The kids and I leave this Friday for a week-long Floridian adventure with grandparents, great-grandparents, and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins involved. This is the kind of vacation where I won't see my kids much because so many others will be there to play with them -- otherwise known as a dream vacation that money can't buy! We are gathering to celebrate Great-Grandma Pearl's 80th birthday, and I'm most especially looking forward to seeing my kids enjoy their great-grandparents and vice versa. I have my Flip at the ready!
Petunia is excited about this trip because she wakes up earlier than she's allowed to at home and heads to the beach with her grandpa ("Peepaw"). I love that they have that special time together and that she remembers that's what she "always" does when she goes there.
Dash was around 2.25 years old when we last ventured to Florida, so he doesn't remember much. He has created some great mythology around what he thinks it's like, though (aided by sister's recollections). He expects to see armadillos (in my parents' neighborhood, sometimes), alligators (we'll head to the Alligator Farm perhaps), rocketships (Cape Canaveral is on the itinerary) and a big, huge white sand beach that is not at all cold (at the end of the street).
Then today, he started doing something I had never seen him do before. He started thinking about food! He wanted to make sure that his favorite stuff would be in Florida. I assured him that I had already placed his soy milk order with Grandma and that she knew how much he loved goldfish. I had to call her to make sure she had his "chocolate sandwich stuff" (Nutella) -- check.
And then we drove in a car to McDonald's in search of Shamrock Shakes (they were already out for the season). Exiting the parking lot, Dash told me, "They do have McDonald's in Florida, Mom." I agreed. Then his eyes got as wide as saucers as he said, "MOM! I KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE IN FLORIDA! I KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE THAT THEY DON'T HAVE HERE IN CALIFORNIA!"
"What's that, Dash?" I asked.
Nearly hyperventilating with excitement, Dash answered, "
DUNKIN DONUTS! THERE IS A DUNKIN DONUTS IN FLORIDA!!!"
Though I can't eat them, I share his excitement, for I craved Dunkin Decaf when I was pregnant with him. Though it can't hold a candle to
Blue Bottle coffee, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to my old-skool Boston coffee break, albeit in Florida.
Which got me to thinking... what else is in Florida that we don't have? I do love the
Columbia restaurant, I thought, as I made a note to take my sister there for lunch. And then it hit me:
RITA'S WATER ICE! I hope it is open for the season already, because there's a mango gelati with my name written on it.
Now I'm hungry, and I'm packing. Flor-I-Da, here we come!
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