I wanted to go a little more in depth about our trip to St. Augustine, including pictures, so here goes. I am thinking it will be broken up into at least two parts, maybe more, so I can include the pictures that I want to include and write a little more in depth. If you don't have the time or desire to read, you can always check out my summary here.
We left on Friday afternoon, as soon as Mr. Cat was done with his classes. The girls were super duper excited, and some had already packed two days prior. We were all ready for a break, and couldn't wait to leave. The route we took was pretty interesting. It was a short stint on I-75, but as soon as we got to Ocala, we switched to back county roads. When people think of FL, they probably don't think farm country. It really is beautiful though, and we enjoyed the drive. I think we kept the radio off for the majority of it and just chatted and enjoyed some of the things we saw out of the windows. We saw all sorts of sights on our drive. This billboard had some of us cracking up.
Yes, we realize the buy 1 get one bit was for the tour, not the seniors, but it still made us giggle.
We arrived just in the time frame we thought, which is a rarity for us. The drive was only around 3 hours which isn't too bad at all. It was one of those amazing rare times when no one had to make a bathroom stop. We found the place we were staying pretty easily. After a tip from a friend, we ended up booking a family room at Pirate Haus Inn. It is actually a hostel, and while they do have dormitory style rooms that are more hostel style, they also have private family rooms, which contain a queen bed and varying numbers of sets of bunk beds, depending on the room. Now, the second I said "hostel," Mr. Cat was concerned. The word didn't draw to mind anything that was family friendly. And if you've had the misfortune of seeing the horror movie of the same name, you will understand. We looked all around the website, and watched the youtube video, and Mr. Cat said, go for it. I wanted to tell the girls right away, but booking it so close to the day we were to arrive, we had to wait for a response to see if it was available. Luckily we got the last family room.
The entire place is pirate themed. It was cheesy, but really fun, and the girls were super excited about it. I didn't get as many pictures there as I had hoped, but when you walk up the stairs (it is on the second floor of an historical building) the sides of the steps are painted with the "Yo ho yo ho, a Pirate's life for me" song. There are lots of pirate memorabilia and signs all around. The rooms are painted in whimsical colors. In the family rooms, there are pirate themed murals on the walls. The kids bunks each came with "pirate sleep sacks" to use which just added to the novelty for them. Now, it wasn't hotel out of a box quality, but as they say, if that is what you want, you are in the wrong place. It was very homey though, and I felt like I was staying at a friend's house. The staff members are friendly and fun to talk to. They are very helpful at telling about the various places around, and very friendly to the kids.
We decided to walk around a bit on our quest to find dinner. We saw a seafood place right off the bat, which looked good, but we decided to see what our other options were before making a decision. Hindsight being 20/20, we should have eaten then, as the later it got, the more difficult it became, but I digress.
One of the first things Old Soul noticed was the architecture. She commented on how the scene was something you'd see at Disney's Hollywood Studios, except this was real. I had to stop and think and yeah, it's really been a while since we've gone someplace with remarkably different architecture. We walked around just enjoying everything. It was a full sensory experience. There were the sounds of many different instruments and singing that was coming from all directions, street corners, alleys, lounges, etc. There are many places I would have enjoyed stopping in to see, except that they were not places that children were allowed (nor where I would want to bring my kids). I am seeing a trip in the future sometime for just us grown ups. There were so many smells from all the different foods being prepared. We smelled BBQ, char-broiled somethings, candy, fudge, fresh breads, fish, you name it. We live in a pretty small town, and we are used a small variety of choices, and most food places are chain type places. I think we were all just in awe and enjoying walking seeing so many different varieties to choose from.
We just kept walking, lots of walking, and as it got later, it also got cooler. It was a pretty chilly day to begin with (for us Floridians) and the high in St. Augustine was only in the upper 50's anyway. Of course it gets cooler at night. We had brought our jackets, but after being outside for so long, we were starting to get a little cold. We decided it was time to find some food. The area where we were walking (because we didn't want to have to deal with driving anywhere) has a ton of places, as I mentioned. We ran into a bit of a problem though. Many of them were not family friendly. Many of them were on the small side, which makes finding a table for 6 sometimes nearly impossible. Many of them served only meat items, which we don't eat on Fridays. After lots more walking, we finally decided to go back to the seafood place we started at. So we made our way back to Harry's Seafood which, I just now realized after looking up the website, is a chain restaurant. Oh well.
