Vacation 2010, Part Two

We've been vacationing here for the last eight years.

While it might be fun to see new places each year, I find it comforting to go somewhere so familiar. We stay in the same place. We swim in the same pools. We make camp at the same beach. We eat ice cream at the same shops. We almost take the same vacation every year, except not exactly. Because vacationing as honeymooners is just a tad different than vacationing with two boys age five and two. Oh, just a tad.

So we first stopped here as honeymooners. Our honeymoon was officially a 7-day cruise out of Florida, but we had decided to stretch it out by leisurely driving down the coast and stopping at a few random places along the way. None of it was mapped out or planned.

We stopped early in South Carolina and were offered a free night's stay and dinner at a local resort. The only catch was that we would have to sit through a one-hour timeshare meeting. So we went and we stayed and we loved it. The next day, we were matched with some salesguy who gave us free coffee and a tour and must have been shooting some serious rainbows out of his ass because we were hooked. Two grown adults, with math degrees no less, signed over a huge chunk of wedding booty and were the proud owners of a brand new timeshare.

And the following year, we came and still loved it. We owned a huge place (for the week, anyway). We brought family and friends and they loved it. And the next year, the same.

Two years in and still loving it, we were finally doing the math. We would eventually own the place (for the week, anyway) after five more years of monthly payments... but the maintenance fee was out of control. We realized that we could rent the very same (or similar) place and pay much less. Thankfully, we were able to unload the timeshare without taking too much of a hit. And luckily, we're currently still renting from year to year in the very same place.

Here are some shots of our place this year. It has three bedrooms and three bathrooms and it looks exactly the same as the unit we rented last year.

Dining room/living room area.

Balcony out the door to the left.

Kitchen with the laundry room behind it.

Love the breakfast bar and the open floor plan.

View from the balcony.

There's a big bridge over a huge pond stocked with alligators and turtles.

I used to think that the alligators and turtles coexisted peacefully.

But after eight years, we finally saw an alligator eat a turtle.

Shell and everything. Fast and loud and well, crunchy.

Everyone on the bringe was like, "ewwwww" and "awhhhhh".

People were covering their kids eyes. Babies were crying. Real drama.

Will's take: "It was cool... and sad."

Liam's take: "Turrrrdle..."

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So same vacation. Except a little different every year. Here's an example of that.

Last year on a luggage cart.

This year, on a luggage cart. (Take one.)

This year, on a luggage cart. (I lost count.)

You can only beg your kids to smile and look this way and stop doing that with your hands and "if you do this then I'll give you M&M's" so much.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Besides checking in and unloading the car, one of the first things we always do is grocery shopping. Throughout the last eight years, we've evolved quite a bit. In the beginning, we ate just about every meal out. And I'm not going to lie. That was pretty awesome.

But hitting restaurants with two little kids, after a long day at the beach or the pool? That's a recipe for disaster and sure to be an epic waste of money.

Nowadays, we almost never go out. We just stock up on the essentials.

Parenting FAIL, I know, I KNOW.

We're not usually this bad, but we like to keep it simple on vacation.

We do have some fresh fruit and veggies going on.

See! There's a pineapple.

Three things in this photo I will not accept responsibility for are:

Reese's cereal (gross)

Chef Boyardee (really gross)

Canned Cheese Spray (off the freaking charts gross)

These were Bill's picks, I assure you.