Ideas of Mind: December 2019 at the Hydeout

Christmas 2019 involved lots of superheroes, but also Lincoln getting a big kid bed and Willie getting a bicycle. But the biggest present was after opening presents on Christmas morning, we got into the car and drove to Naples! Well, first we took down the Christmas decorations because no one wants to come home from vacation and then have to do that, dropped Sophie at Carrie and Mike's house and then started the long (1150 miles) drive south.

Christmas Eve - Leaving Cookies, Milk, and Carrots

Because it was Christmas morning, we correctly figured 2 things about our drive: not many places would be open and not many cars on the road. We made good time on the roads and ate some lunch of uncrustables, big carrots, strawberries, and pretzels, in the car. Our stops for gas and bathroom breaks were extended by a few minutes to allow everyone to run around or rock climb at the gas stations. We found a Waffle House that was open on the south side of Atlanta which was perfect for dinner and then changed into PJs to sleep the last part of the drive. We switched drivers one last time with about 450 miles left and with the strength of a coffee, Red Bull, and quick nap before taking over, I was able to crush the last section without any stops and pulled into the Hydeout at 4 a.m. and 10 miles to empty on the gas gauge.

Running Around at a Gas Station in Kentucky

Rock Climbing, again at a gas station in Tennessee

Waffle House in Atlanta

Soon after our arrival, Mimi and Obo showed up having flown in (they've earned the right to fly, having driven with me, Abby, and Beth their fair share of time). The first day was spent at the pool and resting. We also learned that the Trogs were making their way South after a snafu with the rental car company, think Seinfeld's voice "anyone can take a reservation."

We decided early on that going out to dinner would be quite the endeavor with 4 children so we planned out a few meals that would eventually include: a shrimp, mushroom, and parmesan risotto made by Mimi that was incredible, a creamy shrimp fettuccini that I still dream about, shrimp boil with Matt and Mary Lynch, Thai carry out, a night out at Pinchers, and a night when Mimi and Obo babysat the sleeping kids and let the middle generation go to the Dock for dinner. For lunches, we had lots of snacks at the beach, Brooks Burgers for Megan, some gyros, and some sandwiches from the new South Beach food stand.

Speaking of meals, the one night out for dinner was at Pinchers at Tin City. This was a strategic decision for 4 reasons: We got there at 4:15 which we thought was a way to minimize any tired children meltdowns. The restaurant was sufficiently loud which drowned out any loud noises coming from our table. Kids ate free. Lastly and crucially, drinks were 2 for 1. It was a successful adventure, with appetizers, including the crab claws for Cora; a short break for the kids when Zach and I got this amazing picture of all 4 children looking in the right direction, and ice cream from Tin City afterwards. We also ran into a Morristown, Indiana family that knew the Gaffney's, small world.

Successful Picture by me and Zach at Pinchers

Willie Taking Pictures

Superman Ice Cream!

Some other random memories we all left the Hydeout with often centered on the little ones. For example, when Cora announced it was "praise time" and to Willie this meant to grab her by the cheeks and kiss her on the lips. Or when it was a little too quiet in the bunk room and we go in to find Lincoln, Cora, and Willie on the top bunk giggling about being sneaky. Or when the Crab Man, Matt Lynch took the sunglasses from Lincoln while they were playing around in the pool, and Lincoln slowly bursts into tears. Or the day everyone was feeling generous with the popsicles and June ended up eating an unknown number but every adult gave her some so it easily could have been 10 popsicles. Or the good work Willie and Lincoln did while helping Obo wash the cars. Or the endless number of times Willie and Lincoln pretended to go for a walk into the pool, which I will admit got pretty convincing that they were just walking normally and fell in the pool.

