb. I should have known better. It tasted to me like cherry-flavored children's Tylenol liquid. Both drinks were quite potent. We walked around the Postcard Inn after eating. This hotel has a very pretty and quirky lobby.

I was enjoying my little alcohol buzz. I had been driving all week, so I had kept the alcohol to practically nothing. I was ready to go back to the hotel, relax, maybe swim and go to bed. Then I remembered. I had not been home in over 48 hours to feed the cat. Crap!!! there would be no happy enjoyment of this tiny tipsiness for me. I had to go back to the condo, wait 2 hours for the alcohol to burn off, then get in the car and go feed Cowboy. When I got to my apartment, I decided to take a shower there and check the computer. By the time I got back to the hotel, it was almost midnight.

Wednesday morning, Kevin, Larry, and I went with Edie to Ft DeSoto's dog beach. I had never been to Ft DeSoto park before. Kevin and I walked around the fort for a bit, while Larry attempted to get Edie to go in the water. She was having none of it!

Larry and Edie on dog beach / Kevin at the end of a gun barrel

Thursday - Crabby Bill's. I don't know how we arrived at the decision to go to Crabby Bill's. I found the food to be just okay and I think most of us agreed that it would not be a place we would choose to eat at again.

At Crabby Bill's

Kevin and I ordered the Stone Crab Trap, a lovely strong drink with a floating shot of rum on top. Then I ordered a Yuengling beer. Kathy was driving my car to Target with Mom and Ryan after dinner. Kevin, Larry, and I were going to my apartment to pick up the dresser that Larry bought back in October. He had come down for the Muse/U2 concert and had purchased a dresser that I was storing for him. Since I did not have to drive after dinner, I decided I could have a couple of drinks. I had not gotten to enjoy myself the last time I drank on this trip, but I was going to this time.

We got about 1 block from the restaurant when Kevin received a text from Kathy that my car would not start. We drove back to the restaurant. It was that damn security problem again. (see my previous post "Security!") I did not want to sit in the car because I was tipsy and the keys were in the ignition. I could have been charged with DUI, since I was in control of the vehicle. We waited for the security light to go out and the car started right up. The car was acting goofy all week. The windshield wipers won't turn off either. Oy!

We enjoyed the beach this year. Later in the week, Kevin bought a boat that we put in the water and had fun with. We played a little baseball on the beach too.

Kathy and Ryan playing baseball on the sand

The family enjoys our inflatable boat

Friday morning, Kevin, Larry, Mom, and Edie headed out on their road trip back to Indianapolis. Larry managed to pack everyone in with the dresser. I drove Kathy and Ryan to the airport. We had a really good time this year.