Orlando 2008 - Day 7

Since this is our last day we decided to take it easy. We slept in a little (8am) and then went back to the mall. Truth be told, I don't like to try clothes on in the store because it's just too much work. Well...when we got back to the Kramer pad Heather ask me to try on the clothes I bough and it appears that my slacks were high water slacks. I didn't see that on the label. While we were at the mall returning clothes I decided to check out another store. Again I found some amazing deals on dress shirts. I was very excited about dress shirts for about $10 ( I am so cheap). Again I didn't try them on because you have to take out 2 thousand little pins just to get the shirt unfolded. I hated it. Besides I knew my size right? When got back to the Kramer pad from returning clothes, Heather says you should try on those shirts. I thought, I'll humor her and show her how right I am so I tried the shirts on. You guessed it. Two of the shirts were too small. I messed the part on the package that said "fitted" shirt. In case you don't know, Jaycob is not the fitted type. I know it goes without saying but we're going back to the mall tonight before we go to dinner. The rule is I can not buy anything else.

We're leaving at 4am tomorrow morning. I can't believe it's coming to an end! Maybe we should plan 2 vacations every year? Yea....maybe when I get a second job or clone myself. I am just glad we had this chance to get away and renew our connection as a family and let our bodies rest. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. We're already thinking about where we're going next year! I can't wait.

Orlando 2008 - Day 6

Since we hit the east coast (Daytona Beach) and discovered the mess of the riptide, we decided to hit the west coast to see if it was any better. We traveled through Tampa to get to clear water beach florida. It was a totally amazing sight. I felt rested just by looking at the soft, white and warm beach. It was exactly what we were looking for. We were SO pumped! We decided to eat lunch at a local seafood joint just up the strip. Because I am a grown man and all we decided to have some gator as our appetizer. It was delicious! Most people who know me, know that I am half-mexican because I can eat some mexican food, but fish is something I just endure. This was one of those meals where I decided to step out a little. The fish was a little better than I have had back in Arkansas so I dove into the scallops. I wish I wouldn't have done that! They weren't any better. I thought Heather or Lily was going to have to give me air or something. It was nasty! I am now sure that scallops will not be in heaven. After I recovered, we got an umbrella (with chairs), swam in the ocean, collected sea shells and slept a little. It was the most serene place ever. I am going to say it was the most beautiful I had ever been to. We then drove back to the Kramer pad, cleaned up and went to another mall. It was a super-sized fun day for the Kramer family.

Orlando 2008 - Day 5

We decided that we would officially declare this day as "Hammock Wednesday", meaning that we wouldn't do anything but rest (hence the hammock). Isn't that wonderful? I wish we could have more days like this back home. We really just took the day to rest and spend quality time together as a family. If you know the Kramer's you know we don;t like stress, anxiety or drama and we especially don't bring those things with us on vacation. We try to get away from that junk. That's the reason we don't map out our vacations or formulate an itinerary or feel pressured to go, go, go. We have two goals when we go on vacation: (1) rest (2) connect as a family. Those are our priorities and everything is optional. That's why we declared Hammock Wednesday - we needed to rest and connect. We spent the morning time by the heated pool and the afternoon shopping at another great outlet (shopping is therapy for Heather). What an enjoyable day with my amazing two girls. I am living the dream! I have the best family an the planet. God is too good to me.

Orlando 2008 - Day 4

Since we have an early riser (our sweet Lily Kate) Heather and I have been taking turns sleeping in and getting up with her. We all just rested until about lunch time and went over to Downtown Disney to walk around, shop and eat (the most important of the the three. We eat at the Rainforest Cafe. It was a super cool deal because Lily's eyes would almost pop out of her head when the animals came down and made noise. It was lots of fun for her. After stuffing our guts we tried to walk it off by shopping but since we're not loaded we left empty handed. It was another sweet memory for the Kramer family. After we got home and fed Lily we took her swimming in our heated pool. She had a blast. I can't wait for you to see the pics.

