GIRL-CATION

Many years ago, my friend Becky left Washington DC.

She went off to Atlanta and then to Tampa.

I hate that she lives so far away. I hate that I couldn't tell her I was pregnant in person (I emailed her a picture of my positive pregnancy tests instead). I hate that she wasn't here the day K was born. I hate that she lives so far away and I cannot see her when I want to.

I last saw Becky in January. In March, my other friend, Andrea, and I started talking about going to Florida for a girl-cation sometime in the spring. Coordinating Andrea's work schedule, my school schedule, and Becky's CRAZY work/coaching schedule was not an easy task.

But we did it!

On Saturday morning, K and I left DC on an airplane (zoom, zoom - that's K's noise for an airplane) and flew to Florida. We were met at the airport by three of my good friends.

Girl-cation 2010 had officially started.

We started the weekend by grabbing lunch at the Taco Bus in Tampa. It was awesome. I had the butternut squash burrito and it was heavenly. K enjoyed it, too. Our first order of business after lunch was getting to the pool. Getting a toddler packed up, dressed, sunscreened, and to the pool is no easy task.

We lathered up.

We all got our flip-flops on.

And we went to the pool. YEAH!

On Sunday we drove out to DeSoto Beach. After one look at the beach and a quick dip in the water, I realized why this is one of the nicest beaches in the country: large sandy beaches, warm water, clear blue water, and no commercialization. It was delightful.

Here is out little water-baby running from the parking lot to the beach. She could not wait to get into the water and grab the waves.

K was a HUGE fan of the water; the sand not so much. I carried her the entire time we were at the beach. She wouldn't even stand on our beach blanket because it was "messy".

Yes, she is a little princess at times.

On Monday, we went for a morning walk at Lettuce Lake. I had high hopes that we'd see an alligator while out walking along the river.

We looked and looked.

But no alligators were seen.

K did manage to drop my Pittsburgh 1/2 marathon water bottle into the water. And although we didn't see any alligators, we made the decision that a water bottle rescue mission was not in the cards.

Bye-bye water bottle.

On Monday night we went to one of the county water parks where Becky was coaching her swim team. They were doing time trials; trying to get swimmers qualified for the Paralympic Nationals this summer. I really wanted to watch the swimmers. They are amazing - swimming with such disabilities yet striving to improve and get stronger and faster. They were inspirational to watch - even if it was for just a few short minutes.

K spent most of her time at this pool on the kiddie waterslide. Specifically, she sat at the top of the slide and put her fingers in the running water.

She would have sat in this position for hours if I had let her. And when I turned my head, she would quickly lick the water off her fingers. Little stinker doesn't understand the concept of DIRTY WATER.

Our girl-cation was over SO quickly.

If only the last 15 minutes of our flight home would have gone as fast. K screamed the entire decent. She kept complaining that her ears hurt and I know they did. I tried to get her to eat and drink, but she didn't get it. She just wanted to walkie right off the airplane (zoom, zoom).

It was a fabulous four days. While K slept during the evenings and at naptime, we big girls cooked wonderful meals together, enjoyed a good chick-flick, and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Here's to Girl-cation 2011...