By the time we got back to it, it was crowded. We went to put our name on the list, and the wait was 45 minutes. Inside the entry, there was no seating available to wait, so we stood. Kids were cold and hungry, my feet were killing me, and it was loud and a little bit over-stimulating in there. I was looking at a patio full of empty tables, and with propane heaters all over the place. We asked how long it was to sit on the patio, and we were put on the first available for there. It was still a bit of a wait, but we waited outside where we could sit on benches and get a little warmth from the heaters and listen to the live entertainment, which was a guy, a guitar and a harmonica. He played music that all of us knew. Finally we were seated.
The younger two girls ordered fish and chips from the kids menu, and the older two girls and I ordered shrimp po'boys. I wish we had known in advance how huge they would be, because we would have shared. Mr. Cat ordered shrimp and fries. It was really a lovely setting.
I was warm enough to take off my jacket (and give it to a child). The kids had never eaten at a place with live entertainment, and they really enjoyed it. It reminded Nick and I of a pub, except outside. We told the girls that, and some of them said they couldn't wait until they were old enough to go to a pub. LOL. There were a group of people who had probably enjoyed their drinks a little too much, and they were singing loudly and bantering with the musician. Even though there were times where they behaved a little obnoxiously, it was all clean at least and it didn't stop us from having fun. I was even able to get the kids to cooperate and let me take a picture of them enjoying their time.
We rarely go out to eat, so going out of town, and then out to eat, and then outside with a musician, it was a special night. We really enjoyed the family time. We made our way back to the hotel with tired feet and sleepy children. Figuring out bathroom use with all 6 of us in one bathroom was a bit tricky, but we managed and soon everyone was ready for bed. Here is a little bit of our room. First, the mural on one of the walls:
The bunk beds:
Looking towards the door with the bathroom to the left and the closet to the right:
And the mural above the queen bed:
We got all tucked in and after one episode of "I have to go to the bathroom again" from the littlest who was having trouble getting down from the bunk bed, and a case of the wiggles, which were compounded by a creaky bunk, we all got to sleep. Well, everyone mostly, except for me. I slept, but not soundly. I tend to be a light sleeper anyway, and being in a new environment amplified it. Once I got used to the creak of the bed (note to self, test out all beds in the future for the tosser and turner), I thought it would be better. It was too bright, since Gift is used to a night light and I had my phone being used as a night light and alarm clock. Then the drunks came out. We were warned that it can get loud, but really, I live in an apartment complex full of college kids, and I really didn't think it would be worse than that. I was wrong. People get loud when they get drunk. Really loud. And they laugh a lot. And woohoo. And sing. And cuss. And just when I got used to that, there was music. I had already heard car radio music, but this was different. It was like a piano, but only playing certain chords over and over. It was like.......it was like a steel drum. But surely it wasn't a steel drum. It was 1:30 by this time, and our hostel was not by a bar or even on a particularly crowded street. Below the hostel were shops, which were all closed up. Whatever it was, it finally stopped at around 2:30, and by 3 AM, the drunks were gone too, and I finally fell into a more restful sleep.
Part 2 to come later.
I am going to post more in detail (maybe over several different posts, because it will probably get long) about our trip and include some pictures, but I wanted to post a quick summary for those interested or who may not have the time to read the longer more detailed posts to come. I will try to keep this one brief.
We originally weren't sure if we were going to stay overnight or not. We normally don't, because it is difficult to find a room at a reasonable price for all 6 of us, and in most places in our price range, we would require two rooms, which then puts it out of our price range. I went into it in more detail here: Eye Opener about my feelings on the subject, but I like to be honest and don't feel comfortable booking a room for 4 when there are six of us. I teach my children not to lie, and I must try to be a good example for them. A friend recommended a hostel, called Pirate Haus Inn . It is a hostel with dormitory style rooms, but also has family rooms with a queen bed and 2 sets of bunk beds. It was an amazing experience and I'd recommend it to anyone with larger families, or anyone who wants to try something different.
