I’m a little obsessive about weird things. For instance, checking to make sure the doors of my house are locked before I go to bed. Three or four times! If I leave on a vacation, I’ll check to make sure I have my tickets with me several times, before I even step foot out of my driveway. The last time we went on a cruise, I checked to make sure we had everything - passports, luggage, camera, and car keys, at least 5 times before we locked up the car and went into the port terminal. It may be obsessive, but really - do you want to come off of a nice, relaxing 7 day cruise and realize that you locked your keys in the car? I don’t! That said, if it did happen, it’s not the end of the world. We cruised out of Miami, and this Miami locksmith is probably the first one I would have called, seeing as how he’s got that big “emergency services” banner on his website! When you need a locksmith, it’s usually always some sort of an emergency, so it’s nice to see that these guys realize how much of a hassle it is, and cater to those of us who locked ourselves out, 24 hours a day!

Who doesn’t! I’m going away this weekend for a quick Disney trip with the kids, and then our big vacation is just three weeks away! We’re heading to Canada, via Detroit. I’m actually excited to be flying into Detroit, because I’ve never been to Michigan. I have this thing about eventually visiting all 50 states, so I’m knocking another state off my list. And speaking of states I’ve never been to, I’ve got this whole untouched area in the northeast that includes New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. One of my best friends lived in Cape Cod for a few years, and Jim’s been to Boston, but not me. After reading a book about Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod last summer, I’d love to go there. Of course, the only way to do it right is to check out Martha’s Vineyard vacation rentals and have your own place right on the island. It’s right out of a story book - big classic homes that belonged to ship captains, weathered cedar shingles, a view of the sound…and if you’re lucky enough to find a house near Sengekontacket Pond, you get the country house with the salt water air! (The pond is one of the largest salt water ponds on the island!)

We spent our Memorial Day at the beach. After going to a less than stellar local beach last year for 4th of July, we decided to go all out for Memorial Day, which prompted a trip to St. Petersburg, Fl to visit Fort Desoto. After all, if you’re going to go to the beach, wouldn’t you want to go to one of North America’s BEST beaches? (Yup, Dr. Beach, aka Dr. Steven Leatherman, named Fort Desoto one of the best in 2005.)

It had been YEARS since I had been to Fort Desoto, so I was excited to take my kids for their first trip. The first thing you need to know is that it’s not just a beach, it’s part of the Pinellas County Parks System, and it is the largest park in the system. It’s over 1100 acres and 5 interconnected barried islands, and the park has been open since the 1960’s. The fort had it’s heyday long ago though, when it was actually used as a fort.

Prior to the Civil War, Robert E. Lee recommended that the area that would become Fort Desoto (it’s technically a “key”, not an island) be fortified. Union troops were stationed at the fort during the war, and later on, the fort became a quarantine station. Later on, Pinellas County purchased the key and built a toll road to allow visitors to get there via car. The batteries of the fort are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Not only is it a historic site, and a beach, but you can picnic, fish, canoe, hike, and camp, or launch your boat from the 800 foot long boat launch with its 11 floating docks. There’s even a pet playground! All of this with 7 miles of beach, shelling, and beautiful surf and sand. You can enjoy the Gulf of Mexico and views outward from the North Beach, or enjoy the St. Petersburg skyline from the East Beach. It’s worth the trip!

I’ve picked blueberries my current hometown, and visited the strawberry festival in Plant City. I grow tomatoes and peppers and buy fresh Florida corn. I know how big Florida agriculture is here IN Florida (it’s obvious when I drive near my home and see all sorts of fields and farms!), but I didn’t realize that it was an $87 million industry! This video gives a bit more info on just how important Florida farmers are:

While in Orlando last weekend, we saw all sorts of commercials on TV advertising a big corn festival in Zellwood. Now, I love me some fresh corn, and grew up vacationing in New Jersey, which has some of the BEST corn in the nation…but I also love to support my home state. I did some investigating, because I had never heard of Zellwood, FL. Turns out it’s a little town north of Orlando, FL. I think we may need to check this corn festival thing out!

