Florida Fun!

Hey hey everybody! July is here! My birth month! It is so hard to believe that I am going to be 33 years old this month. Wow….time surely does fly by when you’re having fun, doesn’t it? Oh well….wish me a happy 33rd birthday on the 19th of this month. I’d appreciate it!

First of all, some news on the adoption front. As of yesterday, Lisa and I are now number 184 on the referral list. I’m hoping that at least half of the people in front of us are waiting for a girl. That could mean that we are (maybe) just about 92 people away from bringing Jacob Bryson Fugate home to us. I appreciate everyone who talks to us on the street and lets us know that they are thinking about and praying for us. Adoption is a long and tiring process, but it will be worth it in the end. If you want to read more about our adoption process, you can read our adoption blog at alonzoandlisa.blogspot.com .

Okay…now, on with my story of our vacation. Last week, I told you about our trip to the wonderful Georgia Aquarium. After we left there, we headed on down to Daytona Beach, Florida. As you may know from earlier articles, Lisa and I used to live in Daytona Beach when we first got married. Although a lot of places are different now, much of Daytona is exactly the same as it was 16 years ago!

We had booked our hotel through Expedia….a week’s stay at the Inn on the Beach. We usually stay at a little place across the street from the beach because of the low, low prices. However, when we saw this deal, we just had to take it. It wasn’t much more that we usually paid….and the Inn on the Beach is right on the beach.

The hotel was wonderful. It was 7 stories…and Lisa and I got room 718. We were right on the top floor and had a FANTASTIC view of the ocean. You could see the ocean from the bed! It was so cool to wake up in the morning and have the first thing I see be the Atlantic Ocean.

Our room was larger than I had expected. We had two queen size beds, dresser, table and chairs, night stand, color television, large closet, large bathroom with separate vanity, and a FULL kitchen (stove, refrigerator, sink, microwave, dining table, etc.). The best part was the private balcony that looked out on the pool, beach, and ocean. It was so nice to sit out on the balcony at night and look at the moon reflected in the ocean. My blood pressure lowered by 20 points right then!

The hotel was an older hotel, but it has recently been remodeled. The sundeck was newly tiled and very clean. The pool was HUGE and felt great after playing in the ocean or lying out in the sun. There was a nice hot tub over on the side for late night soaking. Plus, there was a nice refreshment station right there at the pool so that we could order drinks. Overall, it was a great place to relax.

I don’t know about your vacations, but when Lisa and I go on a beach vacation, our day is pretty much laid out for us. First, we get up and have breakfast in the room. Then, we pack a beach bag and head to the beach or pool. We lay out in the sun for several hours and then go have lunch in the room. Then, we will lay out in the sun some more. After that, we will take a long nap. In the evening, we will go out to eat somewhere that serves the freshest seafood that we can find and then we will find something fun to do.

Let me tell you about the seafood first of all. When you are in a coastal region, you have to order seafood at every meal! There is just no comparing the fish you get here to the fresh fish that you can get near the ocean. It is so fresh that it nearly flops off of your plate! I think that I swam by a fish one morning and had it for supper that evening! We ate at some great restaurants including Barnacle’s and the Montgomery Grill.

However, the best place that we found for seafood was a place called Aunt Catfish by the River. This place was to DIE for!
The wait was over an hour for a table, but it was very much worth it! When we put our name on the waiting list, the hostess gave us a lobster shaped buzzer that let us know when our table was ready. When we were finally seated, we ordered some of the freshest seafood that I have ever eaten. Lisa had fried tilapia (a very flaky, white fish) and fried popcorn shrimp. I had salt and pepper tilapia, shrimp, scallops, and stuffed crab. In addition, we were able to eat at their wonderful salad bar that was full of everything you could imagine a salad bar would have…and more. The potato salad was wonderful. They also had a Fish Camp Fixin’s bar with cheese grits, fried apples, baked beans, coleslaw, and cornbread. Each meal also came with fries or baked potato, hushpuppy, and a cinnamon roll. There was so much food that even I couldn’t eat it all…LOL….and that is saying something. I had to take some of it back to the room with me. If you are ever in Daytona Beach, you will HAVE to eat at Aunt Catfish on the River. It is the best place that I have ever been for fresh seafood.

As far as fun things to do, we did the usual. We played bingo with the retirees a couple of nights, watched a couple of movies, and went to the Sterling casino cruise. However, the most fun thing that we did was go to a luau show at the Hawaiian Inn. This was an amazing experience. When we first walked in, we were presented with a lei (necklace of flowers) and had our picture taken with one of the cast members. We were seated and had appetizers and drinks. Then, the meal arrived. We had a wonderful salad with sesame dressing, coconut beef, chicken teriyaki, beef noodles, rice, steamed vegetables, and rolls. Dessert was a coconut-pineapple cake and coffee. I was stuffed!



However, the best part of the luau was the SHOW! There were lots of dancing girls doing various forms of the Hawaiian dance…the hula. There was lots of audience participation and everyone was laughing and having a great time. At one point, the Chief (a male dancer) came onstage and performed a traditional fire dance. He would dance around, hopping over a burning baton-like object. He even touched it to his tongue and left fire burning on his tongue! At one point, he even placed his feet on the fire and left them there for several seconds. I don’t know how he did it, but I am glad that they didn’t ask for audience participation for that!
After 7 days in wonderful Daytona Beach, our vacation came to an end. All good things have to come to an end though…don’t they? We returned home with our pictures and our tans to bring us memories of our great time. Now….we are busy planning our next trip…LOL! Hopefully, it will be to Vietnam to get our baby boy! We will keep you informed!

Until next week….class dismissed!