My “Simple” Vacation to Remember - Journals

Ahriamom's Journal

My “Simple” Vacation to Remember
Mar 28, 2008 at 9:27 PM
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- Ahriamom
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My husband had never been a spontaneous guy as long as I’ve known him and I’m cool with that; I didn’t marry him for his spontaneity. However, for my 26 birthday, he took me to my old childhood vacation spot. A spot my dad used to take me and my 5 sisters and brother every year. I’m a very simple person so Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Fl is my all-time favorite theme park ever. I had being wanting to go again since the 11th grade which was the last time my dad took me. My husband and I have 3 kids: a 4 year old, 22-month old, and a 4-month old. You think its hard getting rid of 1 child… try to get rid of 3. Yet, for some reason for this particular trip, it was fairly easy and everything fell into place (it was the act of God). My only worry was being in the car for 6 hours and that I was still breastfeeding our 4-month. My biggest disappointment would be for her to prefer bottle over breast and my milk supply decreasing. But she still wants me and Thank Heavens for the Medela! Day 1, we arrived about 8 pm. Our hotel was on base. The base was the nicest I’ve ever seen. It was surrounded by ocean and out from afar, you can see Tampa Bay at night--BEAUTIFUL. Our room was spectacular as well. On base, the quality of your room depends on your how much rank you have. In our case, my husband and I are both E-5s so I was expecting something simple… I was wrong!! It was furnished with very nice cherry wood furniture and they had robes. I always wanted to have a hotel room where there were robes; not that I’m going to use them. But it’s the thought that count. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed with our room. Upon arrival, our intentions was to find a nice, mellow, jazz club to hang out being that we’re both not the loud- partying type. However, with no luck at finding one, we decided to check out the night scene via the car, dine out, and “party” back at the room. Without releasing too many details…it was a night to remember! Day 2, I’m not sure what time we went to bed but I do know we woke up pretty late which was not part of our plan. This was our first time being alone and out together in 8 months. Therefore, we wanted to make every minute count. So, we left the room about 10 am and went straight to Busch Gardens. Being at Busch Gardens brought back so many childhood memories and I like amusement parks. Something about them make you feel like a kid again; responsibility free. We rode all the crazy rollercoasters, regardless of how afraid I was. I’m pretty sure I was the loudest person on all of them. And food—goodbye diet!! I lost 38 lbs prior to the trip; 18 lbs short of my goal, but I ate my heart out. Hubby told me not to count calories for the sake of our vacation and he was right. When you’re on vacation, its good to be carefree. You shouldn’t worry about your weight (just indulge), kids (hopefully you left them with a good sitter), bills (catch up on debts b4 you leave), or money (live like a superstar…save up prior to going so you can spluuuuurge). So we pretty much lived a carefree life during our 3-day getaway. We ended up staying at Busch Gardens for 8 hours; a loooong time. Eight hours of walking-- I ended up burning all the unwanted calories after all. So after the theme park, we went back to the room to freshen up a bit and headed out to an authentic Jamaican restaurant. I had been craving Jamaican food every since my very first taste of it. Jamaican food is amazing! I like authentic cultural foods and I’ve just about tried them all. From Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese just to name a few, but something about Jamaican food that just sticks out from the rest-- it’s for all taste buds. I think everyone should at least try it once. We stayed at the restaurant for a while because it turns out that the atmosphere there was the one we were looking for.Day 3, we slept in again. We woke up early enough to check-out on time. Afterwards, we decided to explore the scenic base on foot. So we went out to the water which was the icing on the cake. It was sooo nice and peaceful over looking the bay on the pier. From there, our vacation in Tampa came to an end. Our last stop in our 3 day getaway was in Tallahassee at the mall. We went shopping where he bought me some new sneakers that I’ve been wanting for a while. Afterwards, it was over. Reality kicked in when I seen our clan waiting at the screen door, watching us pull up in the drive way. I couldn’t believe it was over already. Our next vacation…a cruise.