Hotlanta Re-Visited, Masters Golf Tournament, and TWO Birthdays!

 Let the good times roll! And for us, all of our "good times" this spring have come in one big clump (instead of spread out-- so we could linger over them, like I would prefer). After Grandma and Grandpa Cardon's last visit to NC, and then our Cruise, we jumped right into Spring Break! Which took us even deeper south to Atlanta to see Grandma Joanie, Grandpa TomTom, and Uncle Devin, who were in town with tickets to the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, GA.

 We had a quick turnaround from our Cruise, getting home late Friday night, seeing Grandma and Grandpa C off Saturday night, celebrating a speedy version of Easter morning, re-packing for all five of us, and then driving the 5 1/2 hours down to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon. Phew! We were just glad to get there! Monday morning we met everyone for breakfast in the hotel lobby, and officially wished Zachary a HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY!!! See what I mean?!? JAM-PACKED.

 After some delicious complimentary waffles, we headed back to our room so Zach could unwrap his birthday loot. He had to ride all the way to Atlanta with that big huge stack of presents, just sitting there, tempting him! 

He's now a few more Star Wars lego sets richer, and has a new Pokemon card set and a Wii game to add to his official birthday tally. We were finally ready to head out and see what Hotlanta had to offer!

We decided to start at the Georgia Aquarium, which is the largest aquarium in the US. We still remembered how neat it was from our visit two years ago! I don't know what's so mesmerizing about watching fish swim in a big tank of water-- but it really is magical!

Ooooh! The jellyfish. Leah was so convinced that the fishies could touch her through the glass she wouldn't get within 5 feet of anything!

Mommy with the birthday boy! (Notice Leah's white-knuckle grip on the stroller, ha, ha!).

The kids loved getting to spend the day with Grandma Joanie. 

 Wee-Wee's was happy just being far AWAY from the fish!

 They had a huge tank with beluga whales that we could have sat and watched all morning. They swam so gracefully. 

 The aquarium also had a really cool tunnel you could walk through and see hundreds of different fish, as well as sharks, and manta rays. Amazing! Jon wasn't so impressed considering he'd snorkeled with their relatives just a few days before though. 

 Ginat manta ray-- he was enormous!

 Saw Shark

 There were several divers in there cleaning the glass, and I caught this picture just as a humongous whale shark swam right over one of them. You couldn't PAY me to be in there with all those sea creatures!((Shudder))

We spent all morning and well into lunch-time with our new fish friends, but our growling stomachs finally got the better of us and told us it was time to eat! I was so excited to go back to Atlanta in order to eat at FLIP Burger Boutique again-- my Top Chef fav Richard Blais' chain of local restaurants. Looks like it's won all kinds of awards!

Jon was a real trooper and waited out in the car with Zach and Leah (who was napping), so my mom and I (and Lucy) could indulge in our foodie lunch. We split a Krispy Kreme milkshake (made with liquid nitrogen) for starters and my half was just a distant memory by the time our food even got there!

 We also shared the Sides Sampler consisting of the most amazing vodka-battered onion rings (I know I probably shouldn't like that flavor but they were divine), sweet potato tater tots, and hand cut french fries. They each came with their own dipping sauces and were FAB.

 Now onto the pies de resistance! We decided to try two different burgers and split them half and half: 1) "the Southern," which had a chicken fried beef patty, pimento cheese, b&b pickles, and Coca Cola ketchup, and 2) "the Oaxaca," which had avocado, cilantro lime mayo, queso fresco, and pico de gallo. Blais pretty much killed it on the burgers! (And don't worry, we brought Jon some takeout for being such an awesome sport).

 We quickly checked out Dekalb Market (a huge international farmer's market), then headed back to the hotel and pretty much kicked it the rest of the afternoon until Grandpa TomTom and Uncle Devin joined us (they'd spent the day golfing). We settled on Frontera Grill for dinner, which was Zach's special birthday feast, and even though we were at a fine Mexican joint, he picked a hamburger. Gotta love him!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our handsome, silly, irreplaceable 6-year old dude!

Figuring out how to get him a birthday cake was a little trickier, but I'd seen some cupcakes at the Dekalb market earlier, so I bought a box and we celebrated by singing him Happy Birthday and eating his birthday cupcakes that night in our hotel room. WE LOVE YOU ZACH-O!

Tuesday morning was Jonathan's HAPPY BIRTHDAY, but he got to wake up early and head out to Augusta, GA with my Dad and brother Devin to spend the day at the Masters Tournament. Woohoo! That left my mom and I to wrangle the kids by ourselves, and we decided to start the day with a yummy Southern breakfast at The Flying Biscuit. 

They have kind of an eclectic menu and are famous for their biscuits and creamy dreamy grits, so it was a fantastic way to start the day off!

