Christmas in Florida (HOL 91)

House of Laughter 91

Nine hour drive down and ten hours back. We have a dog with bad breath, a three year old, and a DVD player with three hours worth of battery life in the back seat. It still beats going to work.

We made the mostly annual trip to Florida for Christmas last week. Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve. He left Isaac a roomful of toys, a big bike, and about $20 worth of junk from Wal-Mart in Nancy and my stockings (As is our Christmas custom instead of “real” gifts for each other. It all started that year I bought her some silver combs and she bought me a chain for my pocket watch…)

We drove through Christmas Day and made it to Gainesville in nine hours (pretty good time.) Isaac opened more presents from Gammy and G-Daddy, and then settled down to sleep. My friend “Little Matt” walked over from his Dad’s place and we shared some beers. He took a ceramics class earlier this year and I harassed him no end about it. For Christmas, he gave me a really cool handmade mug and homemade orange marmalade. That is one of the best gifts I got this year.

The next day, we had lunch at Leonardo’s pizza at Millhopper (One of our favorite places in town. Chicago style pizza with heart attack inducing garlic rolls). We were joined by “Little Matt” and his wife Christina, and one of our friends from high school, Sarah, that we hadn’t seen in over ten years, and her husband Preston. While we were enjoying pizza, beer and old frienships, Mom and Dad took Isaac to Camp Blanding to look at old jets, jeeps, tanks, and troop transports.

Friday night Nancy and I were introduced to out newest Wii addiction called “Boom Blocks”. It is a insanely fun mix of Jenga, the old atari game “Warlords”, and that game at the carnival where you throw baseballs to knock over milk bottles.

Saturday we took our niece Cassidy to meet our old friends the Leibachs at Silver Springs in Ocala. My mom has old photos of Danny and I as little boys petting deer and riding the glass bottom boats there. It was cool to watch Riley, Cassidy, and Isaac play together and marvel at the alligators, bears, and snakes on display. Silver Springs has seen better days, but the kids had a great time.

We took the kids on the “Lighthouse” ride. It’s supposed to be a gentle ride up in an observation car for a birds eye view of the springs. Unfortunately, when we reached the top, something went wrong, and the ride down was a might bouncier on the return trip than expected. It was one of the few times I’ve genuinely been terrified on a ride. It was obvious that the ride was malfunctioning, and I was relieved when we were low enough that I knew that a sudden drop would only maim instead of kill us.

Sunday we met my sister and her family at Sea World in Orlando. For those of you who never lived in Florida, here is a tip…..Never go to Orlando theme parks in July or in the week between Christmas and New Years. Sea World ( A definite “B” class theme park in an “A” class neighborhood of parks) was swimming with people. Not only that, but the recent trend of “premium” theme park experiences was in full effect pissing me off little by little throughout the day. About 2/3 of the dolphin pool’s edge was only for people who paid the price to feed them. Riding up on the observation deck cost an extra couple of bucks. Instead of a Fastpass system like at Disney, they had and even simpler solution. For $30 you can just skip to the front of the line.

As cynical as it all is, I can’t help but smile watching Eli, Lily, and Isaac walking around and holding hands. I also couldn’t help but laugh like a little kid when at the finale of the dolphin show, there were fountains, dolphins, spandex clad high divers and about a dozen macaws flying, leaping, spraying, and dancing all around. (To be clear, the macaws were thankfully not spraying.)

Over by the seal feeding area, Isaac took a fall and skinned both knees. That was really hard on me to see him crying so hard. Thankfully one of the Sea World workers called first aid, and the man who gave Isaac a couple of band aids was very kind and patient.

Nancy and I skipped out on the Elmo show to go an ride The Kraken together. (We used to ride coasters together all the time….what happened?) The Kraken is my buddy Gabe’s favorite coaster, and I see why. Incredibly smooth and fast.

We went to the kid’s area, and Eli and Lily wanted to climb in the nets. Isaac decided he wanted to as well. I knew this wouldn’t end well, so I went along. Somewhat surprisingly, my dad went too. I was pretty impressed. To get onto the cargo nets, we had to climb a flight of stairs. The nets extended upwards another two stories. I was a little nervous when we started climbing. Isaac started crying. I told him that it was okay to be scared, but we were going to do it together. Ryan had Eli, Dad had Lily and I had Isaac. It would have been hard enough climbing by myself, but balancing and holding Isaac’s hand while climbing proved to be a greater challenge. We all made it safely to the top and climbed back down via the stairs.

While the kids rode the tea cups, Ryan, Dad, and I decided to sample some of Anheiser Busch’s products. If you are ever tempted to sample bourbon flavored Budweiser, I can save you the trouble….don’t bother.

After watching the Shamu show, we decided to take in one last ride for the day, Journey to Atlantis. I’ve wanted to ride it since it was built ten years ago. It is a cool hybrid of dark ride, splash down boat ride, and indoor dark roller coaster. It is now known as the saddest ride in the world by my family, because my niece and nephew lost it in the first few minutes of the ride when one of the mermaids who live in Atlantis turned into Medusa. There was much crying for the rest of the ride.

Upon disembarking, a soaking wet and sobbing Eli and Lily summed up the ride for Ali, “There were mermaids and witches who were making bad choices.” Mercifully, Isaac wasn’t tall enough to ride.

We spent most of Monday chilling out with our other nieces and feeding ducks. Monday night mom and dad watched Isaac so Nancy and I could go and see “The Wrestler”. (We will take advantage of free babysitting any time we can!)

The trip back took ten hours, but the stop for Krystal hamburgers was well worth the extra time (Have you ever been to a fast food restaurant where the speaker doesn’t work at the drive through, and they don’t have chocolate shakes, or straws, and their pumpkin shake has small mysterious crumbs floating around that could be either pie crust or fried chicken breading?)

All in all we had a great trip, and wish everyone a happy and safe new year. Thanks to everyone who made Christmas such a special time for my family this year. Thanks to the Baumans for coming over Christmas Eve and being family for us. Thanks to Rydell for your hospitality. Thanks to Roland for a special present that will be a constant reminder to Isaac about bravery and love. Thanks to my folks for hosting us in Florida, and for the sweet day at Sea World. Thanks for my in-laws for laughing and playing Wii with us.

Strength and Honor

Big Matt