Vacation Picture Post

I was going to start doing "What I Ate Wednesday" today but I forgot to take photos after breakfast.  It still bothers me that I can't find my ring.  

Since nothing worth talking about happened today besides getting a wicked sunburn on my shoulders at the beach I'll leave you with a photo post from the trip.

Before I leave you with the photos, the prompt today is "What makes your heart leap?"  And honestly it's my family.  The people in these photos.  They "make my heart happy" (as Kai-Lan would say)

Our fridge before we left.  I used up everything that could go bad. 

Mr. Amazing and the girls in the hotel room

Mr. Amazing, Kay, Baye and me.  Mo wanted to take the picture

Pile up on daddy!

Kay and Mo being silly

 Mr. Amazing kills spiders.  He's the best spider killer I know.

 The girls under the manta in front of the aquarium

Big fish 

Glad that croc's behind glass.  It stared Baye right in the eye.

Bird

We kept joking that there would be a mermaid and low and behold there was!

Seahorse

 Baye and the manta

 Looks like a face doesn't it?

I want to hold my vow renewal ceremony here.  In front of this big window 

A SHARK!

Sea dragon

Jelly fish

Isn't this beautiful?

Kay at dinner

Mo at dinner

Baye 

Excellent place.  If you're ever in Clearwater, FL I highly recommend it.

Mr. Amazing with his oysters and beer.

My super grouper sandwich. I had them cook it with cajun spices and grill it.

Mr. Amazing also got wings.

Kay's burger and fruit

Baye had chicken tenders and fries

Mo's fried shrimp and fries 

We played on the playground by the Pier after dinner

She loves to climb

 Being a good big sister

The Acromaniacs 

Gorgeous sunset.  This was one of the things on my bucket list.  To see the sunset over the water.

The clouds were amazing

Sunset.

Me and Mr. Amazing with the sun setting behind us. 

My whole world.   

Mr. Amazing relaxing by the pool

Mo pretending to be a shark.

The breakfast at the hotel

The waterslide on the cruise ship at the Port of Tampa

Mr. Amazing and Baye playing shop

Me and Baye playing shop

I used the swings as workout equipment.  

Driving to the beach makes me go crazy!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog

When I woke up this morning I looked in the mirror.  From what I saw staring back at me I thought I was going to have some damage control to do when I got home.  I'm so happy to be in control of my food and being able to track my progress (both good and bad) daily.  

I have to say it was nice to get away from a few days and not have to cook or clean.  Honestly I love being home.  My house the beach and the pool are my favorite places to be.  

When I got home I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had lost 1 pound.  I love losing weight on vacation.  It shows me that I know what I'm doing.  

For dinner I did burgers for Mr. Amazing, Baye and Mo.  Kay and I had fish sandwiches.  I loved the one from Frenchy's so much I had to make it again myself.  I made mine with Orange Roughy.  

It was really simple.  I just sprinkled it with Old Bay and threw them in a sautee pan to cook.  I think it took about 6 minutes on each side but honestly it will depend on the thickness of your fish.

The one thing about eating out that makes it easier to lose weight (in my opinion) is the fact that you can't have seconds for free.  When the food is gone, it's gone.  Plus, dessert isn't readily available either.  

Today's photo was ABOVE.  The clouds were gorgeous.

Super Grouper!!

Being stuck in a hotel leads you to do unexpected things.  I actually slept in until 6:30.  This is odd for me because I always wake up at 5:30.  Since we were stuck in a room together I set my alarm for 6 so it would give the kids an extra 30 minutes.  But, I turned it off and went back to bed!  After that I've been holing myself up in the bathroom so I can write and use my computer without bothering anyone until the kids wake up.  Breakfast was toast with butter and jelly and my leftover parfait from last nite.

Have I shown you a picture of the breakfast area?  If not here it is.  A waffle iron and waffle mix (that tasted kinda funny), toast, orange juice, milk and coffee.  

We took the kids to Fort de Soto park today.  I have 1 word to describe it.  Gorgeous!  I have fallen in love with the Gulf side of Florida.  The waters are crystal clear, really warm and the sand it actually white.  We spent about 3 hours at the beach.  The kids had a blast jumping in the waves and playing in the sand.