I don’t just hope to return to Europe one day, I KNOW I will return to Europe one day. I’m so confident, that I’m already thinking of places I’d like to go, and what I’d like to see. We’ve been to London (twice), all over Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and to Paris, so I’d love to see something completely different. As I learned from my first trip to London, my idea of a hotel in the city center is probably completely different than the person who puts “close to city center” in the hotel description on a random travel website. You can avoid being booked in off the beaten path hotels by booking your Europe hotels at EuroBookings.com. At their site, you can sort hotels by landmarks (very convenient, especially if the landmark is the only thing you know of in the city you’ll be visiting) or how close it is to the airport. Or maybe you’d prefer to stay at a popular hotel, or one that has great reviews? No problem - because they’ve got those options as well. The really nice part is that you don’t pay a fee to book or hold the room - you just pay when you check out. That’s a nice switch from all of the travel websites that force you to pay for your full stay up front! It also gives you room to bargain if the hotel isn’t what you had in mind. The site goes one step further too, by providing a guidebook online that gives you tips on places visit and things to see!

One of the things we did this weekend while we were at Disney was to just enjoy our surroundings. We spent almost a whole day hanging out at the resort. We stayed at Port Orleans, and there were a ton of activities to keep us busy. After a quick trip to Animal Kingdom in the morning, and some shopping at Downtown Disney, we returned back to our hotel and spent the afternoon swimming, riding a 4 person bike, and taking a carriage ride around the resort. Nothing fancy, nothing high tech - just lots of family time outside having fun!

We’ve be shopping for more kids furniture later this year, and possibly next year too. I’m kind of sick of seeing the same designs in all of the chain stores around here - either the stores have no kids furniture at all, or the selection is the same as every other store in the area. The
kids furniture on GreatPricedFurniture.com is different though - much different. Not only is the selection extremely varied, but it features neat options like corner units, or bookcase units - a must for the small secondary bedrooms homebuilders create! I actually found a little chalkboard with attached memo area that I like so much, I may buy one for my laundry room. If you’ve always wondered where people find neat furniture for kids - this it the place!

It’s the coolest May I can recall in years, but I’m loving this weather! We spent the weekend at Disney and it wasn’t hot or humid out at all. We weren’t even bothered by the smoke from the central Florida fires. I was shocked when I caught a weather report and saw that the humidity was only at 36% - that’s unheard of!

We’ve got a lot of vacationing Canadians down here in Florida, so for those of you reading this blog who aren’t Floridians, this news is for you. A new FREE service is being provided to residents of Canada, and it’s called DayCareBear. Say you need daycare in Calgary? No problem - the site can help you find openings in your area, using search parameters like rates, features of the day care center, and the ages accepted. US residents, you aren’t left out either - the site has a US version at DayCareBear.com where you can seek our childcare and babysitting openings across the US.

Just when we Floridians thought the air was clear…the smoke is headed back to certain parts of the Sunshine State, specifically, the west coast. Winds are pushing the smoke south and west, so if you’ve got your windows open, I’d suggest closing them and kicking the a/c on. Tomorrow, we can expect hazy sunshine and lots of coughing for those of you allergic to the smoke.

Homeowners all over Florida are feeling the burn…and I’m not talking about the heat caused by the wildfires all over the state. The burn I’m speaking of is caused by the housing market dropping daily! Homes in our neighborhood that were completed a year ago sit empty, and the builder just recently lowered the base price of the homes another $10K, and added in another floor plan to entice buyers. My model is priced $17K lower than when we signed the papers on this home in September of 2006. I know the market will bounce back, but I don’t like seeing prices fall like this. If any old investor can get a mortgage on a home to buy sight unseen, there’s a problem with the housing industry. Shame on our builder for even letting investors buy homes in here to begin with…because of that, I can’t even remortgage my home right now. I have no sympathy for the investors who lost their shirts when they attempted to flip these homes. They thought it was easy money - just get a few secured loans, buy a few houses, sell them in 6 months, and walk away with a lot of cash, huh? Ha!

