Florida Trip Day 7

Sunday January 26th (and a tiny bit on the 27th) 2020

Brandon and I woke up at 7:00 on our final day.  We began getting ready and packing.  It is a tricky thing to spend the final day somewhere before traveling because you are trying to anticipate what you might still need vs. what you can pack.  We had to check out of the room by 10:00.  The kids were making the process go much more slowly, so once they had eaten and were dressed we closed them in the second bedroom and told them they could watch TV and we were able to pack without the chaos. This worked out quite well.  I even made a make shift cooler so I could take all of our fridge food to eat that day.  It worked out beautifully.

We left the room around 9:40 and checked out.

Our fancy SUV for the week.  The kids loved our minivan upgrade.  

After we checked out we decided to drive through the parking lots and look for license plates from different states.  We brought a state list with us, but didn't get it out until that morning.  We remembered a few of the rare states we had seen, but I am sure we forgot some of them.  The parking lots were a huge success and we saw several states.  We ended the trip with 33 states and 3 provinces.  This is pretty impressive since we were not really watching until the final day.

We spotted a nice car as we made the rounds. 

A pretty impressive list. 

After our license plate search we made our way to Tampa and arrived there around 11:15.  We decided to eat an early lunch at a Wendy's before checking out the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI).  We passed MOSI on the way to Busch Gardens and it looked like a pretty cool museum.

When we arrived at MOSI we were delighted to find out that parking was free and we were able to use our local museum annual pass so the whole family was free.  We began to explore the museum while we waited for our special friends to arrive.

We started our time there in the "I wonder" section. Could we move this giant pendulum using only small magnets?  Getting the magnets to stick was quite a tricky endeavor.  We all managed at some point. 

M: This is really hard!!!

Of course we all had to take a turn on the bed of nails.

M: This feels good!

Me: The look of fear... but I was just joking. 

Unfazed Brandon.

T:  I just loved pushing the button and going up and down. 

Next it was time for an impressive tug of war!

M: This just doesn't seem fair. 

M and T: We've got you now dad!

Next we moved to the dinosaur section.  They had a lot to explore under microscopes.

T: Check out this fossil!

Brandon and I decided to see what our hands looked like up close rather than the fossils. 

T: Dad's finger looks a little dry. 

A very dirty ring. 

Having fun. 

M: I wanted to check it out too. 

We did this for a long time. 

Next we made little movies by taking pics of the set up and moving things and taking more pics.  It was very cool.

T: Dad and I made a great movie. 

M: I wanted everything to be perfect. 

Crane fun... or maybe better named crane frustration.  

As I mentioned above, we were not going to be spending the day alone.  Some very dear adoptive family friends live in Tampa.  For the past decade I have gotten to know Lori (the mom) through email, FB and texts.  We adopted our boys and the same time from the same agency.  Lori's then hubby and daughter traveled with us to Ethiopia for our court trip.  Our boys were even in the same room at Layla House.  I was so sure I had pics of them together, but I can't find them.  Here is one of C and then one of M as little guys in Ethiopia.

Little C

Little M

They have changed quite a bit from those early photos, but I can still see their baby faces.

C and M now!

While we hadn't seen C since he was a baby and had never met Lori in person, I felt very close to her because we have shared MANY long emails and messaging sessions.  The icing on the cake is that Lori also has a daughter who also happens to be adopted from China and was born in the same Province as T. It was so special to be able to connect with them.  I enjoyed talking the day away with Lori and the kids enjoyed playing alone and together. It was such a treasure to have that time with her.  Brandon was amazing for making the conversations much more possible by helping break up fights and steer the group to different activities.

Jiangxi Princesses battle it out. 

M: I wanted to take them both on!

The hurricane simulator was a hit.

M: It wasn't even that intense. 

It seems the stronger winds are higher up.  Perhaps I should have put my hair in a ponytail before trying this one.

Feeling like a big kid!

M: Dad lifted me... then I really felt the wind. 

It was a lovely day in Tampa so we headed outside so the kids could play on the jungle gym.  T and C are so much alike.  They are both very daring.

T: Climbing on top is more fun that climbing through tunnels. 

C: I love to climb on top of things too! 

The kids got hot and thirsty pretty quickly so we came inside for some tower building... and other things that we didn't get photos of.  They had a whole Maker Factory area and the kids could watch a robot unscramble a Rubik's Cube.  There were countless activities, many that we didn't look at.

M: It felt good to cool off. 

T: Do you like my tower. 

T: It was fun to spend time with B. 

Parallel Play. 

As I said we did much that we didn't get pics of, but here are a couple of fun things.

M: This was hard.  The most relaxed person wins. 

T: I liked working with B to figure out the game. 

