It Must Be a 'Girlie' thing...

We headed back to the airport later in the evening (see prior post) to pick up our one and only granddaughter and her mama for a visit.  It is amazing that just a couple of hours earlier, they were in Texas after picking up the grandsons from the airport after their visit to Florida.

This is the first time in our grands’ visit that we will be doing some ‘girlie’ stuff.  Now before you get all huffy and mad about that remark, let me remind you that the ‘princess’ (as she is affectionately known) has a reputation.  This is the same girl, when she was just about a year old that wandered into the boys’ room, where they were playing, and disrupted the activities.  The oldest called to mom to come get whatever she had taken back from her and put her out of their room, to which mom responded, “I’m busy, just take it from her and get her out of your room then shut the door.”  His quick reply (full of emotion and desperation) was, “No!  I’m scared of her!”  He is six years older than his sister who was a toddler at the time, you should know she still has her bluff in on everyone!

You might wonder also how she got the moniker ‘princess’ if she is willing to take on two older brothers and any others that might wander through her universe.  Part comes from dad calling her ‘princess’ but the other part comes from an episode in her young life.  The older brothers were taunting her and calling her names one day.  The specific name was ‘weenie’.  This apparently she took great exception to because one day she announced, “I’m not a weenie.  I’m a princess.”  Enough said, right?  From then on she definitely was the ‘princess’.

Her ‘girlie’ stuff is not 100% pink and soft.  In fact, she wanted an airboat ride and a day-long excursion to a wild roller coaster filled theme park.  Neither of which is typical ‘girlie’ stuff in my book.  Now don’t get me wrong, she can shop with the best of them.  Endurance is no problem either.  I am usually wilting before she gets her second wind.  Luckily, Bibi handles the shopping excursions and I am relieved of participation duties.

I enjoyed the airboat tour with the boys and I easily entertained another ride through the swamp.  So off we went just south of Kissimmee to Wild Willy’s.  The name did not deter our enthusiasm in the least.  We managed to see a couple of gators but not as many as on the other tour.  This time we saw more winged nature than before.  After the tour we found ourselves in their shop where we were encouraged to hold small alligators.  Here are all three ‘girls’ holding the amphibian, notice there are no males holding the creature, must be a ‘girlie’ thing.

Mr. Gator lolling along.

Definitely a 'girlie' thing - right???

The next day found us at SeaWorld.  A theme park that is full of roller coasters with names like Manta, Mako, Kraken, etc.  You get the drift; a bone jarring, teeth rattling bunch of rides that try to make your heart race, stop or skip several beats.  I would love to partake, but have found out in my ‘older’ years that riding such contraptions do make me so sore, I can barely move the next day.

Manta - upside down and backwards, no thank you!

Kraken, whipping and diving plus Virtual Reality headsets, no thank you!

Not everything in SeaWorld is thrill-ride attractions.  There are many live animal shows and displays for those that do not participate in roller coaster actions.  We found several to our liking, the Sea Lions, the Dolphins and yes even Killer Whales.  However, there is a bit of warning attached to these shows (especially the Killer Whales) as well.  There is a section, which the princess took us to upon arriving, at the whale show that is clearly marked, ‘Soak Zone’, and followed by several audio warnings stating, ‘you will get wet, really, really wet’.  Now I’m not always the sharpest tool in the box but I get it when presented clear and convincing evidence.  However, I’m easily persuaded by a princess to do things I do not ordinarily do, warnings notwithstanding.  Besides, I had already wimped out of the amphibian handling thing, I could not wimp out on a seemingly harmless wet adventure with my favorite granddaughter, now could I?

Mr. Sea Lion

Whoa baby!  Soak does not describe what happened during the Killer Whale show.  More like being baptized multiple times.  The first pass was with a whale on its side with its tail partially out of the water supposedly waving to the crowd but in reality splashing hundreds of gallons of saltwater out of the tank onto the audience in the ‘Soak Zone’.  Yes, the majority of the water hit Bibi and me to the great delight of the princess.  Again, it must be a ‘girlie’ thing.  Lucky me, I had decided to wear quick drying garments that day but I was afraid my hearing aids would never be the same afterwards.  Good news though, I can still hear.  When I heard towards the end of the show the whales would be waving goodbye, I headed for higher ground.  …And I’m not a wimp jus’ sayin'.

Petting? the stingrays

Night time sights after the fireworks show.

Easily persuaded by a princess, you say?  Yes there is another incident in our history that reflects the wily and almost deceptive nature of the female gender in our species that seems to be innate.  When the princess was about five years old, we were hungry and decided to leave older brother’s baseball tournament to grab a bite to eat.  Just the three of us (Bibi, me and the princess) stopped in at a popular fast food chicken place.  After much discussion and contemplation, the order was placed.  Princess insisted on French fries with her meal; however, after surveying the scrumptious looking mashed potatoes I had chosen, she suddenly changed her mind.  Now I am not one that gives up my food selection easily because after all it is what I ordered and wanted.

After a period of asking, begging and pleading for my mashed potatoes, I thought she had given up since I had been resolute in my stance and consistent in my response of ‘No, you ordered fries so enjoy them.’  Not to be deterred, she found a way to ‘persuade’ me to part with my bowl of mashed potatoes.  How you say?  Well who can turn down this offer?  She confidently told me she would give me a hug if I gave her the mashed potatoes.  Well the fries were pretty good; jus’ sayin’ again!

We also enjoyed swimming in the pool and a day at the beach.  We went to Cocoa Beach for this excursion.  Remember the famous and fabulous body surfing boards?  Yes, they were used again today and for an even longer period of time.  We managed to shut down the beach.  We stayed until it was almost completely dark.  The tide started coming in and eventually forced us to move our resting area further away from the encroaching water.

Cool cats!

Cooler cat - in the shade that is.

We played many board games too.  The princess is the queen of board games.  She loves to play games and is very competitive.  I think her passion is to see how many times she can beat her Gran.  Of course, I am not a pushover when it comes to Crazy Eights.  I understand the strategy and logically see the way cards should be played, what I do not see is the out of left field draw of the cards that she usually gets to beat the whampums out of me!  We had fun laughing and sharing around the table as we played many a game.

Bibi and princess took a shopping trip on their final full day with us and allowed me to stay home to hold down the fort and protect mama while she worked (she has a computer based job that allows her to be mobile) that day.  Of course, I spent the day making sure a couple of chairs did not move and stayed exactly where they were supposed to be.  Quite successfully I might add.  Only when it began to rain later that afternoon did we see the shopping duo.  According to Bibi, princess knew what she was looking for and avoided stores that did not have promise and only frequented areas of a store that would contain the items she was interested in researching and viewing.  Even resorting to bypassing an item in case she saw something she wanted more only to return if she did not find something ‘better’.  Now that is definitely a girl thing.

We all went out for a dinner on their last night out followed by a shopping trip at Disney Springs.  Luckily for me, two of them had been out shopping most of the day and we were still experiencing rain showers and drizzle so the excursion was short and sweet.  After a purchase or two at the Disney store, we managed to find some dessert choices at Disney Springs.  For me, one last Mickey Ears ice cream bar.

One of my 'ears' is gone!

The next morning found us making our way to the airport to say Bon Voyage to the ladies.  We could not believe how fast the time has gone by during the grands’ visits.  We had loads of fun and will always cherish the memories.  Now we go back to the rig and head down the road a bit.  We will check back in soon for our next adventure posting, until then be safe and enjoy life.

Love these girls - AND that's not a 'girlie' thing!