How the heck does an Arctic seal wind up in a South Florida river? I don’t have a clue, but the little seal, named Hope, was removed for his safety and later died. The seal was spotted in the Indian River Lagoon and go away from rescue workers - keep in mind, this is a species normally not seen south of Boston. How did he ever survive the trip, let alone the 78 degree temps in the water? Living in the Tarpon River wasn’t doing him any good either. He couldn’t find the right food, and the warm temps were taking their toll, so he had to be grabbed in order to be given a chance. Unfortunately, the little guy died once he got to Sea World in Orlando.

We’ve got a bevy of new stores opening in my town soon…good shopping will be close at hand, very, very soon! Til then, I can have great shopping at my fingertips with the online version of the stores opening up locally. One of my favorite places to shop is Linens N Things, and I’ve found quite a few deals in their clearance section online and locally. Before you shop online, grab one of thse Linens N Things coupon codes to save yourself some green. You can find tons of coupon codes for big merchants online, ranging from free shipping to buy one get one free items to saving a % off your bill!

The smoke from the fires in central Florida finally made it over to to the gulf coast. It’s hazy and smelly outside. You can’t see the clouds or the sun, and my allergies started bothering me after a few minutes outside. Thankfully, a nice little wind started kicking up this afternoon, so hopefully it will blow all of this smoke elsewhere.

The movie Pirates of The Caribbean is a huge hit in this house. My kids are anxiously awaiting the release of the 3rd movie. We love the movie, we love the ride at Disney - we love pirates! We’ve stayed in hotels so close to the Pirates dinner show in Orlando that we could hear the cheering crowds, but we’ve never ever gone. Mostly, because of the price. I’ve gone to the website and just thought it was a bit too pricy for a dinner for our family of five. That was before I discovered that I could buy discount tickets for the Pirates dinner show online! In fact, my family of 5 can save almost $50 by buying cheap tickets for the pirates dinner show online! Adults will save over $10 per person, and kids save over $8 each, and all taxes are included in the price.

The show stars with an appetizer buffet, and then you enter the main dining hall, which features a huge pirate ship! And…complimentary beer, wine, and soda are available during the main show. Where else can you get dinner and a show and free beer and wine for $37 per adult?

This is a sponsored review.

If you’re easily offended, don’t look at this random camera phone picture. If you’ve got a good sense of humor, take a look, and have a laugh! Did it seriously not occur to these guys what they were putting on the side of their truck? Did they know, and just hoped no one else would notice? Who knows, but I love it!

I came across the Eye In The Tropics site this afternoon. It’s the homepage of professional storm photographer Mike Theiss. (Cool job title, huh?) His website shows the best of his pictures, most of which document “severe weather events” like hurricanes, tornadoes, and lots of lightning. Not every picture was taken in Florida, but a good majority were, and they’re simply amazing.

When we go to Disney in a few weeks, we’ll be celebrating my son’s birthday…well, technically, his birthday is the weekend before, but I love to celebrate birthdays at Disney! I think we’re going to look into doing mini-golf when we’re there. He always takes notice of all of the neat mini-golf places we pass, and we’ve never stopped. This next trip will be the perfect time to surprise him with a trip to the mini-golf place…now we just need to pick one. Disney has their own version - 2 in fact - and there are a lot of other places around the theme parks with pirate themes and such.

I first went to Medieval Times in Orlando when I was high school. My AP English classmates and I convinced our teacher that it would be educational. And it was, but it was also a lot of fun. So much fun that when my husband and I honeymooned in Orlando in 1996, we went back. There’s nothing like eating food with your hands and watching jousting to celebrate marriage! We haven’t taken the kids yet, but I’d bet they’d love it. Did you know you can buy tickets to the Medieval Times dinner show in Kissimmee online, for a discount? It’s true! When you buy them online, you’ll save over $15 per adult and $2.39 per kid - not too shabby! The prices include all taxes too, which not all discount ticket brokers will do! You’ll enjoy a great meal (eating with fingers is fun!) and you’ll see knights joust. It’s a really neat show that makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time.

This is a sponsored review.