A Heaping Helping of Disney with a Side Dish of Drama - June 2013 TR

[Deesknee]

Incredible pictures!!!

Sounds like you all had a wonderful safari day. I wish we had done the ... Forget what it's called... Adventurer club...

 

[teekathepony]

Wilderness explorers looks like fun, I love the animal trails!
Nice safari pics! Looks like you had a great ride! Gotta love when the giraffes are so personable.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[BridgetR3]

Incredible pictures!!!

Sounds like you all had a wonderful safari day. I wish we had done the ... Forget what it's called... Adventurer club...

Yes Wilderness Explorers is LOTS of fun, but there is always next time. It wasn't like the Phineas and Ferb missions or the Pirate missions in MK because you would do one or a bunch if you wanted. You weren't "locked" into a certain set number. Also some of the questions are things that happen while waiting for a ride or on a ride so we were still able to tour.

Wilderness explorers looks like fun, I love the animal trails!
Nice safari pics! Looks like you had a great ride! Gotta love when the giraffes are so personable.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

It is fun. The boys wanted to do lots more. Yes the giraffes were wonderful that morning!

Tonight I hope to post about our drama on this day, and this one is man made drama.

 

[dismom9761]

great pictures
crowds look scary in the "best park". We are going Thanksgiving week also

 

[BridgetR3]

great pictures
crowds look scary in the "best park". We are going Thanksgiving week also

It was CRAZY busy that day!! We are about to have some man made drama in that park!!

If you are staying on site, FastPass Plus just opened up this afternoon for November!! I think we will definitely need it for Thanksgiving week. The crowds might be .

 

[Deesknee]

Wilderness Explorers... why couldn't I remember that. lol Definitely doing it next time.

Curious to hear about the drama. I know you are not one to make drama out of nothing, so I can only imagine what this is.

 

[BridgetR3]

Wilderness Explorers... why couldn't I remember that. lol Definitely doing it next time.

Curious to hear about the drama. I know you are not one to make drama out of nothing, so I can only imagine what this is.

EEK!! I kinda did make a little drama on this day but it was DH's fault of course!!!

ANyways, that is coming right up because I'm actually typing it RIGHT NOW instead of cleaning my house because who needs a clean house anyways!?!?!?!

 

[BridgetR3]

After noticing that Affection Section and that whole back area was closed, we decided to go pull a FP for something. I wanted a FP for Kali but DS7 swore that he wanted to ride Expedition Everest so DH ran to grab two FP for EE while the rest of us strolled along without a care in the world.

I took a picture of the Kali sign since I wanted to ride so badly but was skipping it for now. I'll be back Kali!!!



At this point we all decided that we were hungry and since it would be a while until our FP were open, we decided to go eat. No one really felt like sitting out in the heat (by now, it was HOT HOT HOT) so we would have to skip out on Flame Tree this trip. We were off to try something new, Restaurantosaurus. I knew that this place was air conditioned and it had a toppings bar.

DS7 began acting a bit whiny in here and wanting to lay all over everything which usually means he is either REALLY tired or sick. I was hoping he was neither since it was barely lunch time!

Pic from lunch....I could have sworn that I had more than one random picture but maybe I don't.



No clue why I took pics of the games.....

After lunch we decided that we all needed to ride Dinosaur. DH was the only one of us who has ever ridden it because I was told that it would make me sick. I was ready to be brave (and possibly run to the bathroom if I needed to...) so off we went!



Scared already!






The boys are super excited about this ride. They LOVED the queue.

So we get to the ride quickly and buckle in. The ride did stop once (at the part where you are trying to fly back to Earth) but other than that I LOVED it! lol....the kids? Not so much!!

I'm pretty sure I took a "redneck photo" of the ride photo because I'm smiling and the boys are screaming. It was hilarious but I can't find it either. Take my word for it. It was great! Getting off we had a few problems with our bag getting hung up in the little mesh pouch you have to shove them into but DH pulled hard and it came out.

After riding Dinosaur we went to take a spin on our favorite dinos!! The boys love these rides.





Waiting in the HOT HOT sun for our turn!



I just had to snap a picture of their "outfits" because they are AWFUL!!!!! lol...... I feel sorry for them to go to work everyday and not match at ALL. Does this bother anyone but me?







I thought it was super cool that they re-used a California license plate for the EXIT sign. DH said, "Only YOU would stop and take a pic of the EXIT sign." Well then, yeah only me.....

