Wednesday 16th
Today I woke up about 5.20pm again...seems to be the time of choice now so the chances of staying in bed any later are pretty slim.
Grace turned up at 10.45 last night as well but I stuck with the principles of we are on holiday and I am not putting her back!
We all piled out of bed and had a cuppa and I then put some clothes in to soak before I went for a walk up and down the lane. It was 6.50 when I went out and the sun rises at 7.01 and to be honest I could have done with leaving at 6.30 at the latest as it was bright and getting hot already. It was nice to see the sunrise though...I will take my camera tomorrow morning I think. It was hot work and took half an hour to do the 2 miles. What is nice though is the locals are so friendly and are more than happy to say hi as you go by.
I got back in and Nanny and Grandad had already gone for their stroll and Daddy went out to do 2 turns around the block on the bike. I had a shower and got Grace dressed and even did some reading...I had to bribe her to do it though!
We had an 8.30 dispatch as we were popping up to Ellenton Outlets this morning but it doesn't open until 10am. The drive up was very uneventful and we pulled in to the car park at 9.31. A trip to Starbucks was therefore in order as I hadn't told everyone nothing is open until 10am
We had 2 cappuccino and one americano...I shared with Mick, well I didn't really have any, but what I did get was my Florida mug from in there that I regretted not getting last year! Grace had a chocolate chip muffin which was warmed up...she didn't like it!
Took some pictures of the plants while outside Starbucks
These fern type plants on the back were very unusual!
Just before 10 we walked up to the food court to get the VIP coupon book
It is $5 or free if you are a member. It was much less painful getting hold of one than last year. This time they just had an iPad on the counter and I just signed in and they handed it over.
First stop was Rack Room Shoes. We didn't get anything in here, I did try on a pair of Nikes I liked but they were $70...I thought I would look around first and come back if necessary.
Next we went to Skechers and I got Grace to try on a couple of pairs of trainers but to be honest her foot is so narrow and she already had the next size up from last year, I talked her in to missing it this year and getting some next year instead. Nanny got a black pair though and she was happy.
Grandad went to VF on the search for Wrangler jeans so Nanny went to track him down while we had a quick look in Adidas and then went down to Nike.
In Nike Daddy tried on a pair of trainers first which he decided to get, they were $35 with an extra 20% off, I then tried on 3 pairs and went with the second, they also had 20% off and came in at $44 after the discount.
I was very happy with them and look forward to doing my walk in the morning in decent trainers rather than in flip flops!
Daddy did a runner while I paid, to the restroom, this is when the cashier decided to say that Micks choice were golf trainers and was that OK...I had no choice but to say yes ...more to follow on that! We went opposite then to Tommy Hilfiger and straight to the back and the bargain rails...I tried on a skirt and 3 dresses all 70% off and got a lovely white lace dress for $42 from $130... it's gorgeous! All the others were really too big with no smaller sizes but I was happy with what I got. Mick got a shirt $20 which was originally $55,which was nice, he too tried on about 3 other things but really they were the wrong sizes.
We left here to meet the others who had gone ahead to BBW. Grace got 5 of her anti bacterial hand things...she was very happy
We then went up to our last stop the Lindt chocolate shop. We went crazy in here last year and had very high expectations and the levels of excitement were through the roof. We went in and all got a freebie choc to start with. The Lindt balls were 36 for $15.99 or any less than that I think were then 65c each. Grace chose 10, I did 6 and Daddy had the rest. Daddy also got told off for trying to eat a choc! Then he got the hump because of it! I left him to pay as I whizzed round to rack room shoes again to pick up some running socks.
I met them outside and Daddy went off to return his trainers to Nike! It took him ages and I went off to meet him but luckily he was coming...Grace in the mean time got (another) fidget spinner from a kiosk... more on that later too!
We were off anyway finally... to Sarasota University Mall and to the Cheesecake Factory whoop whoop...as Grandad had already got jeans today we were skipping Macy's so we drove the 11 miles down the I75 and parked up. We were seated straight away and the delights of the biggest menu of any restaurant ever seen were handed out. To be honest we were asked what drink we wanted after about 5 minutes and I had not even found the right page yet. Daddy was driving home so I took the opportunity to have a lovely glass of Malborough Sauvignon Blanc, delicious! At $11 a pop for a glass! Grandad had Stella, Grace apple juice and Nanny and Daddy strawberry lemonade.
I really couldn't decide what to have...I looked at the skinnylicious menu only, as that was big enough. I could have chosen about 6 different thing but in the end I went for white chicken chilli, it was really lovely and not I was not too stuffed when I left! Whilst we were in there we noticed it was raining, the first proper rain we had seen really...it was not a shower it was fairly persistent and when we had finished it was still raining and we had to run to the car.
We made the journey back, the rain did not last for long but the clouds were ominous ...we got in swim suits and after about 5 minutes the rain started..this was 3.30 and it did not really improve...the storm lasted about an hour but it stopped raining about 5.10 and then Grace and Daddy got back in the pool for an hour before we got out and put Grace back in some water, this time in the bath.
She was really tired and she had a yoghurt after I had dried her hair and so I took her to bed at 6.50 and she was out like a light...happy days. We spent the evening indoors after that as I had already been eaten alive under the lanai in the rain so I typed up my trip report and went to bed ...
Thanks for reading along.