 We found this Legoland Discovery Center while searching online for things to do, and decided to give it a whirl and see what it was all about. It's located in a mall in downtown Atlanta, and we had no idea what to expect-- but we were very pleasantly surprised with how much was there!

 It featured two different rides, a little mini-tour of how they make Legos, lots of different play areas, and a mini-world with different models. Zach is our resident Lego-fan, and he was in heaven!

 The featured exhibit for the month was of Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace, so there were a bunch of different scenes all made from Legos. This was of Padme's home planet of Naboo.

Waiting in line to ride "Merlin's Apprentice" which was kind of like a carousel that went around and around up in the air. Zach loved it! Ha ha! Actually he rode with my mom and she said he was kind of freaked out.

 Next we waited in line for the 4D movie, which was really, really cute. In addition to it being 3D, it snowed and splashed water on us. All in all we had a blast playing at the Lego Discovery Center and it was well worth the $15 ticket fee. Nice job, Atlanta!

 We had no idea what time the guys would get done in Augusta, so we decided to kill some time at a nice little park close to the hotel until they made it home for Jon's birthday dinner.

The weather forecast predicted rain, but we lucked out and had a gorgeous afternoon with perfect temperatures. Leah climbed up this mountain all by herself and was very proud! She looks so grown up to me in this picture!

The guys finally got done around 7:30 pm and met us at a pizza place for dinner. Probably not Jon's pick for the ideal birthday place (he'd want sushi), but it hit the spot and he was ready to get home and open his presents! HAPPY 33rd BIRTHDAY to our wonderful, hard-working, funny DAD!!

He had a great day exploring the world famous Masters golf tournament during the "practice round." Apparently tickets are next to impossible to come by, and it was pretty thrilling to be a part of something so prestigious and historic in the sport's world.

 They all three said how immaculately kept the golf course was-- and it looks amazing from the pictures! How cool that he's now been to the US Open, as well as the Masters. 

 A delicious birthday lunch of traditional Southern fare-- at least concessions-style! Egg salad sandwiches, BBQ beef, lemonade, and a sugar cookie ice cream sandwich (with peach ice cream of course, this being Georgia and all). 

I think the thumbs up means they're Boys Day Out was a success! So glad he got to have a whole day to himself for his birthday!

 We were all sad to see Wednesday morning roll around, because for the Cardon Clan-- that meant our vacation time was up! We squeezed in some extra play time with Grandma and Grandpa at the Pirates Cove mini-golf before we had to hit the road.

 Lucy and Grandpa TomTom have been good buddies for years now!

We all headed nearby for a quick bite to eat and then piled into the car and headed back up to North Carolina. We were so glad we got a chance to see some family in our neck of the woods for a change! We had a blast exploring Atlanta and celebrating our two birthday boys!

And we couldn't sign off without acknowledging the "Flying Bum in the Sky" which has become a pretty famous landmark in the Morris household (it's really a random peach in Gaffney, SC). Ha ha! Happy Spring Break to you!

PARADISE!

I've heard it said that "Travel is rebellion in its purest form," and I'd have to agree. After a week filled with doing the very opposite things our normal lives require, it felt like pure defiance to sleep in until 9 a.m. every morning, never workout at the gym, eat whatever (and whenever) we wanted without counting a single calorie, never making the bed or washing the dishes even once, and most importantly, leaving ALL child care responsibilities for 6 long days up to someone else entirely! It was pure bliss; the stuff dreams are made of. I'm SO grateful to Jon's parents for taking a time-out from their busy schedules in order to make our 3rd Honeymoon possible! THANK YOU CARDONS!

MONDAY- Miami, FL and Bon Voyage!

Our journey actually began Sunday night, with a semi-disastrous trip to Miami, FL where we stayed the night. After renting a car just to drive from the airport in Ft. Lauderdale (where we flew into because the airfare was a lot cheaper) to the airport in Miami (where we had to check the car back into-- and subsequently our cruise left from), and being pulled over by Broward County police because our headlights weren't turned on (ha, ha, dumb tourists in a rental car!), while being TOTALLY lost trying to find a restaurant, and having to settle for some seriously sub-par Indian food, we finally made it to our hotel (thanks to a shuttle from the Miami airport) at 11:30 p.m. Did you follow all that??? Needless to say, we skipped breakfast the next morning, hopped the shuttle straight to the cruise port, and said c'est la vie! After a quick loading process, we were on board by 11:30 and ready for lunch!

Although we couldn't check into our cabin until 4 p.m., we'd smartened up and packed our swimming suits in our carry-on's so we could head straight for the pool deck to enjoy Miami's beautiful sunny weather! We ordered some virgin pina coladas and kicked our vacation off the best way possible. 