They all decided to do the ropes course at 4:00.  It was very challenging.  It was an extra charge (I think $7 a person), but Brandon got to go free to walk with T since she was shorter.  She could have totally done it on her own.  There was one especially challenging section that M was very nervous about, but he conquered it and I am so proud of him!

The kid crew!

Buddies. 

M: I was nervous and excited. 

T: I totally wanted to do it on my own. 

M: I really had to focus. 

T: I couldn't wait to get higher. 

M: This was hard!

I wanted to get a far away shot so you could see how high they went. 

All together. 

M: Can you see me?  Look how big this thing is compared to me. 

I am SO THANKFUL for Lori and her wisdom and friendship over the years!!!

At about 4:30 we said goodbye to our friends and then finished checking out the museum.   The optical allusion area was so much fun!

Head on a platter one!

Head on a platter two!

Head on a platter three!

At 4:50 (10 minutes before closure) we discovered an entire new section of the museum (Mission: Moonbase) and we were wishing it stayed open until 6:00 so we could explore more.  

T: I was driving on the moon!

M: This suit seems complicated. 

T: It was hard to get my hands in this thing. 

It was such a fun day at the museum.  We could have totally spent more time there.  It was a great place to meet up with friends and the ropes course was an extra fun treat.  I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in Tampa.  We were some of the very last people to leave the museum.  We still had almost 5 hours before our flight took off, plenty of time to move slowly. 

Before leaving the parking lot we learned of Koby Bryant and his daughter's helicopter crash and deaths, such sad news.

After leaving the museum we scouted out a Culver's since the kids had wanted it all week.  The staff there was super friendly and we took our time enjoying the meal.  My mom texted saying that Bret was safely in Jamaica and that she, Dad, and A were all home.  She was already out shopping at Walmart. It was hard for us to believe that they were all home/on vacation part two and we were still in FL.  

Finally it was time to fill up the gas tank and return the car.  We made it successfully back to the airport and returned the car.  M was sleeping and hard to wake up.  

M: I just wanted to keep sleeping!

We took the first train and checked the bags then found a place to sit so Brandon could eat his yogurt before going through security.  The kids and I checked out a gift shop and T and I played a floor game. You have to stomp on things on the floor to get points.  I was in it for fun and the steps.  I managed to get a lot of steps playing it.  Our first score was 20,000 and the game high was 50,000.  They gave us another round and we tried hard (I must have looked crazy) and we got over 70,000 so we broke the record!!!  M was watching coverage about the helicopter crash.  M had his growth hormone shot and we went on quite a hunt to find a sharps container.  Would you believe that we went to two information areas and no one knew where a sharps collector could be found.  One woman called someone and she directed us to the right bath area.   This totally ate up some time. 

Finally it was time to take the final train to the security area.  This security experience was a bit different than the first.  There was only one lane open and the booster seats didn't fit through the scanner so they had to be hand checked.  T was way overdue for her ADHD meds and was touching everything! She was picking things up off the floor and talking loudly about them.  Thankfully everyone behind us was acting like we were a comedy show at a theme park and just laughing and laughing.  The med check and booster seat check took a really long time.  Brandon waited with the checks while I tried to contain the kids.  T wanted so badly to check out the stores.  Finally we were all through and meds were given and we filled up water bottles and went to the bathroom. M listened to a bit of Adventures in Odyssey (we were on a free trail, so cool) and T was texting cousins.

It wasn't long before it was time to board.  T was not in the best mood.  She was very dramatic as we were walking doing the aisle.  Everyone was laughing again. It has an incredible gift that she is tiny and cute as this gives her a pass to say many things that are not OK without getting into real trouble.  I was in the row ahead of the family. Brandon was behind me with the kids on either side of him.  The kids were super tired and super emotional.  Before take off we determined that I needed to sit between the kids.  This proved to be the best option as they both slept pretty much the whole flight.  I slept most of it too, but woke up when there was a medical emergency.  A man passed out near the bathroom.  He was young and probably dehydrated.  We were right near it which is how I know.  When they first announced looking for medical help I was nervous we would have to make an emergency landing and we would never get home.  It turned out just fine and we landed at 11:22.  We made it to the gate and off the plane by 11:40.  We had our luggage and were on the shuttle bus to the parking lot just after midnight.  We were home by 12:40 and I think even Brandon and I were sleeping by shortly after 1:00am.

It was a very full and very long day (and week) we were so very thankful for the special memories and so thankful to be safely home with our sweet cats.  I have never done a vacation where every single day (even the travel days) were jam packed.  It felt like we had two bonus days of vacation.

It has been such a gift to my soul to relive this trip and do these blog posts.  I sometimes work ahead on the blog, but I am so tired at the end of the day that the photos and captions get added just in time to post.  I am now just a couple months behind and will soon catch up!  Yahoo!