Hello, strangers! Coming at you live from cold and rainy Dayton, OH! This past week has been the greatest week of my life, to put it lightly. About two months ago, Christian invited me on Spring Break with him and his friends from school. I was excited for a chance to get to know his friends a little better, so I jumped at the opportunity. Paige, one of my roommates/sidekicks, came along with me. We kind of made the decision spur of the moment, and later wondered what exactly we had agreed to.
We drove roughly 15 hours to Ellenton, FL, where we would spend the week in a house that we booked off of Airbnb. We arrived at the house around 11 and decided that we would go get some lunch and head to the pool in the neighborhood. We get all packed up for the pool, go pick up our subways, and excitedly head to the pool. We soon found that this "pool" was really no "pool" but rather a cement hole in the ground. ZERO WATER INVOLVED. So, here we are, eating Subway on the lawn outside the "pool" that is caution-taped off. SPRING BREAK, am I right?
Once we realized that the pool was no longer a possibility, we decided to head back to the house and grab things for Siesta Key Beach, only 25 minutes away from the house [or so said the description on Airbnb]. ONE HOUR LATER we arrive at Siesta Key...
The beach was super windy that day, so the boys had a great time playing Spikeball while Paige and I laid in a ball covered in towels. The sand was blowing like crazy too, so that was also not enjoyable.
Seriously so thankful that we didn't have to worry about the weather once. Every single day was absolutely gorgeous!
The boys did push-ups in the mornings before heading to the beach. I asked them to get in a line so I could take a picture and they chose this formation.
Lost these sunglasses somewhere along the way back and SO sad about it. I got them for only $6 right before the trip :)
What a cutie :)
If you look closely you'll notice that Christian is holding my camera, not me. I can't take credit for this gem of a photo.................
Love this girl so much and so incredibly thankful for her friendship! Everyone on the trip loved Paige and how positive she was, but hated that it was rubbing off on them by the end of the week. You can never have too much Positive Paige in your life.
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| More Spikeball... | | | | | | |
Paigey soakin' up some sun
Jordi got absolutely fried the first day, so this was what he chose to wear ALL day on the beach the second day. Needless to say, he didn't get burnt again.
Troy and Caleb [listed your name first on purpose, Troy] wanted the same pictures taken that they took on Spring Break last year. Here's a little sneak peak.
A week on the beach with him is just what I needed! Soo much fun!
The boys looking nothing less than fabulous
Paige and I ordered new Nalgene's about two weeks before spring break. I ordered a cute little red one, and Paige ordered a blue canteen. Typical Paige. Her canteen came and it was ginormous. We took our water bottles to the beach every day, and Paige never drank a full water bottle. In fact, last night [two days after leaving Florida] Paige was drinking out of her water bottle and said "mmmm, Florida water." Needless to say, the water bottle is being put to great use. ANYWAYS, we were sitting on the beach and Paige got out her water bottle and said "This was my dream when I ordered this water bottle." So I took a picture and even caught a seagull [Heaven's devils] flying overhead. How dreamy.
Paige and I packed lots of workout clothes, but only ran once. Here is a picture to capture the memorable 10pm run.
After a few days of the beach and needing a break, we decided to go to Ben's-grandma's-neighborhood pool. She only lived about 10 minutes away [for real this time] and we were so thankful to have a pool to relax at! Paige was sporting her new FREE Catalyst phone case (not lifeproof, much more sleek and beautiful), so we figured we should test it out.
The second pool day we had, we went to Dairy Queen to pick up some lunch and bring it back. Paige ordered a Pineapple Mango smoothie. There was a farmer's market across the street that we wanted to check out, so Paige gave her receipt to Christian so he could wait for the drink while we ran over. Nothing good at the farmer's market. More like a smoker's house with a bunch of old men standing around inside a stuffy room that was far too small. Christian and Jordi drove came over to the farmer's market in the van with Paige's drink[s]. We got in the car to realize that Paige had somehow ordered two MASSIVE smoothies. One Pineapple. One Mango. She was thrilled. $8 for these babies.
The
pool also had shuffleboard which some of the boys really loved. Paige
and I ended up learning later on...wasn't exactly our forte.
