Vacation Run Down

We are currently on our last day of Vacation. I'll try to give a quick summary of all that has gone on the past week.

Wednesday 6/6 - Went to church "fish fry" (notice the quotes as these northern folk don't serve catfish at the fish fry and I have trouble with that) and headed out for Nashville. (Later, discovering that I almost killed my friend's cat) Arrived late and put everyone straight to bed.

Thursday 6/7 - Spent day getting everyone adjusted. Started reading book #1, Clay's Quilt. I took kids to a friend's house and got to play in the pool with her son and daughter (same ages as Easton and Camille). During pool date we dropped off Spencer at golf course and he walked 9 at Smyrna. Finished swimming, picked up Spencer, came home and Nana fixed dinner for us and Kerri's family.

Friday 6/8 - Woke up at 3:45 a.m. to catch early flight. Arrived in Naples around noon in the POURING RAIN. Didn't stop raining until dinner. Got settled in the condo, went to the grocery and hung out. Had dinner at a place called Turner's. It was right on the water where many of the boats (excuse me, yachts) are docked. Had a lobster melt that was fabulous. May have been my favorite meal the whole trip. Completed Clay's Quilt. Book was okay. It centered around a man and his life in Appalachian KY. I found a lot of it difficult to grasp and therefore unbelievable.

Saturday 6/9 - Woke up at 6:00 a.m. Rolled over and went back to sleep. Yeah vacation!!! Woke up again at 7:45 and got up. Went to pool. Started book #2, The Kite Runner. Lounged at pool until lunch. Went to condo, ate lunch, took a nap. Yeah vacation!!! Woke up, got dressed and strolled around the fancy shops at Naples' 5th Ave. Ate dinner at Bistro 821. Had a dish that featured a herb-goat cheese stuffed portabella on a bed of poulenta (aka grits) and sun dried tomatoes. Very rich, very yummy. Went back to condo and played Othello. Got beat twice.

Sunday 6/10 - Woke up at 2:30 a.m. to a strange burning smell. Turns out the A/C in the condo was on the fritz and the motor had burn itself up. Sat around for an hour while Jennifer made the necessary phone calls and went back to bed. Woke up again at 7:30 and lounged in condo while A/C repair man restored the cool air. Spencer left for 9:00 tee time at Tiburon. When A/C drama was over packed bags and headed for the beach. Sat on beautiful beach (ignoring the sea weed that had washed up) and read for almost 5 hours. Returned to condo, realized that I got A LOT more sun that I thought, took a shower, got floosied up and went to dinner at Il Bellagio. Had basic shrimp and fettachini with a light pink alfredo sauce. Very good. Found out that their Tiramasu had won some sort of award. Got very nervous....could it be as good as Buca? It was! Not better, but definitely deserves equal praise.

Monday 6/11 - Still waking up a little before 8. Packed bags and returned to the beach. Finished The Kite Runner. This is an EXCELLENT book. Perhaps the best I've read in a long time. (keep in mind that I only get to read 6 or 7 in a whole year). Told the story of a man and his life in Afghanistan in the 70's. Many of the themes closely mirrored that of Clay's Quilt but I much preferred this one. I've already thought that I'd like to read it again and pick up many things that I might have missed. And I never read books more than once. Not sure why - I guess I feel that I already know the outcome so it's not as exciting. I think this book would still be exciting the second or third time around. Returned from beach, had a late lunch at condo and did a little more sight-seeing. Had dinner at a place called Cheeburger-Cheeburger. Sort of a throw-back to old diners. You could pick your own soda flavor. I had a pear soda. (Basically pear juice and plain soda water.) It was excellent. And a big sloppy cheeseburger and home-made onion rings of course.

Tuesday 6/12 - Woke up at 7:54 (officially the latest I slept the whole week). Had breakfast and headed back to the pool. Started book #3, The Known World. I'm having a hard time getting into this book because I loved the last one so much. My mind doesn't want to let go of the characters and story and embrace a new one. This one is centered around slavery in the 1800's. The first 100 pages have done nothing but jump around from one story and family to the next. It's very difficult keeping all the facts and names together. Once I get a little further and understand the overall picture I think this will be a good book. We came back to condo for lunch and began to clean up and pack up. Left condo and headed to airport. Stopped briefly at huge outlet mall and had funny conversation with the salesman in the Oakley store. When I met Spencer in college he had a pair of Oakley sunglasses. He lost them one day after our honeymoon got another pair. When he walked into the store the guy saw the glasses on Spencer's head and said, "Wow those are the original 5-series! I haven't seen one of those in a long time." Funny #1 because Spencer didn't even know that the glasses had a name (5 series) and Funny #2 because the guy called him out for being "original". It seems that the 5 series is now in it's 4th generation. I found the cutest purse in the entire world at the Bass Outlet for 60% off. Love that. Finally got to airport - waited - flew to Orlando - waited more and made it home to Nashville around 11:30 p.m.

Tuesday night 6/12 - Easton hears us and wakes up around 12:30 a.m. Has to poop. Yep, welcome back to reality. The poopy dance lasts from 12:30 to around 2:00. He's up, he's down. He goes through 3 pair of underwear. I realize that this is going nowhere. At 2:00 I sit him on potty and I sit in bathroom floor. We talk, we sing, he cries, I cry, we talk some more. At 3:20 nothing has happened. He can hold it. I send him to bed. He's back up at 4:30 with dirty underwear #4 and a new poopy dance. More crying for everyone. I send him to bed naked around 5:15. Camille woke up about 6:45.

Wednesday 6/13 - Get Camille out of bed and realize that she has grown 3 inches. She sees Papa downstairs and gives him all the lovins. Spencer and Papa head back to Smyrna for 7:40 tee time. I spend morning watching tired Easton do the poopy dance. No poop, but more dirty underwear. Get everyone to eat lunch and take a nap. Just heard Easton calling (okay screaming) for me. Good news = He finally got the poop out. Bad news = Well, I'm sure you already know the bad news. I guess we'll keep moving two steps forward, one step back. Or today's case - one step forward, 27 steps back. We'll travel back to Louisville after dinner tonight and I'll start looking forward to next year's vacation of reading by the water and gorging myself with fantastic food.