Visitors

This past Thursday my momma and sister-in-law, Beth, flew down and soaked up some Florida sun. Over Christmas break we decided that Spring Break would be a good time for all of us and they made their flight arrangements shortly after Christmas. I started planning then! I planned out my menu and thought of things we could do in the big town of Gainesville. The weeks leading up to their visit, I grew more and more excited. I reworked my menu and made list after list of things that needed to get done before they arrived. I thought it would fun for them if I made them a welcome sign for when they arrived at the airport, so one night I colored to my little heart's content.

With the sign and my GPS in tow, I left to pick up Mom and Beth. I had started praying earlier in the day because we all know Mom doesn't fly too well. Sister girl had some "help" for the plane ride in the form of a pill and turns out she did quite well. The flight landed earlier than expected and I hadn't been at the airport but 5 minutes when Beth texted me that they had landed. I texted her how Mom did and she said that maybe Sandy needed a margarita! I acted like a fool when I saw them waving my poster board sign and hugged both of them. Mom really was fine but you know what made her feel better? A round of margaritas! Wheels down, margs up! We left the airport and I whipped it into the closet Mexican restaurant and we laughed throughout dinner. The Keith women were reunited!

Friday morning rolled around and honey I had whipped up brownies before 7:30 AM. Somehow licking the brownie batter is not nearly appealing at 7:30 AM as opposed to a normal hour that you would bake a brownie. When the brownies were cooling, I picked up Mom and Beth from their hotel and I finally got to show them our little apartment! I opened up every drawer and closet just so they could see how much space we have! This will probably be the only time in my life that I go around showcasing my linen and pantry closets! I am so glad that they can now visualize where we live. I gave them the grand tour of our complex and then it was time to eat!

As a hostess, you never want your guests to be hungry or thirsty. So I made sure I had every beverage and food item available. You want chicken salad, we got that. You want a sandwich and chips, we got that. You want broccoli pasta salad, we got that. Oh and honey don't forget about these brownies. Bless Mom and Beth, I made them eat all the time because I sure don't need to be left alone with all that food in our house!

Jace came home from school after our first big round of eating and we did a tour of UF, visited the bookstore, and went to Lake Alice. Would you know that not one alligator was in that lake. Not one. So we all loaded up and went to Paynes Prairie and saw the granddaddy alligators: the bull gators. All that sight seeing made us, you guessed it, hungry. Mom treated us to Bonefish Grill and then we came home and at more brownies.

On both Friday and Saturday night, we had some good ol' clean fun with a game Beth downloaded on her phone called Heads up. I have seen this game on the Ellen show but had never played. Can you picture Jace giving me clues to guess the celebrity? The tax man knows I love People and Us Magazine and did pretty good with his clues. The kicker of this game is that you can record the people who are acting out or giving you the clues. That is the truest form of blackmail I have ever seen.

By Saturday it was time to shimmy squeeze  into a bikini and we headed to St. Augustine. After a quick tour of the city, we had a quick bite to eat and then headed to the beach. Now this ghost white body lathered up in sunscreen and had already set the aloe out on the bathroom counter earlier in the morning. Even though we live in FL, I don't want to worship the sun. I am not going for the leather look. I like a nice tan but only get it after a week at the beach and then let it fade. Hopefully my 50 year old self will thank me later.

Anyway, we enjoyed the beach and the beach was that much sweeter when we read that Kentucky was going to get a wintery mix later that evening. Sick. With that we reclined into the sand just a little bit more. We left the beach sunkissed and sandy--the signs of a good day. Saturday night was another round of Heads Up but this time it was more intense. I think we finally quit around 10:30 PM but that was only after the entire apartment complex heard us plan the game. What can I say, we are a loud bunch!

Sunday, we were all moving a little bit slower from all the sun the day before and us girls ran to the mall that afternoon. We were home in time to watch the Cats and then I made dinner. Sunday night Jace had to go back to school so I took Mom and Beth to the Bat House, which is located on campus. UF built two houses for the bats because they were messing in the football stadium. At dusk, tons of bats leave for the night and lots of people come to watch. Typing this sounds like people in Gainesville are completely bored but y'all it really is unique to campus. It is just one of those things you have to see to understand. We rounded out the night with one last trip to Lake Alice and we finally saw a gator! That my friends, was the perfect ending to a great trip.

On Monday afternoon we drove to the airport and we hugged goodbye. I told them "y'all come back" but guess what we won't be here much longer! Overall, it was a great visit and it is always good to see family!