The Car Washing Team

The vacation included many mornings at the beach and afternoons at the pool. One day we switched it up and didn't go to the beach until 4 p.m. We played in the water under the setting sun. Zach was standing near us fishing when suddenly, a bird is cawing and flapping its wings against the water. The bird had its wing tangled in the line. People on the beach looked on horrified as Zach tried to free the bird. I stepped near to the situation but was clearly going to be of little use to Zach or the bird. Afterwards Zach said he thought he was going to have to snap the bird's neck which I'm sure would have caused quite the stir amongst the sunset crowd. But lucky for everyone Megan calmly took Lincoln's hat and placed it over the birds beak and face which pacified the bird enough for Zach to untangle the line from the wing. After the bird fiasco, the Trogdon ladies were inching closer to bedtime and headed home before sunset. The rest of us sat on some chairs and watched the sun dive towards the horizon. With about 5 minutes to go, it started to rain and the cabana boys ran around to steal all the umbrellas saying they would lose their jobs if they didn't take them now. Mimi was very angry as we were going to use the umbrellas for literally 5 more minutes as the sun was starting to dip under the horizon. I sat under the cabana boys' umbrellas which were still up while everyone else took shelter under the awning. It ended up being a beautiful sunset and I snapped this picture with a dolphin breaching in front of the orange sun.

Sunset with a Dolphin

Another adventure was when we visited the Everglades Wonder Park in Bonita Springs. It is this zoo type place with alligators, lizards, snakes, and birds. Normally you are already to feed some pellets to the alligators but they are renovating the gator sanctuary so that didn't happen this time. However, we were able to feed the birds including the flamingos (known as "mingos" in our house). Another adventure we went on was a couple of nights we took flashlights out into the backyard area and wandered around. The kids enjoyed shining their lights on things and we explored some stuff in the neighborhood including some fountains, the pond, and the golf course. One day we did a similar exploration and found the butterfly gardens which was fun. There we found multiple types of butterflies and a few caterpillars.

Butterfly Hunting

Monarch Butterfly

Caterpillar

Feeding the 'Mingos

Flashlight Adventures

Fountains at Night

While we were doing lots of swimming at the pool, Willie was becoming more and more confident going under water and eventually, we let him take of his swimmies. With Obo, Megan, or I usually being the lead instructor Willie soon called this time "swim lessons" which of course made Lincoln incredible jealous and he, in his soft pitched voice said "meeee toooo" wanting to remove his own swimmies. Lincoln enjoyed going under water with everyone and pretending to shout underwater, although he would only shout once he returned above the water. Willie did quite well with his swimming and was able to swim about half way across the pool and would even start to take a breath or two while swimming. Momma couldn't be more proud.

One morning instead of beaching or pooling, we went to the farmers market in Old Naples. We sampled some chocolate beignets, got some guacamole, some grapefruits, an iced coffee, and Willie used his long dollar that he had earned from finding conch shells for Obo to purchase a cookie. After the FarMar, we went to Cambier Park to play on the playground. The kiddos had an absolute blast. Lots of chasing after people and climbing on the equipment. The Trogs then had lunch at Captain and Krewe, Megan and Mimi stopped at Alvin's Island to get some stuff and also picked up some Gyros. The rest of the day was spent at the pool.

Nearing the end of the vacation, as I mentioned, Matt and Mary Lynch were in the area for a wedding and came to see us all for a couple of days. Their visit included a couple of pickleball matches that were back and forth affairs. I had also mentioned that the middle generation went to the Dock for dinner one night, this included Matt and Mary. We all ordered two drinks right off the bat and tried to get a free order of appetizers but with no luck. (We are quite classy.) After dinner we walked around the docks to look at the yachts.

The last bit is just a dump of pictures highlighting the sunsets, adventures, and cuteness from the rest of the vacation. The Trogs and Traviss left to drive home around the same time on Friday morning and in fact ran into each during the first bathroom and refueling break. The journey home was rough because there was lots of rain, a few accidents on I-75 south of Atlanta, and then rush hour traffic in Atlanta. We all arrived back home around 2 a.m. which made for a tiring Saturday but everyone was glad to be home and was in generally high spirits to have slept in their own beds.