Saturday in the Sun: April 16
Sun coming through over the Gulf.
The beautiful view from 16th floor:
After having bagels at the room, we headed out for a walk. We stopped by the pier and got bracelets customized with the girls' names from a local artisan.
We looked out at the ocean for a while at the pier.
Then we headed over to some local shops. The girls were looking for that helicopter-like toy the guy was showing off the night before. We found it at one of those typical touristy t-shirt places every town like this seems to have by the dozens. Dad got a shirt, too.
We walked over to the Island Cafe for brunch. Nice local place, and Anna had biscuits and gravy, Jane eggs and potatoes, dad the breakfast burrito.
The server came back to the table and said the credit card was rejected. What?
We walked around to some other shops and dad called his bank. They said the account is not blocked. They suggested trying to make another purchase.
Okay ... went over to Walgreens to get some sunscreen. Card declined.
On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped to take a few photos while dad was calling the bank again.
Another call to the bank and still they report the account is not blocked. "Why don't you try using it at an ATM and just get cash?
Got back to the hotel and tried the ATM. Declined!
Back at our room, we had a snack. Our mobile devices were no longer connecting to the hotel Wi-Fi, so dad called technical support. He was on the phone like 30 minutes and still no Wi-Fi in our room.
It was time to drive over to Airheads. The girls had found this place themselves by searching online before we left home. It's like a big room with a bunch of inter-connected trampolines. They were super excited.
Trying to purchase tickets to Airheads, dad's credit card was declined again.
Girls were restless while dad was asked to sign so many liability waivers he worried he might actually be giving up any legal claim to his daughters.
After using a different credit card, the girls sprinted to the trampolines.
Back on the phone, the bank again told dad the card should not be blocked and said he'd need to call back Monday if the issue continues. Of course, we'll be home by then. WTF?
The girls had a lot of fun at Airheads. Before arrived, they insisted we must stay at least 2 hours. After about 30 minutes, both of them were nearly worn out.
We played some air hockey and a few arcade games, then the girls did some more jumping. They barely made it an hour here total.
Jane on the drive back to the hotel, pretends to be an angler fish ....
Back at the hotel we got swimsuits on for a trip to the beach.
Skies had really cleared up. Water was a little cool at first, but really great once you're in for a bit. Girls had lots of fun here.
Water was nice, white sand so soft.
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Dad and Anna walked over to play beach volleyball with others from our company. Jane stayed at the beach with Jennifer and Oliver.
This impromptu activity would turn into one of the favorite moments of the trip for Anna. She had so much fun playing volleyball for the first time and even got a serve over the net.
She mentioned the volleyball game repeatedly the rest of the trip and asked when she could join a team in Lawrence.
Back to the ocean for more swim. Anna found a really cool shell, like the kind they sell in the stores here.
The girls gathered their shells in a Crown Royal bag because dad is such a great role model for the children. Back at the hotel, the girls wanted more time to swim in the pool:
Not sure how they had this much energy left.
Dad went across the street to get pizza. Did not even try to use the declined credit card.
Beautiful skies late Saturday afternoon.
Yay! The broken shower knob has been fixed by the hotel! Girls got cleaned up, time for pizza.
The girls finished things off with big chocolate chip cookies Jeremy and Jennifer had given us Thursday night.
Instead of pizza, Dad had king mackerel that his friend Marcia had dropped off earlier. She had caught it herself on a chartered fishing trip this morning. Fresh fish from the Gulf and prepared by a local restaurant -- so good.
Tucked in, we turned on the TV and found a movie, Steve Martin's Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Girls liked it but it was about halfway into the show.
When it was over, Jane had fallen asleep. So Anna and dad, having missed the first hour of the movie, stayed up to watch what we thought was another repeat showing starting immediately.
After watching 30 minutes, we realize this is now actually the first Cheaper by the Dozen, not Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Sigh. Good reason to call for lights out.
Fireworks display on the beach, seen from the hotel balcony:
Dad drank the rest of his bottle of Crown and then tried to call Visa. Doing so in that order was important.
The number on the back of the credit card gave a "this number has been disconnected" message. WTF?
After some detective work, the Visa fraud line was located and the representative unblocked the card. Apparently the account was blocked after the transaction at the t-shirt shop because their business accounts are registered in California, not Florida. Double sigh.
Despite the blocked credit card, the broken shower knob, the Wi-Fi outage, and catching half of two different movies, we still called this a great day!
Next: Last day, Sunday April 17
Back to Florida Friday, Part 2