Orlando 2008 - Day 3

It's Monday and we're taking a trip to Daytona Beach. We're pretty pumped about getting to walk on the beach and toss some good shrimp down. I remembered a great restaurant call Bubba Gumbs where that's all they serve is shrimp. When we arrived (around 2pm) we went straight to Bubba Gumps and dove into some of the best shrimp I have had. The only weird deal was before we could pay and head down to the beach pigeons took over our table. I guess they have to eat too. We went straight to the board walk to discover that there was no beach. The riptide was so high that it actually pushed the water up to the boardwalk it was super crazy. Never mind the windy conditions and the crazy high water, it was Lily's fist time in the ocean. She seemed to love it. I can't wait to up load her pics in her happening swimming suit (we didn't bring the cable to up load the pics. sry). Later we drove back to Orlando to do some shopping at the Prime Outlet Malls. We both found some really good deals. Needless to say, Lily was spent by this time so we took here home and ordered us a pizza. It was a crazy,fun and adventurous day for the Kramer family.

Orlando 2008 - Day 2

Little did we know what the second day of our oasis getaway had in store for us. We slept in! I am loving that part all by it self. We should have just stayed in bed all day. We agreed to "view the timeshare model" for a nice gift. Our guide (Ricardo) was a really nice guy and seemed to be different from all the other timeshare guys. He took us to celebration city - a little elitist community built busy Disney. Everything there was extremely beautiful and amazingly elegant. The have their own schools, hospital, police station/fire department, etc. This was a town specifically designed for the people full $$$. Richardo took us to eat at one of celebration city's four restaurants. It was amazingly good. Prolly the best meal I have had in a long time. Then I noticed that about 3/4 of the restaurant was made up of people who agreed to tour the timeshare model too. I then got a little uneasy about what was to follow.

Richardo took us through the model and gave us the big spiel, and then point blank asked us if we would be interested. I knew this my time to say absolutely not. I didn't want our nice guide to get the impression that we were on the fence so I said we don't have money - it's not happening. He sat us down and continued to pour it on and repeated the question 2 more time and then went in for more reinforcements. I forgot to mention that after Richardo discovered I was a pastor he never stopped talking about God. He went in and brought back a local pastor to try to push the matter. Again I said no,no,no and no but this pastor guy said, "what's the issue?" I said it's all about the money. He then took us on a trip by saying you need to get your church to help you. I thought to myself, is this guy for real? It was dirty but he's got to make a living right. We got out of there as fast as possible! Again we ran out to find some dinner to make up for a tough day.

Orlando 2008 - Day 1

The summer has been a very wild ride for the Kramer family. We have been anticipating this break from the fast pace race we call life so several months now. We were a little worried about Lily flying at 5 months but she did better than we did. She slept during both flights. All was going too well; we arrived in Orlando with no trouble, we got our rental wagon for the week and we were off in search for our phat pad when it happened. We were following our mapquest directions but we didn't see our exit anywhere. After three toll (2 of which we didn't have the cash for) I realized that we were lost. It was a bad deal because I (Jaycob) NEVER get lost. It was that I decided to toss the mapquest deal and do it like a grown man (we stopped and asked for direction). After arriving at our destination and getting checked in all was well. We loved our pad for the week. It's amazing! I'll have to upload the pictures later. We then decided it was time to find dinner. We had no idea where we were so we just made a right at the light. I then saw the signage that let me know we were entering the Disney camp and exited quickly because I knew we were going the wrong direction. I made a left at the light but must have missed the sign that said "one-way". We were going the wrong way on a one-way street. I noticed that the two lanes we divided by a pretty grassy island so I was looking for a break to cross over to the other lane. It was right then that I noticed the huge Disney charter bus coming right for us! I did the only thing I knew to do in this situation: I jumped the curb and cut through that pretty grassy island, pulled a quick u-turn, got back on the freeway and cleaned my seat. What a way to start the vacation. Well after that deal, I got my way and went to Lobster Fest; where I got fat from the buffet of lobster. What an adventurous day with the family!