We arrived, checked in and walked around. We walked a lot. We were looking for a restaurant for dinner, but we wanted to see what our choices were before choosing one. We ran into a couple of problems. First of all, there was our family size. Most of the places we found were pretty tiny. Secondly, we were having trouble finding a family friendly place. There were tons of bars, pubs, lounges, etc. but they either didn't allow children, or weren't places where I would want to bring my child. And thirdly, we don't eat meat on Fridays, (with the exception of fish/seafood) so that also limited us. We ended up with a seafood restaurant. The wait was long. We ended up sitting outside so we could get seated faster. It was pretty brisk for FL and some of the girls were getting pretty chilly. Thankfully, they had various propane heaters situated all over the patio, so even though we were outside, we were plenty warm. It was really neat, and we had the bonus of live entertainment. After, we went back to our hostel and to sleep for the night. St. Augustine on a Friday night is not a quiet city. Loud car radios, drunken stupor, and steel drums (yep, that's correct) kept me mostly awake until 3 AM, but that's okay.
After all you can eat pirate pancakes at our hostel, we checked out and Nick headed to Flagler College to present. The girls and I decided to just walk around and see where we ended up. I am normally a planner, so being totally spontaneous is not my usual thing, but it was awesome. We window shopped a lot, saw part of the St. Patrick's Day parade (storm troopers in kilts, the ghostbuster car, and period soldiers were among the sights), ate some poutine, saw a Greek Orthodox Shrine, and also went into the St. Augustine Cathedral. We had a great time. Beautiful sights.
We linked back up with Nick and ate in a little local Cuban café. Cuban sandwiches, fresh fruit sangria, and café con leche later, we were happy campers. We walked around a little more, enjoyed the beautiful architecture, and then headed over to the Mission Nombre De Dios to see the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche. Absolutely beautiful. It was stunning and breathtaking and probably my favorite part of the trip. After we were done there, we headed back to the van and started back home.
The weekend was so refreshing, and was just what our family needed. We felt like we were gone for days and not just an overnighter. We had such wonderful quality family time, and I didn't realize how much we needed that. The whole time was fun and relaxing and we truly enjoyed each others company. No bickering or arguing, just lots of laughing and being silly and having fun. It was hard to believe that we left less than 24 hours after we arrived. It was that kind of vacation. It was perfect.
Time to get this back to where I intended it to be. Mr. Cat is presenting a paper tomorrow in beautiful St. Augustine. The kiddos and I are tagging along to see the sights. St. Augustine is a beautiful city full of culture and also importance to the Catholic Faith. I've never been but I have heard so many wonderful things about it, and I cannot wait to go and see it for myself. We won't be long, so I am sure we won't be able to get to everything we would like to see, but we hope to be able to come back again in the future for the rest.
This will be the first family trip, even just an overnighter, that we have all had in over a year. I am excited. We need some fresh air. We need some good quality family time. We need a break from our surroundings. We need some fun. Hopefully my next post will be full of pictures.
The girls are super excited. One of them even packed up the day before yesterday. Who am I kidding, I am super excited. I had a hard time sleeping last night, and as soon as my brain started working this morning, it was all I could think about. So thankful for this opportunity!
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!
What I am.
I am a woman. I am a mom. I am a wife. I am a Catholic. I try my very best to be a follower of Jesus. I am faulty. I am sinful. I am extremely self-critical and set ridiculously high standards for myself. I am someone who contemplates my failings almost daily. I am sarcastic. I am passionate. I am rabidly loyal. I am a loner. I am misunderstood. I am a person who talks too much at times, and worries about being understood so I often say more than is necessary. I am a peacemaker. I am a people pleaser. I am person who takes many things very personally. I am a Pollyanna. I am extremely forgiving and almost always give someone the benefit of the doubt. Flaws and all, I am a creation of God. I am a work in progress. Always.
What I am not.
I am not proud of myself. I am not a superwoman/mom/wife/Christian. I am most definitely not perfect. I am not a person who thinks I am better than anyone else. I am not a person I would choose to use as an example of a holy woman, though I hope that someday my children can say this of me. I am not a saint. I am not self-righteous. I am not ashamed to admit that I fall short of the mark often. I am not afraid to be criticized. I am not afraid to talk about my struggles. I am not afraid to admit when I am wrong. I am not one to hold a grudge. I am not one to be close-minded. I am not always right.
I think many of us can make lists like these, and post them out for everyone to see, and still there will be people who disagree. That is okay.
If I say that all that matters is that God knows my intent, I am not saying that you don't matter. I am saying that God matters more. I don't see that as a negative. In my opinion, that is how it should be.
