Vacay 2012 Part 1: Amazing grandparents

Ian and I are back from our 10 day vacation! It was amazing. I am exhausted.

How is that even possible? I got tons of sleep, read 2.5 books, read tons of magazines and did lots of people watching.

The only bad part, and probably the reason I am exhausted, was the trip home. (I don't have the energy to revisit the horror, so if you are interested you can check out my Facebook post on 4/29.)

Since I'm still catching up on... um ... er .... rest? I am doing my vacation recap in three or four parts. (you don't think I can do it, do you!?) I'm saving the best for last!

Are you impressed by my little suitcase for 10 days!? Don't be. Moppy does laundry frequently. We came home with a suitcase full of clean clothes! Sweet!

We began our trip in Oldsmar, FL (greater Tampa area) with my grandparents (aka Sam or Popsi and Janet or Moppy). We were with them for 3 days, then went on a cruise for 4 days and spent our last 3 days back with my grandparents. 

We weren't able to visit my grandparents last year (i've visited them pretty much every year I can remember) due to the chaos of last year (as explained here), and a very tight budget. So, this trip was long overdue! This vacation was also our pseudo-honeymoon because after our wedding, I didn't have enough vacation days at work (first year at my new job) to go somewhere exciting. We just escaped to Ian's family lake house on Lake Erie for a couple days. Pseudo honeymoon cruise will be discussed in part 2! 

After 10 days of no responsibility and way too much time to think (and drink?). . . I've decided that why just plan one honeymoon? My goal: live modestly so we can afford a honeymoon every year! (for those of you wondering about how we will do this once we have kids, hush. let me dream.)

Now, back to Oldsmar - Except for our first day, we had amazing weather.

(Where is Ian, you ask? He was there. Right there... behind the camera. I swear. He appears in part 2 & 3. In fact, part 3 is only about Ian. UPDATE: Ian really only appears in Part 3 and 4. Part 4 is only about Ian, sort of. :))

The rainy day was alright with me though because Ian, Moppy and I went and saw the movie, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. It was really cute. I love movies and we don't tend to go to them because renting is cheaper, and our movie theater in Defiance stinks (literally).

Also, we went shopping on the rainy day. I know, if you read my last post about being done shopping for the season, I lied. I couldn't help it. Florida has this store called Bealls (pronounced bells).  Bealls rocks. Bealls pays you to take their clothes. Or as the Mexicans in Cozumel said, "ALMOST FREE!!!" Bealls is a tantalizing combination of Kohls and TJ Maxx. Ian and I bought a HUGE bag of clothes for about $100 and we "saved" $200. 

Because I could go on for days... here is my recap of our six days with Moppy and Popsi: shopping, a movie, Tarpon Springs, the pool, Clearwater beach, Honeymoon beach (how appropriate), breakfast out, dinners out, dinners at home, including Popsi's famous ribs, walks, reading and watching my favorite shows with Moppy. Oh, another important call out from the week was that with my less than average amazing computer skills, I taught Moppy and Popsi how to add shortcuts to their desktop, and we did some Facebook and photo training. It was the least I could do, really. It was good bonding time!

Love them so much!

Be back soon with more vacay, photos & Ian :)! XO