This past weekend my 5yo daughter said a couple things that turned me into goo. I thought while I was sitting in this work meeting, I’d share them with you.

This first one is a standard from her daily with hugs. “I love you as big as the universe and you’re the best daddy in the whole world and thanks for being a great daddy.” there is no better way to start or end a day than that!

Here is a one time quote said while enjoying breakfast on a chilly beach morning. “Dadah when my heart feels cold and I snuggle with you, you warm it up.”

Then there was this one while tucking her in to bed. She hasn’t learned about contractions yet so this is the direct quote. “Why not can I have a stuffed animal that looks like you?” “I dunno sweetheart, why would you want one?” I replied. “So I can snuggle with you all night.” she responded.

Ahhhhhhh…..I am total putty in her hands.

Our weekend vacation was quite wonderful. I guess it was a sort of stay-cation because we never left our own state. If you looked at Florida on a map it might not seem as big as it really is. For instance, we live in Orlando and drove to the panhandle which takes 6.5-7 hours. However this trip back to the land of where our parents live was a little different. Thanks to some incredible bloggy love, we were able to use a beach house in my favorite beach town of Seaside. If you didn’t click the link in my previous post, click this one and enjoy. Go ahead….I’ll wait.

I think the last time we were in Seaside was for an afternoon trip on our honeymoon 11 years ago. It’s a little out of the way from where our parents live, but is the perfect little town for a perfect little escape. Although it was, by Florida standards, cold and windy(60 degrees F) all weekend it was pure serenity. We ate the freshest seafood you can eat and enjoyed some of the best the local fare has to offer. Fried pickles to die for, wine at the classic book store, and freshly baked muffins at the famous town market. If you saw the movie The Truman Show, it took place here. The market is where Jim Carey’s character worked and yes, the town really looks just as it did in the movie. We were lucky enough to be there during a farmers market day which was also Family Fun Day. The coolest vendor was the license plate art booth and I wish we could have bought more. They did have a make your own where the kids made a little sign using letters from license plates which was cool, but I really LOVED the map of the US pictured below. I just don’t have $1850 to buy it. I got to enjoy perhaps the best fish dinner I’ve ever eaten and I look forward to making the out of way trip during the Christmas holiday to return to the location. Hands down the coolest beach-side place I’ve ever been in. I’d link to it but the have no website currently.

On the way home we got to meet another blogger, Ms. Moon. I was not a regular reader of her blog before now, but knew of her through some comments I’d seen on other blogs I do read. Needless to say she’s in my reader now! She lives in a tiny little town of Lloyd which I’d never heard of before our visit. Just outside Tallahassee is where you’ll find it and it is an old place rich in history. I hope to visit again and for longer next time to explore the property and hear stories about the old house. It was just the coolest place full of nature and magnificent trees older than this country. My girls enjoyed feeding her pet chickens and the neighbors goats, even if they were shy about doing so! Those yummy cookies probably had something to do with that. I look forward to a return visit as she was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

The worst part about having such an enjoyable weekend? The Monday after. Nothing better than returning to work the next day and having 3 hours of meeting scheduled for your afternoon. That’s right, 3 hours. Probably ran longer too, but I had somewhere to be, so I left right at 5 while the thing was still going. Whew! Returning to the real world after submersing yourself in the world we went to though will never be easy.

Here are my phone pics, enjoy…

Downtown Seaside Farmer's Market

USA map of license plates

What a pretty day

Swings are fun!

Sisterly love at the beach

Perfect compliment to any meal and blog posts. Cheers!

Last weekend was very busy. It was my nephew’s first birthday party and my parents in law stayed with us this time for the visit. Not exactly prime blogging time! I always like when they visit and stay with us though. My wife’s parents truly feel like my own parents after 14 years of knowing them. I very much think of my father in law as if he was my actual father. It’s almost a perfect fit as all the things my actual Dad and I never had in common, he and I do. My dad never much got into sports, but he did get into music and movies in the same way I do. I do though enjoy playing golf with my father in law because he plays so often and I play so little, yet our scores are often quite close on the course. I really wish I could play more….I just know I could get really damn good at the game with more practice. Like my father in law during his younger years though, I’m not willing to give up so much of my quality time that I could spend with my daughters.

Speaking of quality daughter time, despite feeling sickness coming on, I got to sped Sunday with my Anna. I cannot remember the last time I got to spend this much one on one time with my oldest daughter. The reason for it though was so we could go to the movies. We had a special date that took us to the Toy Story double feature. Our youngest, Claire, can barely sit through 1 movie much less two movies, while also wearing 3D glasses. So Anna and I went and it was wonderful. She and I share a special connection between us and often that means very similar interests in all things. I absolutely LOVED seeing the Toy Story movies when they first came out. Seeing them again in 3D as a double feature excited me regardless of my children. Anna though, is in love with Buzz Lightyear and loves the movies just as much as I do. So this was a perfect way to spend the afternoon! I just read they extended the length of running so go see it before it’s gone. It’s fun and the movies are great. The intermission entertainment is filled with DVD extras and trivia. We both enjoyed the presentation immensely.

Yesterday I was sick, today I am still mostly sick. I dunno what with though. Complete exhaustion, body aches all over, headaches, scratchy throat in morning. No fever, no sniff-lis, no coughing. Not flu and not a cold. Just uncomfortable and exhausting bleh.

Anyway, this weekend we’re going on a little vacation. We are visiting our parents in the panhandle, or more like they will be visiting us. We’ll be staying in a house of our most favorite beach-side town known as Seaside. It has been voted in the past the most beautiful beach in the world, was the setting for the movie the Truman Show, and is just a little slice of heaven I have not seen in far too long. It is serene, relaxing, and more beautiful in person then a camera can do justice. I am so very thankful for the details surrounding this house on this weekend and maybe I’ll steal the camera for a few shots of one of my favorite places on Earth.