I believe that I have things to teach others, and I also believe that I have many more things to learn from others.
At the end of the day, all I can hope to say is that today I did my best. That does not happen every day. I am trying to be able to say that more often. But at the end of the day, all I can say is:
O' my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee. I detest all my sins because of their just punishments, but most of all, because they offend you, my God, who are all good, and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more, and to avoid the near occasions of sin. ~Amen
I am not sure if any of you noticed the comment I had earlier today on my last post, Pauper's Soup. I felt now was a good time to clarify some things.
First and foremost, I do not feel the need to justify my choices before anyone other than my family and God. If I choose to do so, it is by personal choice, not by necessity. If questions are directed at me in a mature manner, I will try my best to respond to them accordingly. As of this time, I will not delete comments that disagree with my beliefs, unless they are blasphemous to my faith, contain profanities, or are an outright personal attack. I stand by my words. I am not writing anything in my blog posts that I would not say to God Himself. I do not expect everyone I know to agree with me or even support my choices. I do ask that if you have something to comment, you do so in a way that is mature and respectful. I will try my best to be respectful as well. If you feel I haven't, please let me know. I am not perfect and as always, I am a work in progress. I will always do my best to stand up to my failings and do what I can to correct them.
I knew that when I opened up the comments to allow un-moderated and anonymous comments that I was taking a risk of having someone respond in a way that comes across as unfriendly or rude. I am okay with that. I am always up for discussion and even respectful debate. I didn't expect it so soon, especially given that the target audience of my blog posts are my "friends", so I was a bit taken back by the visceral comment I received, but did my best to respond point by point.
If you have any questions or comments about my intentions, please feel free to ask. I would urge you, especially if you are one of my facebook "friends" to not be anonymous in your postings and to stand by your words as well.
On a last note: Yes, I am Catholic and this blog is about my Catholic life. If you are anti-Catholic, you probably won't enjoy reading my blog.
Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Last night we feasted on roast chicken, had salad, and veggies, and had fried doughnuts for our dessert. Today we are taking a more meager approach to our meals. For breakfast, the girls had cold cereal. That's not such a big deal. They eat that ever other day. I chose not to eat breakfast today, which isn't unusual either, but I did skip my morning smoothie, which is usually chock full of protein and nutrition.
For lunch, the girls planned on tomato soup. I know the canned stuff isn't so good for you, but it is less expensive than making fresh tomato soup. It is a huge comfort food, and the girls all love it, so they have it once a week. We try to be frugal, so they use one can of milk, and one can of water. Today, one girl was making it, and added two cans of water. She lamented the fact that it would be watery and not creamy. Mom to the rescue. I told her it could be penitential, to have watery soup.
This brought to mind the dinner I have planned for tonight. I usually call it "watcha" soup, as in, you use "watcha" got. Tonight, we are calling it Pauper's Soup. We abstain from eating meat on Fridays throughout the whole year, not just during Lent, but we have had some really tasty meals, as seafood is allowed. To keep with the spirit of Lent, I am pondering doing more peasant type meals on Fridays and days of abstinence. It is something I have thought about but haven't discussed thoroughly with other members of my family. Tonight's Pauper's soup is going to fit that theme. It has cabbage, tomatoes, summer squash, butter beans and water. I have no clue how it will taste. Hopefully okay since I made a large enough pot that there will be leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Everything was on hand, and the squash and cabbage were things that were going to expire quickly if not used. I usually stick whatever leftovers are in the fridge in the soup pot, but there was nothing in there that didn't contain meat, so not this time.
As I was cutting up cabbage, one of my daughters quoted Mrs. Bucket from Willy Wonka: "Nothing goes better with cabbage than cabbage." I hope my crew will remember to be thankful for what we have, and keep a bright spirit in this time of penance.
All for thee, dear Lord!
***I wrote this earlier before the soup. It is now post soup time and everyone loved it!***
Just a quick post. Lent starts tomorrow, and the main thing I am giving up is Facebook. I did this 2 years ago, and I kept a blog during the process. I am going to do the same thing again this year. I am also hoping to revive this blog while I am at it, taking more time to write, which I love.
In the past, some friends who wanted to comment on my blog couldn't because you had to be a registered user. I changed that now, so anyone should be able to comment now. Hope to see you around!
