Spring Break #2

Hello!

One small oddity of living in New England is the fact that the Public Schools have TWO spring breaks. One week in February (I guess that can be referred to as "Winter Break"), and one week in April.

Months ago, we planned to visit Florida this break. Here's a synopsis of the trip.

MILWAUKEE. "Wait," you say: "Isn't Milwaukee in Wisconsin, not Florida??!?" Well. If you research and study the Internet long enough, you can find yourself a flight from Boston to Ft. Myers, Florida, VIA MILWAUKEE, and save your family hundreds of dollars. Just ask Frank. He did it!

We had a full day "layover" in Milwaukee, and since none of us had been to Wisconsin before, we rented a car and explored.

JELLY BELLIES. We took the tour of the Jelly Belly factory, and of course they spit you out in the store, with a free sample counter to try the new flavors. Along the tour we saw amazing masterpieces of Jelly Belly artwork, from Queen Elizabeth, to the famous farmer & his wife.

And of course Ronald Reagan, who made Jelly Bellies popular in a BIG way, by eating them on his Presidential campaign. (Truly. I'm not making this up. Ronald Reagan made Jelly Bellies famous in the late 70's, and they dedicate a whole wall to him.)

HARLEY-DAVIDSON MUSEUM. There's a Harley museum in Milwaukee, believe that or not! I'm not even a big motorcycle fan, but the museum was pretty cool. They have a statue guy doing a wheelie in the front, and inside they have the history of motorcycles, including really old ones and motorcycles during war time, and a whole room of seats and engines they have used over time. You can get on them, and hear the different engines revving up.

I was very pleasantly interested and surprised.









OKEECHOBEE. Ok, we DID finally make it to Florida! If you look at a map of the state, there is a huge lake in the middle. That's Lake Okeechobee, and Frank's parents live right on the western edge of it. They have a lovely house that David (Frank's dad) practically built by himself, and the garden is chock full of yummy vegetables.















FISHING. The kids spent time fishing off of their dock in the backyard, in the canal behind their house.









Teresa caught not only fish, but a turtle too! Of course it was all catch-and-release. Kara and Teresa got pretty good at taking the hooks out quickly.











FLORIDA KEYS. We could not go to Florida without visiting the Keys. After a few days we drove down to Key Largo, with warm temps and sunshine. They had just finished a busy couple of weeks of the traditional "spring break" around Easter weekend, so it was pretty quiet for us. One day, in fact, we had the boat almost to ourselves as we went...

SCUBA DIVING AND SNORKELING. Aaahhh, THIS is why people come to the Keys! We could not have asked for better days for these two activities. Sunshine, 80 degrees (not too hot yet), and the water was around 76 degrees. We use wetsuits regardless of the water temps; for whatever reason, we get cold in ANY water. But at least if you start at 76 degrees, you have a fighting chance to stay warm longer in a wetsuit.



Day 1 snorkel/scuba trip had absolutely calm waters. Fish, more fish, and more fish. Day 2 was a little choppier, but still only 1-2 foot waves. Heaven.

THROWING UP. Ok, lest you think that we only have bliss during our vacations. We still had puking. (I didn't take any photos of that, sorry to disappoint...) Poor Kara had her antibiotics without a meal one time (yes we are still working on the end of her lengthy prescription to fight off the Lyme Disease). Made her sick to her stomach.

And then I, too, was nauseous between dives on the second day. Please just let me die, I am thinking to myself. "Get back under the water," the divemaster tells me. "The seasickness will go away." Right. I SOOO did not believe him, but figured I could not possibly feel any worse than I did at that moment. He was right: as soon as I got down under again, it went away.

KAYAKING. The next morning we took turns kayaking around the bay of the resort where we stayed. Very pretty, very calm. The kids did pretty well.

All in all, it was a very nice escape!

(Now it's back to reality, and BOY is it hard to get back to work after a vacation!)

Have a good week! Kari