Realizing that a Nemo show is about to start, we ran over to get some A/C and enjoy a great show!









For walking in almost late, we had GREAT seats!

Next up, time for Expedition Everest. DS7 decided not to ride after all....surprise, surprise!! So DH went alone.

We stopped along the way at a few Explorer things.



I don't remember what we learned right here other than the fact that we were MELTING!!! Seriously melting....needing water....

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[BridgetR3]

We did parts of the EE scavenger hunt for the Explorer badge and I decided to go quickly to get FP for Kali. I reached around the backpack to grab the cute little pouch I had made for our APs and our Disney gift cards for our trip....you know that little pouch like this??



Except with our initial of course....yeah that one....I reach but can't feel it. I take off my backpack to get it and it's GONE!!!! Yes GONE!!! All of our BRAND NEW 2 day old AP's gone, our Tables in Wonderland card GONE, at least one of our Disney gift cards GONE, my license GONE! With my license gone, I can't get new APs because I can't prove who I am. I don't have any other picture ID with me that shows who I am. I'm panicking. Instead of getting water, the boys and I are retracing our steps looking all over.

DH gets off the ride and finds us so we all run back to Nemo so that I can check in the theater. No pouch anywhere. We run back to Dinosaur - no pouch has been turned in. They send me inside to the ride part where the CMs have not seen our pouch. I begin to cry. I just spent LOADS of money on those APs, the TIW card, and it's all gone. I'm upset, I'm frustrated, I'm thirsty!! We opened up the backpack to get out a different gift card so that I can get a water and there inside the backpack was our TIW card. Well at least we didn't lose that. Next to it was my license. YES, I can get some more AP's.

So I take my license and the bag and head to the front of the park to go to Guest Relations. I send DH to meet Mickey and Minnie. He heads off to Camp Minnie Mickey. I realize after getting to Guest Relations that Camp Minnie Mickey no longer has Minnie and Mickey so I text him that he needs to ask a CM where Mickey and Minnie are now. He text me back that they are on their way ALL the way back because Camp Minnie Mickey is right about where we split up. Love my DH and the calm he had while I cried my eyes out.

Within 30 minutes the sweet CMs at the AK guest relations building had 4 new APs for me and a fast pass for us to get to go on Kali. (I had told them that I noticed the APs were missing when I tried to get a FP for Kali.) I will never know if I lost gift cards that day or if someone made $50 off of finding our pouch because sadly I wasn't that organized with my giftcards but the loss was a lot less than what it could have been.

I'm so thankful that everything irreplaceable was inside my bag. Looking bag I think DH ripped it when he pulled so hard on the bag at Dinosaur. We will never really know though so we both let it go and enjoyed the rest of our day.

When I caught up to the boys they were about to go in to see Mickey and Minnie so I did the "Excuse me! Pardon me! Excuse me! Sorry my party is up there! Excuse me!" the whole way to the front and met up just in time to see this.









Yes we are at Disney! It's still full of !

We headed over to Kali for our last ride of the day!





This guy scares me!



I want one of these chandeliers for my living room. Sure it may touch the floor since it's so big but it's so pretty!!!



Never noticed this rabbit before....

Kali was great!! We got soaked....completely soaked!!

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[BridgetR3]

The last thing on our list was Lion King so we head over to Camp Minnie Mickey again and realized that we were too early for the show. So what do you do when you are early?? Go meet characters of course!!



Donald, a family favorite



Dale not letting Chip in the gate



Asking us if we thought he should let Chip in. The boys were screaming, "YES!" while laughing and laughing.



Since we let Chip in, Dale decided to leave because he thought we didn't want him. However, the boys decided to go and get him to bring him back.



Now signatures for everyone!



Baloo and King Louie



Doing the Wilderness Explorer chant with the boys leading them





I have no idea what was happening here but obviously they were amused!

Finally it was time for Lion King to start.









After watching the Lion King, we decided that it was time to head out and move our bags to the Beach Club.

A few pics from the bus ride.....





Not sure what they were planning but it was serious business.



Up next, we move into the Beach Club. Would it be worth it? Would we even like the resort? Would the people be snobby?

 

[teekathepony]

I LOVE Dinosaur! I was a huge Dino-nerd as a kid, I love everything about that area.
Oh no!! SO glad your drama worked out the best way possible. Too bad about any missing gift cards, but at least you had your ID and got your APs no problem!
Kali!! Perfect ride on a hot day.
Great pics with the characters, perfect way to pass the time until FotLK (which is basically my favourite show ever in the history of the universe.)
Can't wait to see what you think of the Beach Club!

