I don’t want to get off the boat!

Well, all great vacations have to end.  We got up Sunday and headed off the boat.  We still had a full day ahead of us.  We waited at the pier while Mike went to pick up a rental van.  It was great to sit and soak up the sun for just a little bit more. ( I know where I’m headed – back to the dark and dreary Northwest…)  The kids were glued to their cell phones and facebook after a week of blackout from electronics.  In a crazy mix up Mike went to the wrong airport to get the rental van, so with the extra time that took it canceled our Easter plans for church.  All the kids had church clothes ready so I am impressed that they actually listened to me.  

We broke a zipper on one of our pieces of luggage so we knew we’d have to find a Ross or TJ Maxx or something to buy one.  Note  – EVERY BIG BOX STORE IN FLORIDA IS CLOSED ON EASTER SUNDAY. Really…. we could not find an open store!  We went to Ft. Lauderdale Beach and did a bit of tourist shopping.  Lifeguard Sweatshirts, Bubba Gump stuff.  The beach was crowded - end of Spring Break.  These people may not shop on Sunday… but they all go to the beach.

We found some luggage at K Mart (shame on them for being open…. shame on us for needing to shop…)  We had a fun lunch at Taco Bell.  Just spending the day lazily with plenty of time when Andrew decided against an expensive sweatshirt he bought at Bubba Gump’s.  So we decided to fight the 5 pm beach traffic again to return it.  It put us behind on heading to the airport and we were so worried that we would miss our flight despite driving at Mach 7 thru the streets of Ft. Lauderdale.  Stress to the last minute!  Mike dropped us off and went to return the van.  We said our goodbyes because we were sure he’d miss the flight and have to catch one later.  But we had our own delays at check in because we had to rearrange weight in luggage to avoid the $75 fees.  (Megan had more of her full sized toiletry items confiscated …. she once again thought they would make it through on carry-on.  That girl does not get the 3 ounce rule.)  Once we checked in we were more relaxed that we would make the flight.  Mike actually used the electronic thing for check in and didn’t  notice us so he beat us to the gate.  Ahhhhh, once on board, we sat back and said goodbye to the sun and ocean and the most wonderful week of vacation ever!