It feels nice to know that we will be settled down in Miami for a week. It’s not that I love Miami or anything. I have never spent any time here outside of one work trip to South Beach a long long time ago. But it’s nice to know where we will be for the next few days. Something I think all five of us needed.
So our campground of choice this week is a county park called Larry and Penny Thompson Park & Campground. That is one serious name. There are 240 sites here that they carved into these fruit orchards. The sites are situated into pods. Sorta like circular areas that extend off of this main road into little communities of between 15 and 20 RV sites. 240 sites is a lot of RVs in one place but since the campground separated the areas into these pods, with all the trees in between each, it doesn’t feel as overwhelming as other RV resorts of the same size.
Our site actually is one of the spots in the outer circle and faces nothing but plants. Perfect for our wrap around dinette windows. We kinda forget that there is anyone around us.
But as soon as we step out of our Airstream, it’s hard to forget that we are not alone. Today was a day we stayed at the campground and relaxed. First stop of the day? The pool, of course!
If you squint really hard, you can see Ava and me at the far end of the pool. Freezing. The water is not heated one bit. Brrrrr. And we weren’t the only wimps. Everyone else who jumped in had something to say too. And you know who had something else to say? The lifeguards. Man, these lifeguards have A LOT of rules. Some poor 16 year old kid was not allowed to swim alone without an adult present. Seriously. He had to go get his mom. And probably drove his car to get her. So embarrassing. And yesterday, Ava was not allowed to wear her own ladybug life jacket because the rule was that she had to wear the campground’s life vest. And then today, the ladybug life jacket was okay to wear but the Dora boogie board was a big no-no. Then they tried to tell us that Ava wasn’t really supposed to be in the pool at all because she was not 4 yet… even though the pool sign clearly states that no one under 3 is allowed in the pool. Not 4! Are you confused? Me too.
So tomorrow, if they ask, I am telling them that this pile of towels (with Ava inside) is 4, not 3.
Trust me. It’s for their own good. You DO NOT want to see this smiley face start crying.
Today was a not so good day for our little Mila. Today was the day of her first fever. And her first runny nose. And her first cough too. You are totally making a sad face right now, aren’t you? Caught red handed!
So we kept her indoors mostly. Kept her plenty hydrated. Especially since it was 80 degrees outside and super humid. We all thought we had fevers for second too.
The trick now was to keep these two occupied. So Dan said that we NEEDED to put up the easy-up. This was our view from the couch. It brings a smile to my face each time. Ava had a blast using the rubber mallet to make sure everything was secure since there was a storm coming tomorrow.
If you are planning on taking an extended road trip with your kids and are wondering what kid age is the best to do so, I would say the younger the better. Mila just goes with the flow. And Ava does too for the most part. But she is really craving some kid play time this week. She misses her friends. I can just imagine how it gets tougher as they get older. So we set up a virtual play date with her best friend back home, Grace. It took them a while to get comfortable with the idea of video conferencing. There were a lot of ‘Hi Ava… Hi Grace…’ over and over again. Like Groundhog’s Day. And a lot of ‘What did she say?‘. But after a bit, they both busted out their Little Mermaid costumes and went with the flow.
And what do we have here? A silver chef’s hat? A UFO? Any guesses?
You got it! Old school Jiffy Pop Popcorn. YUM! Man, we are really roughing it on this trip.
the end,
marlene
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