It’s been a glorious (and for once it felt like a long) winter break. We’re back to the grind here on Monday so I thought I’d wrap up our shenanigans good-bad-ugly style. We spent 10 days in Naples, Florida: The first 5 we shared a house with the in-laws and my BIL and his family and the last five days just us and the kiddos in a hotel.
Good: Florida weather, while we were there, was perfection. Low 80s and sunny every single day.
Bad: The temps started to drop on the day we left
Ugly: It got positively frosty after we left (still nothing in comparison to Chiberia)
Bad: I left my favorite cheater reading glasses in the rental car
Good: I bought a new pair from Readers.com. A source I was turned on to by this blog. They sent me some sunglasses and cheater readers a few weeks back and I can’t say enough good about them. Fun styles, great quality, free shipping, low prices. Who could ask for more? Especially with the way I lose glasses.
Bad: Hurricane MIL was a little stressed out the day we arrived at the house
Good: We had nothing to do with it.
Bad: She did her usual control-freak thing with the to-do lists and assigned cooking/cleanup duties and chores
Good: I ordered in from PF Chang’s on my cooking night. I cook pretty much every day of the year at home. I wasn’t about to cook on vacacy, so there.
Ugly: MIL made it known the food was too spicy and rice makes her esophagus spasm. I can’t make this up.
Ugly: Thing 2 and two others in the family came down with food poisoning after eating some cake batter ice cream at Kilwin’s in downtown Naples.
Good: Thankfully she was done throwing up by the time we needed to leave the house and head to the hotel. Thank heavens we did not have to fly with her in that condition. Ah parenting.
Good: I had lots of run days in Florida 6 runs for the 10 days we were there.
Good: I found a couple of nice running loops, all of which led to the beach
Bad: The loops were only 3-4 mile long. Not nearly long enough for Gasparilla training. God fobid I run 2 loops…. haha!
Ugly: Since I returned home, my runs are still in that 3-4 mile range. Can you say pathetically undertrained? I’m living on the edge people!
This Cinnamon Roll Belgian Waffle at First Watch was crazy good.
Good: I kept my eating mostly under control while away on vacay
Bad: I still came home feeling “fluffy. I think I’m like a tree. Instead of adding rings as I age, I add rolls of belly fat.
Good: We made it to our favorite breakfast place, Doreen’s Cup of Joe on Marco Island. The last time we were there, the menu was unique and the food and service were outstanding.
Bad: This time around, Doreen’s had the same wonderful menu and the restaurant had been expanded, but the food and service were just ok, nothing special at all. So disappointing.
Good: We found a new favorite breakfast place in Naples called First Watch. It was so good we went twice. The Cinnamon Roll Belgian Waffle was to die for. The carrot cake pancakes and Millionaire’s Bacon were amazing as well.
Bad: Silly me agreed to take a jet ski ride with the Caveman.
Ugly: He basically drove it as fast as it would go and when he started doing crazy turns, we flipped over.
Good: My open water swimming skills were on point, so was my upper body strength to get myself back up on that bad boy. Thank you CrossFit.
How was your winter break? Did you travel? Are you back to the grind today?
Ugh to the food poisoning and the esophageal spasms. MIL didn’t get food poisoning too?
First Watch sponsors the Sarasota Half Marathon. When I ran it, I thought First Watch was a bank. Silly me! I guess I missed out on some tasty breakfast treats.
Sorry you had to come back to this weather. It’s been awful. We need to lunch!
We have a First Watch here in town. OMG. Best breakfast ever. Lemon Curd Pancakes. Need I say more? It’s awful the Thing 2 got food poisoning. Hopefully, it was short lived and didn’t dampen her vacation fun too much. You’ll have fun at Gasparilla. No worries on the training. You’ll be fine. Thanks for linking!
Goodie, I got a recap of your trip! You always have such amazing vacations. Glad you weren’t the cause of MIL’s conniption fit (aside from the spicy PF Changs 😉 ).
I have a friend going to Gasprilla too….she’s training like a mad woman! She’ll do well. As will you – remember all those cumulative years!!
Happy New Year my BRF! Miss you and hope our paths cross soon! xo
Hmm. I think MILs who live in FL are a special breed. Good for you for not cooking on your vacation. Hopefully the Goods outweigh the Bad and Ugly on the whole.
I will now refer to Chicago as Chiberia, LOL
Every vacation definitely has ups and downs but I’m happy that yours seemed to have more “ups”. I loved all of your running photos from Florida. Sorry about the MIL drama, but I know you handled it well!