We spent the afternoon sunbathing, swimming, and exploring the rest of the ship. Dinner started at 6:30, so not knowing quite what to expect since there was only two of us, we were seated with a mom and her two teenage kids traveling from Argentina. They spoke strictly Spanish, so Jon was thrilled to be able to pull out his rusty Spanish, and coincidences of all coincidences-- she happened to be a dentist! So either way I would have been left out of the conversation.;) We had horseradish encrusted salmon for dinner with beurre blanc.

 My handsome date for the week! Doesn't he look happy and relaxed??

 Just happy to be cruising south to the Caribbean!

After being entertained by the cruise's very own singers and dancers at the on-board theater, we headed up to the very tippy-top of the ship to a jazz lounge to schmooz the night away.... And take this selfie since it was really awkward having to ask the Argentinians to take our picture at dinner, ha, ha!

TUESDAY- Nassau, BAHAMAS

Tuesday morning bright and early we woke up and headed right to breakfast. We decided that since we'd never been to Nassau and didn't know what to expect, we'd pay to do one of the cruise's excursions and spend the day at a private island called Blue Lagoon (about 3 miles north of Nassau) with some really nice beaches. We could have paid to visit the world-famous Atlantis resort but it cost twice as much, and I'm happy we chose this instead.  

We took a ferry along with about 50 others from the cruise to this private island consisting of white sand beaches and crystal blue waters. All I can say is it was breathtaking!

It was exactly the way you picture paradise-- and how you'd expect the Bahamas to be. We relaxed in lounge chairs all morning and afternoon, getting up only to eat our Bahamian barbecue lunch. 

I mean, seriously, what could be better than a picnic lunch under the shade of palm trees with the sounds of the Caribbean ocean as your background?!? How lucky were we?!? 

We hopped the ferry back to Nassau around 3 p.m. and bid our private island goodbye. You can see an old light house in the distance, as for hundreds of years the island served as an old hideout for pirates and smugglers. 

We decided that since our cruise ship didn't leave until 11:30 p.m. that night we'd head into downtown Nassau and explore a bit before heading back on board and getting dinner. It was fun to get a feel for the "flavor" of the capital of the Bahamas, and get a peek at the locals.

Bahamian City Hall

We'd been warned by the cruise ship to be careful where we went due to heightened criminal activity against tourists, and there were definitely some sketchy areas I didn't want to walk into-- but overall it was a nice city with lots to see and do. I loved the Caribbean colors everywhere and the beautiful flowers!

After eating dinner and catching a comedy show, we'd usually get back to our cabin around 10:30 or 11 p.m. (which I suppose is early by cruise standards but super late for us!). Our stateroom attendant would leave us these cute towel animals, along with our "Cruise Compass" detailing the on-board itinerary for the next day, as well as information about our next port. 

Here's Jon scouring our Compass and deciding what we were going to do the next day! Our cozy little cabin was literally about 10 feet by 10 feet, but we liked it.

That night was the one and only formal night of the whole cruise, and I totally forgot to get a picture of us! I was so sad I made us pose for this selfie before we changed and got ready for bed! Bummer. 

WEDNESDAY- Cocoa Caye, BAHAMAS

Wednesday morning we slept in and can I just say, how liberating it feels to WAKE UP ON YOUR OWN, as opposed to being prematurely woken up by crying children for the last 8 years?? We headed straight to breakfast, which usually consisted of pastries and muesli for Jon, and a custom-made omelet and fruit for me. Sure beats cereal for breakfast every morning!

 Ahhhhhhh. I think any day that begins with toes in the sand is pretty much going to be one of my favorites....

 Cocoa Caye is a private island that Royal Caribbean owns, so we were pretty much able to have it all to ourselves. Along with the other couple hundred of people on our cruise of course!

 Jon decided to rent snorkel equipment and I'm so glad he did! He had a blast exploring all of the underwater coral reefs, and even some old shipwreck remains. He saw a ton of different fish and even a stingray coming right at him!

 I passed since I was traumatized by snorkeling once (long story involving a 12-year old version of me, Hanauma Bay, corn thrown on top of me by Asian tourists, and hundreds of fish consequently attacking swarming me). But with this view and a good book, I was definitely not complaining! 

There was an amazing sandbar we walked out on that literally probably extended into the ocean about a mile long. You can see from where Jon is standing (still shallow) how far back the beach was. 

We just couldn't get over how many shades of BLUE there were on this one tiny island. Blue in the water as well as in the sky. Sigh....

 There's our cruise ship-- "Majesty of the Seas" there in the background. Such a fun, relaxing day!

And grouper for dinner.  Maybe Jon saw him swimming around just hours before...

