Fifteen Things About Our Vacation

We had such a great vacation visiting my Mom in Florida. The only thing I would change about it was saying goodbye. We could have stayed forever! Quick, someone resuscitate my Mom! *smacks paddles together and yells, "Clear!"* Just kidding! But she did make our time there extra nice and we really miss her! Here are a few key vacation facts:

 1. 1 minivan, 4 adults, 2 kids in booster seats and one toddler in a car seat. 20 hours of driving each way to get to my Mom's house in Florida. No video games, ipods, dvd's. No children were harmed (much) in the making of this vacation. Miraculous.

He's touching me!!!

(Subscribers: Click here if you can't see stupid video of me losing my mind)

 2. At our first stop, a prison van pulled along side us and out came prisoners with shackles on all four extremities, loads of neck/facialish tattoos, orange jumpsuits and personal guards. Wolf ran out of our van right over to the prison van and started chatting up the guards. I almost died.



(Subscribers: click here if you can't see rest stop tales video)

 3.  I apparently only get inspired by deadlines and whipped up a new fave outfit made from a Martha Stewart tablecloth (skirt) and a garage sale maternity dress (shirt).  I cranked it out the day before we left because I had a dream about the shirt.

4.We had a full bottle of milk break open and dump all over me, the seats, the purses and the van's carpet. Mind you, it was very hot out. Potential for stink was rising exponentially.

5. It was so nice to see my Mom! She is an excellent hostess and has a beautiful home, complete with carpet scrubber and upholstery attachment. Stink factor returns to within normal limits. Whew.

6. Did I mention she has friends with a pool?



7. We went to Homosassa Springs and visited our favorite rescued manatees. We braved Lucifer the hippo's "splatter zone" once again. We like to live dangerously.





8. We also visited Tarpon Springs, home of our favorite Greek restaurant and even more favorite Greek bakery, Hellas. And oh yes, I finally got my baklava! As I said, we like to live dangerously.

Opa!

9.We met two more of our vacation food goals-- Sonny's bbq and Thai Cuisine. I can't wait to go back! Jas became inspired to make Thai iced tea and her effort was greatly appreciated by all of us. It turned out perfect.



 10.We played Quiddler at night and munched on a sensational dip my Mom made. Um yeah, I did gain 10 pounds.


(Click here for quiddler video)

 11. Olivia had her first dip in the Gulf at Pine Island. I love driving there, you expect  gator to come across the road as you cross the swampy part. The houses up on stilts (fancy houses on stilts) are fun to look at and  I wish I could go inside and see what they are like.



12. Turns out that pop-its are fun, no matter how old you are. I like how each kid has their own style. Olivia's arms bounce several times after each throw, Vlad likes to cluster pop-its for effect.Wolf likes to throw them at people (arrrrgh!) and me, I like to squeeze 'em.


(Click here for pop-it video)

 13.  If you don't have a crazy neck pillow for the car ride, get one. Now. I made some for our last trip and got them back out. They are useful props for making Abe Lincoln beards and Hedwig and the angry inch wigs. Know what's better than a neck pillow? Hotel rooms after 10 hours of driving.




14. My Mom got a smartphone. Then she married it!



15. We tried out my homemade sunscreen and it worked great! Tutorial soon to come! No burns.

Hoffman Family Vacation 2011!

The "Caviest Cave in the USA"

 We had a week of glorious gallivanting-- crossing the borders of 5 different states.  We started with a trip out to see my brother Cameron's troupe, Barely Balanced perform at the Bristol Ren Faire in Wisconsin. We stayed in a suburb of Chicago, and unfortunately, my brother in Chi-town, Ian, was out on tour with his band, Voice of Addiction. We must get back out there to visit him, which seems doable as the boys did pretty well on the ride. We stopped at Seneca Caverns, "the caviest cave in the USA", or as we like to call it, Hell. The caverns were great, don't get me wrong, the staff was wonderful, and the slogan is the best ever, BUT... I had on a dress and flip flops and a big old purse and it was treacherous, and I was responsible for Vladdie and apparently for cutting off any circulation to his hands as I held onto him for dear life.
Here's the pics of that leg of our travels:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoffmanhaus/sets/72157627539516908/

Cameron, on stilts

Nothing says "Ren Faire" like food on a stick and giant pickles. So a giant pickle on a stick should merit at least one "Huzzah!"  

Next up was camping out at Mohican.  We stayed at our traditional campground, Camp Toodik. We first stopped at a great Amish restaurant, Des Dutch Essenhaus where even the vegetarians left full and happy.  The boys loved the toy train that runs through it and Wolfie enjoys interviewing any Amish people that he meets and especially enjoys informing them over and over that they are Amish. After refueling at the restaurant, we worked a wee bit of it off on the boys first long hike-- 4 miles of hilly terrain in Mohican State Park-- with almost no complaints from the boys. Jas and Nate on the other hand... just kidding! We camped out, the only campers that night...maybe because the gorgeous weather of the day turned into a 5 hour torrential thunderstorm that flooded most of the campsites and all of our tents. Somehow, after it stopped, clad in a garbage bag, I managed to get the fire started and bake blueberry pies with my toast-tite.  So what I mean to say is, I had completely lost my mind. The day turned into gorgeous 70 degree weather with a light breeze and we took the boys on a 10 mile canoe trip where we had the whole lake fork branch of the river to ourselves and a heron that we seemed to be following. Alas, the weather was set to have more thunderstorms plus hail and damaging winds, so we packed up and headed home.
Here's the Mohican pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoffmanhaus/sets/72157627416368853/

We survived our hike!

I am a twisted firestarter. In a trash bag.

Next up, a day trip to Pennsylvania's Pymatuning State Park.  We visited the Pymatuning Deer Park for a picnic where we ate like animals (yeah, we stopped by an Amish girl selling little pies and cinnamon rolls on the side of the road. We bought one of each flavor of pie. We ate it all. and yes, Wolfie interrogated her and her Amishness) and then fed the park's animals. Then we stopped by the Linesville Spillway, "Where the ducks walk on the fish" where Wolf fell in love with "squishy mouthed fish" and longed to hug a carp.  Photographic evidence of our journey:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoffmanhaus/sets/72157627417090231/

My heroes

A flurry of Carp

     We were able to celebrate my littlest baby, Vladdie turning 4 during a short break at home.  He requested a "Rainbow tornado snake cake".  We obliged.

Vlad and his cake

Vlad's  annual Birthday sign

Lastly, we decided to head back after I got off work on Saturday and revisit the spillway, at the Hoffbros' request. Then we finished off with a trip to Conneaut Lake Park. Mind you, this park had fallen on very hard times. It is not the park of my youth, but there are still so many things to recommend if you like nostalgia. 

A little glimpse into what is left of Conneaut lake and even some of the old houses there in the park:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoffmanhaus/sets/72157627539711464/

Devil's Den

The Hotel Conneaut

Many of my favorites from yesteryear were still plugging away, like Devil's Den (with the infamous wall of chewed gum), the jolly caterpillar, the bumper cars, the tumble bugs and the old hotel. After dark, we sat on the  boardwalk and enjoyed fireworks.  It was chilly and everything had that summer fading into autumn quality.  It sort of felt like you knew everyone there and were bidding them goodbye, and for me, all the memories of having been there with my Dad. A good way to end an end-of-summer vacation.

Matt swoops me up in a whip, ala Indiana Jones, and plants one on me, right in front of the whole world. Swoon.