Did I ever need that vacation, I tell you what. We got all packed Thursday night and then left in the AM, but not before heading to Jenny’s for breakfast. (For local folks, I do realize that they’re simply calling it The Lunchbox now, but it will always be Jenny’s to me.) The drive down was fine but Elliot kept asking when we’d be there. He’s in for a serious surprise when we drive twice as far to Chicago! Once to my parents’ we ate lunch then Ash and I started our journey to the coast. There was some sort of accident on the Beach Line so we went about, oh, three miles in thirty minutes. But it is what it is and we didn’t freak out. Once in Cocoa, we checked into the The Inn at Cocoa Beach, where a nice guy named David showed us the honor bar, the 24/7 beverage area, where they have breakfast each morning, and where they do the complimentary wine and cheese each evening. I’m telling you, this place was awesome. (Right before we left, I saw someone had posted an awful review on TripAdvisor so I didn’t read it. I don’t know what happened to them but my experience was great!)

In the afternoon, Ash and I got on our suits and walked down the beach to the pier and back before going into Ron Jon. I wanted a shirt to wear over my bathing suit and Ash needed a hat. After that, we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We went to a place my mother recommended – Grills Seafood and Tiki bar – which is owned by a family friend. By the time we sat down, it was already 8 PM and I was starving. I wanted seafood but ended up having steak tip kabobs because after a couple beers, that sounded great! After our meal, which was all in all pretty tasty, we stopped into ABC and got one of those premixed margaritas bottles and, well, that finishes up our night. 😉

On Saturday, Ash wasn’t feeling so hot in the morning so I went down for the free breakfast, which was awesome.  They provide a variety of breads and bagels with jams, butter, etc and a couple toasters. There’s a station to boil eggs, and they then give you a tray that has the mini quiches and breakfast bread of the day, plus juice. Good deal! By the time I got back, he was feeling better so we got ready to hit the beach and simply read. I’d say we were down there for a good two hours before feeling hungry so we went to the surf shop right next to Ron Jon, which happened to be at the Sheraton where they had a restaurant. Typical grill food was had but it was nice. They had a huge indoor tank with sharks! Oh, they also had a Starbucks so that made my day.

After recovering from lunch, we went to the beach to boogie board, which I’d say we did for about 3-4 hours. Good waves! We saw a lot of people surfing and I’d say the waves are better than Daytona’s. We were pretty worn out after that so we took a nap before driving about 40 minutes to Melbourne to visit El Chico, a Mexican restaurant that we used to have in Tally. Not only that, but it was OUR place. We probably went at least twice a week before kids. They closed while I was pregnant with Elliot. The  drive was TOTALLY worth it: the food was exactly as we remembered and it was GOOD. They have the best chips and salsa and the only place I have been to whose spinach enchiladas have fresh spinach leaves instead of some frozen or canned crap. We definitely overate but we were in Tex Mex heaven, y’all. To rid ourselves of that uncomfortable feeling, we walked around the mall right nearby and then drove back to our hotel. The route along A1A is pretty; we got to see Patrick Air Force Base and we looked at all the cute little beachside homes, speculating on the possibility of buying one.

We wasted some time after dinner and before going the ten minutes across the inter-coastal to Merritt Island, where we saw The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX. I have to admit, I was eying the emergency exits every time someone shot a gun in the movie, but come on: we were in a tiny coastal city. One fruitbasket doesn’t mean every theater is unsafe – I KNOW – but it definitely puts the idea in your head. Anyway, the movie was pretty good but nothing compared to the other two. Nolan did a good job with what he had to work with, considering this was supposed to rely heavily on the Joker. i was damn happy with the ending (as a comic reader) so that made it totally worth it.

The next morning, we ate breakfast then got on our way back to my parents’ to retrieve Isaac and head on back home. Ell is staying with the ‘rents until Thursday, as he does every Summer, so we’re kickin’ it old school with only one child this week. Weird! I am happy to be back in the office and connecting to the net. I checked some stuff on my phone but there wasn’t any good wireless for my laptop down there.But sometimes it’s nice to disconnect from all that.

After we got home, I immediately changed into running gear, for marathon training begins this week (!) and I had a seven miler to bang out. I was dreading it because the arches of my feet were hurting from the 2 miler we ran on the beach the night before. However, it wasn’t so bad. I got poured on about 15 minutes in and did stop for about 2-3 minutes under a tree so my ipod and Garmin didn’t get too soaked. But then I was good to go. As this week’s MMMM is a freebie, I am going to share with you a couple songs that I play when I get really mad at a run; when I get in the frame of mind and have to tell myself, “You can kick this run’s ass; do it!”

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Mastodon!!! (Second video seems… creepy. You’ve been warned.) Not everyone’s taste but I dig it. Happy Monday!