 

[Deesknee]

Gee, I don't know where to start... I would have had full blown cry feat if I thought I lost everything. So happy you at least had your license and TIW . Lesson learned I will not keep AP and license together... Thank you !
Don't you live when you put your desires on back burner for your kids to do something then they back out? Lol. Glad you got to do Kali in the end.
I absolutely live the character mojo the boys got! I love when they are so interactive! DD is not as interested in a lot of the characters any more.

I am really loving your tr.

Glad you " drama" wasn't as bad as it could have been. I thought maybe it involved someone stealing your stuff and you having to confront them!!! :0

 

[dismom9761]

great updates
I am glad the drama wasn't as bad as you initially thought.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

All caught up. Looks like an awesome AK day! Sorryabout the APs but, at least it ended well.

 

[BridgetR3]

I LOVE Dinosaur! I was a huge Dino-nerd as a kid, I love everything about that area.
Oh no!! SO glad your drama worked out the best way possible. Too bad about any missing gift cards, but at least you had your ID and got your APs no problem!
Kali!! Perfect ride on a hot day.
Great pics with the characters, perfect way to pass the time until FotLK (which is basically my favourite show ever in the history of the universe.)
Can't wait to see what you think of the Beach Club!

I fell in love with Dinosaur as well!! This is the ONLY ride at Disney that I will ride by myself if I have too.

I'm also thankful that only our AP's seemed to be in my pouch. That could have been SOOOOO bad!!

We LOVE Festival of the Lion King!! It is what hooked my DH on Disney!

Gee, I don't know where to start... I would have had full blown cry feat if I thought I lost everything. So happy you at least had your license and TIW . Lesson learned I will not keep AP and license together... Thank you !
Don't you live when you put your desires on back burner for your kids to do something then they back out? Lol. Glad you got to do Kali in the end.
I absolutely live the character mojo the boys got! I love when they are so interactive! DD is not as interested in a lot of the characters any more.

I am really loving your tr.

Glad you " drama" wasn't as bad as it could have been. I thought maybe it involved someone stealing your stuff and you having to confront them!!! :0

I was having so much trouble keeping it all together as we searched for the pouch. I was so afraid that I had ruined the trip for EVERYONE if we couldn't get our stuff back.

Glad I could help with the lesson!! I've learned that one too and since the TIW is not replaceable, it now stays zipped away inside my bag so it can't fall out!

We LOVED our character experiences at AK. They really interacted with the boys and the boys enjoyed it so much. We much prefer these meetings to the ones where they just sign and stand there. It also probably helped that we were literally the ONLY ones in line for these characters since it was later in the day. They weren't rushed at all.

Thankfully, it didn't involve any stealing!!

great updates
I am glad the drama wasn't as bad as you initially thought.

Yes thankfully it all worked out for the best!!

All caught up. Looks like an awesome AK day! Sorryabout the APs but, at least it ended well.

Our AK day was great!! I was excited that they were able to fix everything so easily!! I sincerely thought we would not be able to do anything for the rest of the week because I had lost our passes.



Later today (or tonight) - Our check in at Beach Club

 

[BridgetR3]

So when I last left ya'll, we were on a bus headed for Caribbean Beach so that we could grab our car and move to the Beach Club.



The boys seemed to be making plans on the bus ride.

Once at CBR, we hopped in our car and took off. Up next, the glorious (or was it?) Beach Club. I must be honest and say that we were excitedly nervous about this stay for a couple of reasons.

First, we had rented points and I had this unbelievable fear that the DVC member would cancel our reservation at the last minute leaving us without a place to stay.

Second, we had read (and heard from friends who had stayed here) that the guests at BC were snobby. This also had us a bit worried.

Lastly, since we weren't actual DVC members, we worried that we would be treated "differently".

On the way there, we stopped in at McDonald's to grab a very quick bite to eat and then we headed off to Beach Club.

Upon arriving at the little guard building, he asked why I was there so I presented him with my id as he found our names on the list. Check that one off the list - we have a reservation!!

We continued driving to the lobby area and were met by friendly CM's who opened our doors for us. I let them know that we would be parking our own car for the week but that we would definitely welcome help with the luggage.