Forgive me, but I could not keep myself from laughing through your post…the MIL, the untimely food poisoning, the jet ski…..and the reading glasses. The hubby just buys them in bulk (practically) from the dollar store, and we have them stashed in EVERY room of the house (and both vehicles). I have only had prescription glasses for reading, which I’m not restricted to. The last time I had my eyes checked, they tried to talk me into bifocals (WTF?)…sorry…I’m just not ready for that big step, especially since my distance vision is barely compromised.
Glad you survived your MIL and the jet ski spill…and food poisoning! Yikes! And I’m glad you had more good than bad/ugly on your vacation. How much time until your half? I’m sure you’ll do great!
You crack me up …this is great reading!!! I’m with you on the tree deal …a new roll for every year over fifty!!!! You have to laugh to keep from crying!
Overall it sounds like a great trip! Food poisoning would be a really issue while flying. Glad she felt better before you came back! Im heading to Florida on Saturday and I think the highs are going to be in the 60s. That sounds like a heatwave compared to how its been here but not what I would have expected in Florida.
I have to say I’m a tiny bit grateful we got back to the grind last Thursday morning. Because I feel better this morning than I did last Thursday morning 🙂 🙂 and I think it’s all because of that damn grind. XOXO
Your MIL sounds like a real piece of work! I used to have one of those:) Hope she doesn’t read your blog ha ha. I think it was smart to cut your miles a bit and give your body a rest. You will bounce right back into your training plan like a pro
I’d say more good than bad. Esp escaping the frigid temps for a while.
I love Kilwins in Naples…
I must check out First Watch although when I am in Naples, I eat breakfast at home and go out every night for dinner. Any dinner recommendations?
I know spicy foods can affect me, so I take Tums after the meal. They make those things for that very reason, and if I like the food, I will eat it.
Oh wow, you had an interesting week! I’m jealous of the FL weather but not the in-law drama or kid with food poisoning! Having those weeks of 3-4 milers can be good to let your body reset and repair before ramping up again.
Love this post! I am glad you survived the flip to tell about it!
I am sorry the kiddo got sick, that is tough.
Even I was envious of your awesome FL weather lol I can’t get outside much when it snows except to walk and I miss running.
You have the best MIL stories…I shouldn’t laugh but the dramatic is amusing just saying 😉
I’m jealous you were in those warm temps. Cake batter ice cream is my favorite. I will be hesitant next time I want to eat that. Those waffles look amazing!
Sounds like an interesting trip! Food poisoning is the worst! It’s still stupid cold here but it expected to go above freezing later this week. I dunno…we’ve had so much snow I just want school to be back on for my kids!
SOunds like a mostly fun trip! First Watch is the best!!!! I am headed to Naples this weekend!!!!! I have never been, I am excited to check it out and run my 1/2!
Sounds fun! We have family close so we don’t travel over the holidays but I still took some time off which was nice!
So fun! We are a little further north so we didn’t have the 80 degree temperatures over the last few weeks.
Sorry for the bad parts. Traveling with family is so hard.
We had a great break. We ended up taking a ski/tubing/snow trip to NC, and it was everything we hoped. Definitely a different world than Florida.
My poor MIL had a nasty stomach virus and had to fly home that way. I felt so bad for her. The good news is I don’t think she’ll come back to visit for a long time. 😉
It sounds like you had a good vacation! I love running by the beach. It provides some nice scenery to pass the time!
Sounds like you have your hands full with your MIL. I’m so fortunate to have a MIL who pretty much keeps to herself. Glad you had a great week in Florida!
MILs are a VERY special breed I tell you! You can never really win – had you cooked something, there probably would have been an issue there too! This post had me giggling throughout!
I like the good, bad an ugly wrap! I’m feeling you on the undertrained thing……story of my life right now. Glad to hear that for the most part, you had a great vacation!!
*Sigh* … Your MIL definitely sounds like a hurricane!!
OMG I’m going to have to start including anecdotes about my MIL on my posts! Too funny!! I would be all over the PF Chang’s thing. Extra spicy next time.
I wonder, do we swear to not become the grumpy old people at our age, then we do it just cause our parents/inlaws did it? I wonder sometimes. Good job ordering in. Everyone deserves a break from routine chores, as I routinely point out to the hubs on weekends.
I had my epiphany about why I gain in the winter. Less activity.Shocking, right?
10 days in Florida while its freezing cold at home sounds absolutely perfect to me. I’m especially of all that running that you got to do at the beach. Oh how I miss beach running!
I’m sorry Marcia, but I found myself giggling several times reading your post. Especially the esophagus spasm 😀 Some of the ugly was quite ugly, and I really thought to myself “typical male” when you said you went too fast on the jetski and ended up in the water! yay for swimming skills! Glad you had a good vacation in general! I’m actually off to the Italian version of Naples tomorrow 🙂