Dillard Days: April 2009

Uncle Jody bought Kaitlin her first fishing pole. She is very proud of her pink princess "Sishing" pole. Uncle Jody, Scott, and Granddaddy took Kaitlin to the pond one afternoon for her first fishing adventure. (I was still at work, so I didn't get to go.) Kaitlin didn't actually catch any on her pole, but she helped Uncle Jody reel his in. If you ask her how big that fish was, she'll open her arms as wide as she can. This, of course, is unrealistic....but very cute! Kaitlin loved getting to touch her first fish (GROSS!).

I spent last Saturday cleaning the house. By Saturday afternoon, I was determined I was going to get Kaitlin outside to enjoy the nice weather. I asked if she wanted to go fishing, and of couse she did. This time Scott, Granddaddy, and Gramby joined us. Kaitlin grew quickly bored with holding her pole, so Scott caught lots of fish of that pink princess pole! Kaitlin had a ball throwing sticks and rocks into the water. It entertained her so well that she didn't even care to reel in the fish on her line after the first couple. She just kept on throwing rocks and sticks. We caught several small bass and brim. Great times.

On Spring Break, we headed to Florida with both of our families. We rented a house near Disney World for the ten of us to stay in. That's right......ten people. You would think that would be a lot of people in one house. It was, but it was a very spacious six bedroom house, so there was plenty of room.

Everyone had different ideas for what they would like to do all week, so the teacher in me created a chart to indicate where everyone would be going each day. Some of the people loved this plan, while others thought I was insane.....those were the same people who I later saw refer to the chart many times! :)

Of course, Kaitlin and I are Disney World fanatics, so our week was pretty simple to plan. My mom and Melinda ended up joining us at Disney World each day. The guys golfed, fished, and went to Disney World as well. Scott's favorite part of the trip was probably when an alligator stole a fish he was reeling in....very funny video!

On our last day in Florida, nearly all of us loaded up to head to Tarpon Springs and Clearwater Beach. Gary Wayne's girlfriend, Brittany, had never been to the ocean before, and I wanted Kaitlin to get to go back. Kaitlin had not been to the ocean since she was about 18 months old. It took a long time to get into Clearwater because of all the traffic (Spring Break + Florida = Busy).

Once we finally got into the beach area, it took a lot of driving to find a place to park. This was not much fun with a three year old who was ready to be out of the car and on the beach. We finally found a spot and walked to a restaurant for lunch....Crabby Bill's (I think...???). Once there, I realized I left Kaitlin's swimsuit in the car (MANY blocks away). I really didn't think Kaitlin would care much for the ocean's waves and dirty sand anyway, so I decided to just leave it and let her wade in the water in her shorts.

Back to Crabby Bill's...everyone was tired of walking and starving by the time we sat down to eat. My sweet baby decided to pick up her cup of milk by the top, thus dropping the full cup on both of us....mostly me. I tried really hard not to become Crabby Kerri, but the last 30 minutes had contained: long car ride with 3 year old, frustration with lack/price of parking, long walk with 3 year old who wanted to be carried, hunger, outdoor dining in wind, and now a milk bath. That was probably the lowest point of the trip for me.

After lunch, we walked over to the beach. Kaitlin's fascination with the sand and the water were just what I needed. She was a picture of pure glee. The child could care less that her clothes were getting soaked and that she was covered in sand. This was a big shock to all of us as she can't stand for anything dirty to be on her.

Our parents stayed at the beach just a few minutes before continuing on to Tarpon Springs. The rest of us stayed at the beach a couple of hours and then went back to the house.

We stopped in Live Oak, Florida on the way home. This is a small town my Dad lived in when he was a young child. He took us to an old spring that everyone used as the summertime swimming hole. It was very special to get to see this important part of his life.

Overall, it was a very fun trip. I still LOVE Disney World, but I recommend avoiding it during Spring Break. I also prefer staying at one of the Disney resorts as we did in October. The house was nice and saved a lot of money due to the number of people in our party, but it is much more magical and stress-free when you are on Disney property for the entire trip.

Of course, we took a ton of pictures. Here are some of those:

My girl: