AMAZING AMTRAK AUTO TRAIN ADVENTURE TO FLORIDA

OCTOBER- the chill is in the air, and that means i gotta get out of here, back to more sun and beach!  My great friend Galina sent  us an invite to her baby shower on the beach in Clearwater Beach-

 no way was i missing a chance to see Galina pregnant a la plage! 

Due to my silliness and irrational flight fear, in conjunction with steeply steeply discounted railfare using Matt's Amtrak points, i opted to take Zara down on the express overnight train to Orlando direct from DC!  Fabulous!  

Matt was even able to join for a weekend and stay with us at our Royal North Beach condo/ motel I booked on the cheap cheap!  

The train was superb and Zara loved telling all the passengers that she was the "AMTRAK MAN" wearing an engineer hat given to us by the train manager in charge of the "train buffs", not sure what that means, but something to do with VIP status because when we we boarded Maggie our attendant brought us a canvas bag with Amtrak treats for Zara- coloring books,  tshirt and shades- I believe we have our neighbors the Lims- who work for Amtrak here in Dc to thank for these speciality items and the special attention- it was too kind. 

While in Florida and thanks to facebook i got to see  two friend from 1986 and earlier - Suzanne from Foxcroft School, Va., and Michele from Cairo American College, Egypt.  

And most fun of all, we also got to see our supah stahs: Team Beth & Jan.  Beth who met while I lived in West Palm beach back in 1994 and so so glad to be in touch with ever since!  Team Beth & Jan are too kind with  bossy Zara and teach her things like tennis and fight songs for Michigan Schools that have the color green in their uniform..." go green go, fight fight fight.. LOL

Galina even made it out to the beach with us one day and we also hit IKEA in Tampa!  just such a great trip, feel like i could write forever.. and prolly shud!

We made it home barely in time for  disney on ice and Halloween, so more pix come there as well!

It's been forever and a day since i last blogged...

As we are literally hours away from our AMTRAK AUTO trip to Tampa for Galina's baby shower, i figured i should do a quickie update!   After the end of summer which even included fabulous events like a trip to Cape Cod and Maine and Zara doing her first ever horse camp- fever and all, we are back in a brand new school!  The great Cape Event was a perfect trip to see Megan and her kids and her new Chathan home.  The Maine Event was spectacular filled with LOBSTAH MONSTAH moments and other vacationland treats!

 Now back at school-- a new school sadly missing Miss Kasia at Westmoreland and friends- but the co-op set is fun yet VERY play based shall we say.  

I will post a few pics, but truly must back the car for the big trip to Lorton Va and load the Hyundai onto the Amtrak train, so exciting. Meanwhile Becs & Anthony are off in Australia with some truly quiet time.