THURSDAY- Key West, FL

 Our ship didn't arrive in Key West until 10 a.m., and even then because it was an American port, everyone on board had to go through customs and have their passports checked, so we knew we'd have some time to kill in the morning. We decided to spend it rock climbing on the ship's outdoor rock climbing wall.

 Oh yeah! This is me scaling the wall with amazing finesse.

 Almost to the top! I did it twice and it was a lot of fun-- if not kind of scary to look down while the boat's moving and rocking and you're 50 feet off the deck.

 Naturally Jon tried it three times, each time getting up faster and picking more challenging routes. This time he decided to try and only use the green hand and foot holds, which proved about next to impossible.

 He got pretty far before he had to cheat a little bit and switch holds, but there's always next time!

 We finally got off the boat around 10:30 a.m. and headed straight for downtown Key West, which honestly I didn't know too much about before this.

 In a nutshell, it's basically the US' most southerly city-- an island about 4 miles long and 1 mile wide, which used to serve as an old pirate hideaway, cigar and natural sponge trading post, and fishing port. Today it's known for its eccentric artsy-vibe, for example, right here at the Museum of Art.

 We walked over to Old Town Key West which was developed back in the 1800's which had some fun straw markets and shops to look around in. Arrrrrr Matey!

 I loved these pirate faces made out of coconuts!

We ended up asking a local yokel who worked in a shop there, what she would do if given the day off, and she immediately said she'd rent a bike and tour the island that way. So we got ourselves a bright red tandem bicycle and did just that! We rode first to the old cemetery which is quirky and colorful like the town itself--with all above ground vaults due to the high water table. Supposedly Key West is America's 3rd most haunted city (after New Orleans and Charleston).

 Next we explored some of the old mansions of Key West, including American author Ernest Hemingway's house.

We did an 180 degree turn and headed to the opposite end of the island, down towards Zachary Taylor State Park, which was an old Civil War fort. This military installation also played a big role during the Spanish American War, since Cuba just happens to be 90 miles away!

 Key West isn't really known for its beaches, as they are mostly rocky, but this was definitely the best we saw by far. It had some really nice waves for body surfing but unfortunately we didn't have time to check them out ourselves! Back to the bike!

 We then rode to the southern most point of the United States of America-- right here. Any further and I guess it's considered Cuba. We had perfect temperatures-- 80 degrees with a breeze and riding that tandem bicycle was probably one of our most favorite things we did the whole time!

 We decided it was about time to check out somewhere fun for lunch, and the lady who'd recommended we ride a bike, also recommended this place for lunch-- the "Cool Tuna Saloon." I had an amazing grilled mahi mahi sandwich and about 4 diet Cokes!

Jon got some baked fish in a ginger wasabi sauce and some killer onion rings and although it was off the beaten path, we were glad we'd taken her recommendation!

Next we HAD to try the Key Lime pie for dessert, since this was the birthplace and all. You can't quite read it, but on the plaque right there it says, "Birthplace of Key Lime Pie, 1856."

There it is. Just ready to be tasted!

 And it was good! But incredibly, incredibly tart! Whoo! It's making me pucker just thinking about it.

We still had some time to kill before having to be back on the boat, so we decided to ride around the island one more time and see what we missed. We loved all of these old banyan trees! 

And how cool is it that we officially found the END of US 1?? What's amazing to me is we lived and drove all over US 1 in Philadelphia, and now again here in Pinehurst, NC. We could literally have driven it from the Florida Keys all the way up into Maine. 

 Back on the boat we decided to do some last minute sunbathing, and drink our last round of pina coladas since it was officially our last chance! I guess our trip finished the way it began. There's Key West in the background before our ship set sail back to Miami.

 Jon's stuffed tiger shrimp for dinner.

 And my favorite dessert on board was this amazingly rich chocolate truffle cake with homemade vanilla ice cream. I ordered it twice! 

 The last night our entertainment was the ship's singers and dancers farewell show, which is nowhere near Broadway ready, but it's still pretty impressive how much these cruise ships are able to do.

And then it was back to Miami for us! 

We flew out of Ft. Lauderdale to Nashville, TN, and then into Raleigh, NC.  It was pretty cool to think of how many miles our total trip entailed-- from Nassau Bahamas, to the Florida Keys, to Nashville, TN, and back to good ol' Pinehurst, NC. I took this picture while sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to board. We both did awesome at applying sunscreen the whole week, except that last day riding the bike, I completely forgot to cover my hands! Ha ha! Oh well. We absolutely LOVED our paradise vacay, which was ultimately to celebrate two things: 1) Our 10-year anniversary, and 2) Jon's completion of his 5 year military payback. It was absolutely what we needed to re-set, refresh, relax, and recharge! Cheers to next time!