It's 5 o'clock somewhere

This past week, Feret had been at Tyler's all week and they were going to Tampa for a final fun weekend before school started on Monday. Of course this meant that Scout was a bit pissed that he was not invited and we had to find something to do. So, I joked that we could go to the keys for the weekend. He took me seriously and off we went on Saturday morning.
Now I was under the impression that it only took about four hours to get to the keys. Wrong! It takes about 5 and a half hours. And thats only stopping twice for drinks and peeing. We had a great time driving down there and lots of laughs. Baby slept most of the way and was really good when he was not sleeping.
We found a hotel that had a king sized suite for $200. We opted for the Hampton Inn at $119. Hot breakfast and free HBO (which we did not watch).
Scout took Baby swimming in the pool and I watched from the sidelines. My mom always told me that "there is nowhere to swim in the keys so don't bring your suit". Thanks Mom. They only swam for about a half hour then it was back to the room. I convinced Scout that we needed to walk on Duval Street. He wanted desperatly to rent a scooter of some sort but that was next to impossible unless we had another hundred bucks and another person to watch Baby. Anyway it just wasn't hapenin'. We drove down and found parking for $15 right next to duval and counted ourselves lucky. Loaded up the stroller and away we went.
They were having some kind of lobster fest and had Duval closed off to cars and set up like an art show like we have on 5th ave here. Really neat to walk through. We stopped at one booth and found an interesting Jesus face made of a piece of leather for ten bucks. Five streets later we found out that the baby had also grabbed a small turtle and we promised to bring it back to the Jesus people. It never made it back. I'm sorry we really meant to bring it back. I think the turtle was for incense.
I made Scout stand in front of all the familiar named bars and took his pic. These include: Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville, Hog's breath Saloon, Hard Rock, Sloppy Joe's and some others. And for some reason I was obsessed with the Mile 0 marker for hwy 1. Had to have a pic of that too. We did not get to see the Hemmingway museum although when we were wondering the streets on Sunday morning we passed by it but never went back or came across it again.
All in all the trip was great. Baby had a hard time falling asleep and he could escape out of the crib that the hoel provided but by midnight I think he finally fell asleep. The ride home was really smooth. Scout slept some of the way and we only stopped once for gas and I'm proud to say that I only payed $2.82 a gallon. Yeah I'm that good! We missed the Swamp ape research center on the way back, that guy really needs to put some signs up. I really wanted to see what he had in there.
Made it back home and picked up Feret and had the boys to bed early enough for a school night. Feret went to adventure island and busch gardens while up in Tampa. He brought home a white tiger stature and a photo frame with him slidding off one of the rides.
Even though we were not all together we all had a great time with no regrets. Now how am I going to pay rent again?...

My parents had a great 40th celebration. We all went to church where they renewed their vows although within the first 3 minutes I had to take baby outside because my 17 year old nefew decided to make fun of him and he started crying. Thanks Nick! It was soooo hot out and Baby kept running into all the cars with the stroller. I tried to keep him buzy and I even let him wonder a bit by himself but I was not able to take him back into church.
After that we all went to the Olive Garden for lunch. Yep 15 of us. The waitress was a little confused on who was with who but we got it all worked out in the end. I tried not to claim one of the kids but she caught on real quick. anyway we had a great time. Real funny thing was when my nefew Joey needed to be changed (he's almost three) and so he borrowed Baby's extra pair of pants. Then one of the girls (my niece) picked up Baby and he needed changed as well. He ended up with only a t-shirt on but that was ok since we were leaving anyway.
This past weekend I bought the kit to make a counted cross stitch thing for Rachel. You know the thing with the two little feet and the little duck in the corner. You personalise it with the baby's name and date of birth. Anyway I made one for Joey when he was born and my sister in law becca made on for my Baby. So I wanted to make one for Rach. I stated on Sunday night and worked on it about four hours. Then on Monday I worked on it for about 1 and a half hours at work and then about three hours at home. Tuesday I worked on it for about four hours and finally finished it at 12:30 last night. I put the two girls names on it and just need to wait for then to be born to put the date on. I also added a little dinosaur to it on the opposite side of the duck. I am really glad I did and I hope Rachel likes it. I thought about putting a hand on it but I am not good at making hands!
I have been talking to Rick. I know what your going to say and I completely agree. I have this strange thought in my head that if I start being nice to him that he will give me some child support money. I am really in desparate need of some cash right now and my boss just informed us all that we are closed on friday without pay. darn darn darn. My mom has started calling me on the weekends to see if she can pick something up for us while she's at the store. There's always something to tell her. She had to give me the money for school clothes because both boys schools are mandating uniforms (polos and dress pants or walking shorts) anyway I was able to get them five shirts and five shorts each. Scout also got new socks and under shirts. She also gave me $50 for school supplies which almost got everything they needed. Except bookbags but I'm hoping to get them this weekend. I'm sure this is just a dry spell otherwise I am really going to have to think about moving north. Paradise ain't what it used to be, thats for sure.