Then something happened that DH still laughs at me for to this day..... - A CM approached me with an ipad looking device and said, "Welcome to Beach Club, Mrs. Richard. I will take you to the reservation desk." Ummm hello??? How does he know my name????? I asked DH later and he laughed at me for forever since I had JUST provided ALL of my info to the guy at the guard house. Yeah in those 3 minutes I forgot that I had given it to him and I'm sure he radioed it over but for this country girl, that meant the world to me. It definitely showed that I was important to them.

We followed the guy inside who led us straight to the counter and we were checked in without issue. It didn't take long at all and they were so friendly. DH and the kids enjoyed exploring the lobby while I received our room keys.

Afterwards, we drove our car over to the Villas and parked it. We were first greeted by these friendly guys!





SO many times we were able to see rabbits and ducks on the lawn at our hotel. There were even a few days that the ducks swam in the same pools we did. They were so cute.

And then we got to this......





Not sure why I don't have room pictures but we did love our room. Our youngest was not fond of the sofa bed but he still seemed to sleep well each night. There will be more pictures throughout the report as I seemed to always snap more and more pictures of the hotel.

We weren't in our room for very long when the bellhop brought up our bags. We also found the balcony (which I LOVED) and promptly smashed DS7's finger in the sliding door. He seemed to be fine and after a few tears we convinced him to head downstairs for an ice cream!!!

We were off!





My time date stamps say it's 7:00 p.m. right here. The grounds of this hotel are absolutely gorgeous but the one thing that we noticed was the "burnt pizza oven" smell each time we entered Beach Club from Beach Club Villas. Yes I know....here we are at the Beach Club with all of these beautiful views and I most remember the smell, but I am a "smell" person. To this day when I walk by a pizza oven at a local restaurant and encounter that smell, I'm immediately drawn back to the Beach Club.



The pool - would we have time to use the pool during our visit or would we be too busy to enjoy it? OR would the rains that are about to come take away our chances to enjoy the pool?

We checked in and the sweet hostesses told us that it would be about an hour wait. I tell you Beaches and Cream is ALWAYS busy!!! We took our pager and went to the arcade.



Within 35 minutes our pager went off. It was MUCH shorter than the projected time. We were SOOOOO excited to finally get our chance at a Kitchen Sink. We had tried on both previous trips but never actually made it to a table at Beaches & Cream to try one.



See I told you that we were excited!!! Looks like the waitress is even excited for us!



I thought the designs on the glass were cute!



THERE is our kitchen sink!!!! Our very own kitchen sink!! What did we do first?? We took off ALL of the whipped cream and put it in a bowl by itself because none of us eat it. lol.....After that we dug in!!

Were we able to finish it???






What do you think?




















Hmmmm......well.......










Almost!! We were able to get to the very bottom but there were still some things left in our bowl. It was delicious and we enjoyed it but we probably wouldn't do it again because this is about the time I realized that my boys don't like their foods/flavors to touch each other! Ummm....oops! It all gets mixed together in that bowl!

We paid our waitress and left. We went swimming in the pool and enjoying some water volleyball for a little while but we did end up going to bed early because we had to get up early the next morning. We were headed to Daytona to tour the speedway!


In answer to my question about the Beach Club, we never ever once met snobby CM's or snobby resort guests. We all fell in love with the hotel and LOVED how close it was to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I would definitely stay here again in a heartbeat. However, DH found two other DVC resorts that he loved better later on in the week. He is now fully convinced that we need DVC!

 

[Deesknee]

So when I last left ya'll, we were on a bus headed for Caribbean Beach so that we could grab our car and move to the Beach Club.



The boys seemed to be making plans on the bus ride.

Once at CBR, we hopped in our car and took off. Up next, the glorious (or was it?) Beach Club. I must be honest and say that we were excitedly nervous about this stay for a couple of reasons.

First, we had rented points and I had this unbelievable fear that the DVC member would cancel our reservation at the last minute leaving us without a place to stay.

Second, we had read (and heard from friends who had stayed here) that the guests at BC were snobby. This also had us a bit worried.

Lastly, since we weren't actual DVC members, we worried that we would be treated "differently".

On the way there, we stopped in at McDonald's to grab a very quick bite to eat and then we headed off to Beach Club.

Upon arriving at the little guard building, he asked why I was there so I presented him with my id as he found our names on the list. Check that one off the list - we have a reservation!!

We continued driving to the lobby area and were met by friendly CM's who opened our doors for us. I let them know that we would be parking our own car for the week but that we would definitely welcome help with the luggage.

