Keeping up with Ella, Laney & Matthew

This past weekend Jason and I were outta here! Although our 10 year anniversary was a few weeks away (July 1st) we thought we would take a vacation to celebrate that as well as my 32nd birthday.

When we started planning this trip we knew we were going to go Tuesday through Sunday (due to my work schedule) but I had a few stipulations: 1) Same time zone (I am not a fan of time changes over 1 hour when trips are less than a week) 2) Beach 3) Drinks on the beach 4) Quick plane ride (still wanted to not be too far away if something happened). After our moms graciously accepted the challenge of watching all 3 kids, we started planning. Ok, I say we, but Jason did everything! Flights, hotel, things to do, places to eat. I just showed up :) Jason typically plans our trips but this time he did it ALL!

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday night and stayed at the Hilton. We got a room upgrade (yes we asked for one and got it) which included two balconies. One balcony overlooked the pool and the other overlooked the water. Amazing! We enjoyed tons of seafood, worked out (yes, even on the elliptical and all) lots of beer, shows, etc. I thought I would try my best to sum it up.

Leslie's favorite things about Ft. Lauderdale:

1) The water taxi. The water taxi is exactly what it sounds like. It's a boat that takes you to about 13 different stops in Ft. Lauderdale (shops, beaches, restaurants, etc). What I loved is it took us around all the million dollar homes and yachts. I knew there was money there but had no idea how much money! We saw the homes of the people who own LA Fitness, Kohls, fortune cookie makers as well as Jay Leno's house and many football legends. The water taxi saved us from needing a car-- a huge bonus!

Jay Leno's House

This one is on the market for $25 million.
I was sold when I saw the slide (left side of the house).
Also includes a 5,000 square foot guest house

2) As we were riding the water taxi, Jason and I were talking to this nice couple. They asked where we were from, then saying "you aren't from New Jersey like us because you guys are way too nice." Cracked us up!

3) From our balcony we could see a yacht called Mr. Terrible. Mr. Terrible had quite a crew (at least 3 crew members) but the boat never left the dock. Each day we would talk about this boat as if it was a person....have you seen Mr. Terrible today? Has he left the dock? Oh the covers are off the furniture; maybe he is leaving today? We don't know who the owner is but we figured we should be friends with him.

Not the best picture of Mr. Terrible but still a gorgeous boat:

The view from one of the balconies:

The view from the other balcony:

4) Although I am not a huge boat person (heck, I am from Ohio and live in Indiana) I become an avid boat lover when I see these huge yachts. We kept saying, let's get a boat when we get home! But I think it would be better to have friends with a big phatty boat...any takers?? We would like to see a boat owner in our friend tally :)

One of our favorite boats: Man of Steel ($50 MILLION!!)

5) I asked Jason if we could see Mary Poppins when we were there as it was in town. Wow, that was quite a show. We saw it Saturday and this was the day I was starting to really miss the kids. Before this day we talked about the kids but we needed the time away and didn't really miss them yet. But by Saturday and with all the children at the show, I was missing the kids like crazy. If you do get a chance to see Mary Poppins, it is great! A little long for kids but still they would enjoy it :)

6) Mean Leslie came out. Have you seen mean Leslie? Well, when I am hungry, tired, hot or cold mean Leslie comes out. I might snap, complain, cry, become irrational. It's tough to know when Mean Leslie will appear (often comes without warning), but she came out in Ft. Lauderdale (since I feel it is not really me, I refer to Mean Leslie in the third person). We decided to walk in the 90 degree Ft. Lauderdale heat a good mile to go get tickets to Mary Poppins. I was hot and sweating through my shirt. Gosh I was miserable. I went to the restroom to towel off and when I came out, Jason had paid one of those bicycle guys (with a 2 seater cart on the back) to bike us what was probably 100 feet to the water taxi. It seems crazy but it was probably the best dollar Jason ever spent...it saved our marriage by sending Mean Leslie on her way! And this was the sign we saw after Mean Leslie was gone......how ironic (no crabs allowed near the water!).

Mean Leslie is such a crab!

7. Not necessarily a huge highlight but still something fun that we did was attend a mermaid show. There is bar called Shipped Wrecked that has 5 windows that look underneath the pool (fun for this show but I thought it would be weird on a typical basis to be drinking a beer and see people swimming....or is that just me?). On Friday nights, there is a Mermaid Show where 4 mermaids swim around and do mermaid things (not sure what that is other than swimming??) :) The main mermaid actually makes her profession doing these shows and is often in the Bahamas doing her stuff. The mermaids are able to hold their breathe for 2 minutes as they swim around. We took pictures for the girls' sake and then grabbed our drinks and were outta there. It was so crowded!

8. This was on display outside the Ft. Lauderdale School of Art. Thought this was a great depiction of the oil situation.

9. The beach. Almost forgot! Ok, not really because boy did we enjoy just sitting on the beach at night (often with a drink in hand).

Awful lighting but here was a restaurant right on the beach.
In fact, we were sitting on a huge swing and as you were waiting for dinner you could just swing back and forth. It was such a funny, yet enjoyable, concept.