Pictured below are the boys sitting in front of Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. They look so happy, right? WELL, DON'T BE FOOLED. Yes, they are happy, BUT, it took some MAJOR convincing on mine and Paige's part to get them to make the 1.5 hour drive. We just knew how great this experience would be so we begged and begged until FINALLY, we had convinced them. My sister, Haley, was in Melbourne, FL for the week with her friends and wouldn't ya know, they were planning on going to Downtown Disney the same night! We were so excited that we were able to work it out to have dinner altogether! Always love getting to see Haley & Co.
Haley and her friends dancing at the Downtown Disney Stage
Dinner altogether! So fun! We picked the cheapest sit-down option at Downtown Disney that we could find. It was called Portobello's. Most of us got personal pizzas which were really good! Johnny got an $8 strawberry lemonade that didn't come with refills. Also, the majority of it was ice. Jordi ordered Calamari and Chicken Parmesan bringing his bill to a grand total of $48. He also probably ate about two personal pizzas because everyone would pass him their leftovers. That boy can literally eat anything.
After dinner, Paige and I hungout with Haley and her friends for awhile. It was nice to have some girl time after being with boys 24/7. While we were with them, I was trying to text Christian and figure out where they were. No reply. So, we figured we would check back where we last saw them, the stage. We get to the stage to find all the boys lined up at the front playing Simon Says. Only the beginning of our whole evening spent at THE stage.
Paige being the boys' personal photographer
Trying on hats in a store called Chapel Hats. These hats were roughly $100-$500.
My personal fav...
So anyways, somehow we kept ending up back at the stage. This time when we came back over, there was a lip sync battle going on. Guys v. girls. DJ Kev played a snippet of this song and said, "DO NOT VOLUNTEER UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY KNOW THIS SONG. I WANT A GUY WHO REALLY KNOWS IT." The song was the infamous "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan. Little did DJ Kev know, Caleb had just been warming up this song prior to our arrival at Downtown Disney. We had been playing some Disney songs on the speaker at the house, and this just happened to be one. ANYWAYS, Caleb gets on Jordi's back [7 ft tall Jordi, mind you] you CANNOT MISS HIM. He is literally towering over the crowd. We are chanting for him to pick Caleb and soon everyone around us is too. But of course, DJ Kev picks some rando off to the side. Rando gets up there and does not even know the first five words. DJ Kev pauses the music. We all know what's next. It's Caleb's time to shine. Caleb hops back on Jordi's back and after a lot of screaming and pointing, DJ Kev finally calls on Caleb. Caleb gets down there and absolutely kills it, as you can see below.
Please notice the sign in the first picture..."For your safety, please stay off the stage"
Caleb was too hyped up in the moment to notice the sign and rolled straight up on the stage to continue his performance, giving 110%. DJ Kev did not in fact like this though, he paused the music and made him get down. LAME.
Paige wanted some pics of the morning routine. Breakfast, pack lunches, wait on Jordi for 30 minutes.
Paige+grapefruit carcus. If ever someone was a professional at slicing grapefruit, it was Paige.
My lips were getting so burnt by the last day on the beach, so I got out Paige's SPF 70 zinc to put a little bit on. Christian helped himself to some while I was holding it, thinking it was chapstick. He smeared a generous amount all over his lips and still had no idea that it was zinc and not chapstick, and that it wasn't rubbing in. Paige and I were dying laughing so we had to take a picture to capture the moment.
Paige, Christian, and I packed Uncrustables every day in our lunches for the beach. Paige felt it necessary to capture this pic of me eating mine on the last beach day. I can't say I dislike it. Look at those clouds.
One of the two pictures we got of the entire group on spring break!
Leaving the beach for the last time :(
Paige and I found these Mexican blankets for $9.99 at a rather sketchy gas station on the way home. Could not pass them up.
After driving all night and getting home at 9am, Paige and I went and got Chick-fil-a breakfast and took some to my dad at work! After that, we went to Kroger to get groceries, and while we were waiting for the lunch meat, Paige nearly fell asleep. Back to reality, folks.
Top 4 lies told by Jisse, Columbian owner of Airbnb house:
1. There is a "pool"
2. This house sleeps 10
[The house slept 6, comfortably. We had 10 and you could not see the floor until we packed up the cars to leave on the last day]
3. This house is 25 minutes from Siesta Key and 50 minutes from Orlando.
[This doesn't even make logical sense. You can't be that close to the beach and still be that close to Disney]
4. There is an alligator in the backyard pond.
[Not completely convinced. We fed the "alligator" cabbage that was leftover because someone accidentally bought cabbage instead of lettuce for the hamburgers..and still nothing]