Then something happened that DH still laughs at me for to this day..... - A CM approached me with an ipad looking device and said, "Welcome to Beach Club, Mrs. Richard. I will take you to the reservation desk." Ummm hello??? How does he know my name????? I asked DH later and he laughed at me for forever since I had JUST provided ALL of my info to the guy at the guard house. Yeah in those 3 minutes I forgot that I had given it to him and I'm sure he radioed it over but for this country girl, that meant the world to me. It definitely showed that I was important to them.

We followed the guy inside who led us straight to the counter and we were checked in without issue. It didn't take long at all and they were so friendly. DH and the kids enjoyed exploring the lobby while I received our room keys.

Afterwards, we drove our car over to the Villas and parked it. We were first greeted by these friendly guys!





SO many times we were able to see rabbits and ducks on the lawn at our hotel. There were even a few days that the ducks swam in the same pools we did. They were so cute.

And then we got to this......





Not sure why I don't have room pictures but we did love our room. Our youngest was not fond of the sofa bed but he still seemed to sleep well each night. There will be more pictures throughout the report as I seemed to always snap more and more pictures of the hotel.

We weren't in our room for very long when the bellhop brought up our bags. We also found the balcony (which I LOVED) and promptly smashed DS7's finger in the sliding door. He seemed to be fine and after a few tears we convinced him to head downstairs for an ice cream!!!

We were off!





My time date stamps say it's 7:00 p.m. right here. The grounds of this hotel are absolutely gorgeous but the one thing that we noticed was the "burnt pizza oven" smell each time we entered Beach Club from Beach Club Villas. Yes I know....here we are at the Beach Club with all of these beautiful views and I most remember the smell, but I am a "smell" person. To this day when I walk by a pizza oven at a local restaurant and encounter that smell, I'm immediately drawn back to the Beach Club.



The pool - would we have time to use the pool during our visit or would we be too busy to enjoy it? OR would the rains that are about to come take away our chances to enjoy the pool?

We checked in and the sweet hostesses told us that it would be about an hour wait. I tell you Beaches and Cream is ALWAYS busy!!! We took our pager and went to the arcade.



Within 35 minutes our pager went off. It was MUCH shorter than the projected time. We were SOOOOO excited to finally get our chance at a Kitchen Sink. We had tried on both previous trips but never actually made it to a table at Beaches & Cream to try one.



See I told you that we were excited!!! Looks like the waitress is even excited for us!



I thought the designs on the glass were cute!



THERE is our kitchen sink!!!! Our very own kitchen sink!! What did we do first?? We took off ALL of the whipped cream and put it in a bowl by itself because none of us eat it. lol.....After that we dug in!!

Were we able to finish it???






What do you think?




















Hmmmm......well.......










Almost!! We were able to get to the very bottom but there were still some things left in our bowl. It was delicious and we enjoyed it but we probably wouldn't do it again because this is about the time I realized that my boys don't like their foods/flavors to touch each other! Ummm....oops! It all gets mixed together in that bowl!

We paid our waitress and left. We went swimming in the pool and enjoying some water volleyball for a little while but we did end up going to bed early because we had to get up early the next morning. We were headed to Daytona to tour the speedway!


In answer to my question about the Beach Club, we never ever once met snobby CM's or snobby resort guests. We all fell in love with the hotel and LOVED how close it was to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I would definitely stay here again in a heartbeat. However, DH found two other DVC resorts that he loved better later on in the week. He is now fully convinced that we need DVC!

Let's see.... how do I respond to this update....


: EXCEPT of course the finger incident. That is ... But glad he was okay.


Now for the very last sentence in this update....

 

[BridgetR3]

Let's see.... how do I respond to this update....


: EXCEPT of course the finger incident. That is ... But glad he was okay.


Now for the very last sentence in this update....

I think it's great too that DH wants to buy DVC. DS7's finger was fine and he quickly forgot about it with all that ice cream!

I really need to speed this thing along since I only have 52 days til we are home again and I haven't even started a PTR!

Thanks for reading along with me!

 

[BridgetR3]

The next morning was DH's birthday and as such, I let him plan what he wanted to do for his special day. However, he is SOOOO indecisive that I ended up planning this day with the bits and pieces of what he told me that he enjoyed. We would be touring Daytona Speedway and eating at his favorite restaurant from our last DIsney trip ALONE while the kids went to the Sandcastle Club.

We got up bright and early to drive the hour or so to Daytona in order to be the first ones in line at 9:00 so that we could be on the first tour. After all, we had lots to do today!