I know I've already talked about this in a previous post but, a day at the beach can burn major calories.  Here's a couple links to the calorie counts of various activities.

Experfectionist
Daily Spark

I'm hoping I did enough o balance out my eating.  For dinner we went to Frenchy's in Clearwater. 

I wanted to treat myself so I got the Super Grouper sandwich.  Grilled fish on an onion bun topped with tartar sauce.  When we get home I'm going to recreate this.  Make it a tad bit healthier and hopefully just as tasty.

After dinner we went and wandered around Pier 60 and watched all the various street performers and looked at all the crafts they had for sale.  I love my family.  They are truly what makes me jump for joy.  

The photo challenge today was EARTH.  When you watch the sunset you remember how fast the Earth actually is moving.

What makes you jump for joy?

Dinner From the Grocery Store is Classy Right?

After my dinner slip up I made sure to be extra  careful with breakfast.  I had 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with margarine and jelly, and a quarter of Baye's waffle.

The girls had a blast at the aquarium.  We wandered around and looked at all the exibits and fish and animals for about 90 minutes.

We ate lunch at the aquarium.  Mr. Amazing had a burger, Kay and Mo got chicken tenders, Baye had a grilled cheese and I ended up with a side salad with reduced-fat thousand island dressing.

For dinner we decided to do microwave meals and eat them in the hotel.  Again I ended up with a salad, fat-free feta, fat-free onion dressing, and a fruit-and-yogurt parfait from Publix.

Hopefully I redeemed myself for yesterday (besides the fact that I drank too many sodas today.)

Tomorrow the beach!!!

Today's photo challenge was BLUE.  I took a photo of the bright blue hotel pool.

Vacation Day 1

We made it to Tampa around 2:15.  I let everybody pick out snacks for the car ride. They picked out some semi healthy snacks.

After we got checked in we relaxed for a bit and tried to decide on dinner.  We finally settled on the Chinese buffet called Crazy Buffet.

There was a great selection of food.  Seafood, sushi, various Chinese dishes, a salad bar and a huge dessert selection.  I started out healthy.  I completely forgot about snapping a picture until AFTER I was done eating.  I got kimchi, fish, an order from the Mongolian grill, and some sushi.  I somehow allowed myself to finish my meal with raspberry mousse cake, chocolate mousse cake, coconut cake, and tiramisu.

I'm so mad at myself for it!  But 1 horrible day won't kill me completely.  Plus, I don't have a scale to use to beat myself up with.  That fact scares me a bit honestly.  For the next 4 days I won't be able to monitor my weight to make sure I'm not going overboard.

After we got back to the hotel we took the kids for a swim.

The photo today was "Shade"

I love big shady trees.  I wish I had one like this in my yard.


Now back to searching the hotel room for my engagement ring.  What?  I didn't mention that I lost my engagement ring in my hotel room??  Wish me luck!!

Have you ever overindulged?  Have you ever lost something important?

Summer!

Why are animal crackers so addictive?  Do you have the same problem I do?  Once you eat one animal cracker you can't stop?

Today was a pretty boring day.  I cleaned and got stuff ready to leave tomorrow.  It rained on and off all day so, we were stuck inside.  Mr. Amazing let the girls wash the car and play in the water.

It turned into a water battle.  But they had a great time.  

I've decided to take on a second blog challenge.  It's a daily photo challenge done by the blog Two Martini Lunch.  Today's challenge was "Summer"

Swim suits always scream summer to me.  As soon as the weather gets warm enough I take the girls and we go buy new suits.  A few months later they get to pick out a second suit.  

Since summer is here I keep reading about all my Facebook friends planning their vacations and beach trips. I've come to realize that I don't have many friends.  I'm not saying this because it's a bad thing.  I'm saying this because it's a fact.

I have a few close friends in Virginia but, other than that, I only have 1 down here.  I'm not really good about  letting new people into my world.

This blog is one of the few ways new people get to see a glimpse of my world.  

Happy Friday everyone!  Tomorrow I'll be writing my blog from Tampa!