I consider myself a North Carolina girl (we’ve lived here for 28 years) but I grew up in Boca Raton, Florida, a little town south of West Palm Beach and north of Miami Beach. It was a small quiet town when my dad first moved his family there in 1970. Today it is a popular and crowded beach town.
For Spring Break this year, we visited the beautiful (and very crowded) city of Boca Raton. We attended my niece’s bridal shower and visited with family and friends. We had a great time!
We stayed in a nice airbnb studio apartment near where we spent most of our time. It was a one room, one king size bed and a pull out for my two daughters. It was comfortable, clean, and convenient to everything we did…restaurants, the beach, family.
The first morning, we woke up, got dressed up in pretty dresses (except the LOML who wore a nice shirt) and headed over to my sister’s house where the shower was to be held. We got there early to help set up but they had everything under control. So we just visited with my sister and her husband and my two nieces and one nephew. It was so good to see them all before the party started.
Nearing the end of the shower, we took a walk by our first house which was in the same neighborhood as my sister. My two oldest boys were born here.
It was fun to share memories of the boys when they were small in this house with the girls.
After the shower, we stayed for my brother-in-law’s great barbecue skills. We kept talking and laughing and reminiscing. I loved hearing about my niece’s future plans with her new husband after the wedding. They’re buying a fixer upper in New Jersey. You know I loved hearing all about that.
After a lot of catching up with old and new friends, good food and drinks, and a lot of laughter, we headed back to our airbnb. We were exhausted!
The next day, my daughters got to hear Mom and Dad going down memory lane. First stop, Denny’s for breakfast which holds lots of memories for us. Before my mom passed away, at the end of every trip to Florida when we were heading back to NC, we would have a family breakfast. There were many goodbyes and hugs in the Denny’s parking lot. I’m pretty sure I got a little weepy this time. I miss her so much! We talked about all the times we ate in this restaurant. They got to hear about their mom, after finding out she was pregnant with their oldest brother (my firstborn), had the bright idea of eating Denny’s blueberry pie and then proceeding to throw it up when we got home. Blueberry pie does not taste good coming back up, let me tell ya!
Continuing down memory lane, we showed the girls the house I grew up in. So many memories I got to share with the girls about my softball games, cheerleading, dates, birthday parties, pool parties, weddings. Ahhh memory lane!
I also drove the route that I walked to get to the bus for high school, the Baptist church I attended in high school where I met a lot of my friends (I’ll talk about one of them later in this post), my best friend’s house that I spent a huge amount of my high school pestering her and her family. My girls thought I walked a long way!
Down the street from this house is where my mother and father’s ashes are placed so we picked up some beautiful flowers to place.
For dinner, we went out to Ichiyami Buffet and Sushi with the LOML’s brother and wife. The food was delicious and the company was even better. They just moved into a 55+ neighborhood so they showed us their lovely new house and neighborhood.
Our first beach day came the next morning. We had breakfast at Tom Sawyer’s Restaurant, a local place where the LOML and I met our realtor to buy our first house 30 years before! The food was great and the service was even better.
With full stomachs we headed to the 40th Street beach. It was a beautiful day, not too hot and the beach wasn’t too crowded.
When we felt nicely cooked (don’t tell my dermatologist I said that!) we went back to our place where we showered, napped, watched some television before we headed to my sister-in-law and her new husband’s house for some pizza before going to her oldest son’s (my nephew) studio where he teaches music. It was an impressive place called Music 4 Lyfe with some talented performers, my nephew leading the way!
Before leaving, my nephew made a music lesson date for my daughters in a couple of days. I was so happy I would be able to see him again. He really is one of my favorite people!
The next day we took it easy and just lounged around my sister’s pool after we filled up on a scrumptious breakfast at Flashback Diner. We were so impressed with the restaurant we went back again for dinner a couple of days later.
It was a beautiful and sunny day to lay out at the pool or read a good book on the patio. Daughter #1 stayed out a little too long!
We hung out at my sister’s house for the rest of the evening.
The next morning we wanted to show the girls where we lived when we first got married which is one town south in Deerfield Beach. They have a beautiful walkway and pier. First stop, BREAKFAST at The Sticky Bun.
I definitely reached my 10,000 steps today! For the length of time we both lived near the pier we had never been on it so now that we’re tourists, why not?
A running joke with Son #4, he asked if he could skip college and we spend his college money and buy him a Lamborghini. Yeah, right!!
We hopped back in the truck and found some place that sold cold drinks cuz it was a hot one! Then we showed the girls our first townhouse that we owned when we first got married.
Lots of young married memories in this sweet place!
MUSIC LESSONS!!! We met my nephew at his studio and watched as he used his magic to teach Daughter #1 piano and Daughter #2 violin. He made it so fun! I was a very proud aunt watching him. The girls had a lot of fun.
FRIENDSHIP ALERT!!
I know I told y’all about my friend Miss P who has been my friend for 40 years! You can read about our friendship here. We got to spend an evening with her and her crazy funny husband Mr B. We laughed and ate pizza and reminisced and laughed some more. I think I spit a little food out I was laughing so hard. I’m so grateful for their friendship.
I even got to talk to her mom on the phone who was another family that I pestered during my high school years. So grateful for the families that God put in my life. Our goodbye lasted about an hour. We made it from the couch to the front door and then kept talking.
The last day of our Spring Break was spent with our sister-in-law on the LOML’s side. She’s married to the LOML’s brother but he was working. We picked up lunch on the way over from our most favorite fried chicken place ever….the famous Fran’s Chicken! We’ve been visiting their establishment for about 50 years! Best fried chicken on the east coast! After we pigged out on the yummy chicken and sides, our SIL took us to Wakodahatchee Wetlands where we got to see some cool birds, a snake, and all kinds of baby animals .
It was fun to see all the animals and their babies.
We headed back to our place and cleaned up for our quad date.
We met my sister and her husband, my sister-in-law and her new husband, and the LOML’s brother and wife at the Flashback Diner. The dinner food was just as good as the breakfast food we enjoyed earlier in the week. And the company was even better!
We had a great Spring Break with our two daughters sharing some of our childhood memories and spending time with family and friends.
Thanks for coming by the blog. Hope you had a great Spring Break with family, friends and fun!
Love y’all,
Linda