We really enjoyed the tour. In fact, we are planning to do it again next summer with DH's parents.

Here are some pics from our tour....







I was not able to climb the racetrack because it is VERY slanted (I forget how many degrees). I get vertigo issues in certain situations and this was one of the times. It was so weird to be standing leaning VERY forward just to stand up. The kids however enjoyed going all the way up to the wall as did DH.



Most people in the tour were not affected by the slant. I however quickly made my way back to the tram.




Our tour guide was great! At one point in the curve of the track, he says that he's going to take us higher up on the slant a bit so he gives it LOTS of gas and begins to turn right. I immediately grab ahold of at least one child and a bar on the side of me panicking when he comes back over the speaker laughing and saying that this is as far as we can go without going at least 90 mph. WHEW!! He really scared me for a minute there!





Yes my eyes are closed! It's the only picture I have though so it will do!



The room where the drivers meet with the race coordinators before the big race











The Dollar General grandstand booth





Jimmie Johnson's banged up winning car



I remember the day Earnhardt died at the race. We were watching the race and knew in the post race victory celebration that something was seriously wrong.



After leaving the Speedway with one happy hubby and two excited kids, we decided to grab some Chick Fil A. I LOVE Chick Fil A and unfortunately for my waistline, we have it in our hometown as well.

We also decided that if we were this close to the Atlantic Ocean, we should at least cross that off the bucket list so we started heading east but then the road turned south. After 30 minutes of trying to find sand, we could finally see the ocean!!! Now to find somewhere to park to get to the sand. This was SOOOO frustrating and definitely caused an argument in our car. It seems that there are VERY VERY few public parking spots where we were. It also seemed to be a rough section where the places were maybe older or inappropriate for families and we had a tough time deciding where to park. Finally I parked the car and we walked to the ocean.





No we aren't dressed for the beach. We actually weren't even planning on coming to the beach but it didn't matter because we were just dipping our toes.





CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST

 

[BridgetR3]

After leaving the beach, we headed back to our hotel because we had reservations for dinner! We had an interesting experience on our way back to the Beach Club. There was a bit of heavy traffic and as we were passing the "accident" I realized that it wasn't really an accident but it was a jumper. I certainly hope that the cops were able to talk him down off the ledge that day.

Arriving back at the hotel, we cleaned up and went down to the pool for pool games while we waited for our reservation.





YMCA!!



Dark clouds were a common occurrence during the week. After all we did survive the ONLY tropical storm to hit the U.S. so far this year while at Disney.



I was amazed at the beauty of the hotel.





Bucket bowling.....yes my kids were the ONLY ones at the pool party with their "street clothes" on but we were heading to the Sandcastle Club in just a little while so we didn't have time to change.



Always sharing our pool

At the end of the pool party, each boy was able to pick a trinket out of the box which was AWESOME because DS7 hadn't gotten his at Caribbean Beach if you remember. He was happy and we were off to Sandcastle Club.



DS11 was super excited to go. DS7 was nervous about us leaving him with people he didn't know.

Once inside, I filled out the paperwork, ordered their dinner and they ran off to play. They LOVED the Sandcastle Club. In fact, they loved it SO much that we have another one planned on this November trip.



On the way to dinner, we chose to walk outside among the flowers so that I could take pictures.





I LOVE this photo. I just love the architecture of the Beach Club.



Our dinner was at Captain's Grille as it was DH's favorite restaurant on our first trip. They had to-die-for mashed potatoes and great steaks.

Once inside, we were seated and began looking at the menu. I couldn't find the mashed potatoes but decided that since the steak still came with potatoes that I would order the steak.

First we got bread.



Good bread!! Just like we remembered it.

Then they brought out our steaks with 'marbled potatoes".



The steaks were fine. The side was interesting. I'm a country girl ya'll where we eat mashed potatoes or baked potatoes or french fries or lots of other potato dishes but I have never had black potatoes for dinner - that's right BLACK potatoes..... DH was too scared to try it at first so I did. They tasted like regular potatoes but there was more of the "other stuff" than there were potatoes. It was definitely NOT our favorite.



We enjoyed our time alone but decided that Captain's Grille was no longer our favorite. In fact, it didn't even make the cut for our November trip.


A picture of the gorgeous solarium





I thought this painting was so cool!



The lighthouse

After dinner and picking up the boys we decided to hit up a park. Which park would it be? Hint - we needed to go to the lighthouse!