A Whole New World, July 2016!~ 6.StPetes & shopping.

[Grapesoda]

INDEX

Friday the 8th of July 2016
St.Pete Beach & shopping

I woke at 7am but dozed on and off till 9am which was badly needed.
The view from the balcony was lovely I could see some people already walking on the beach and to the back of the hotel I could hear music coming from neighbouring pools. There was lots of traffic and all the shops and restaurants were in full swing.

Liam was awake when I stepped in from the balcony so we got dressed and left the others to sleep while we went back to CVS, Publix and Dollar Tree.
I had just discovered two bites on my leg so I wanted to get something for those even though they weren't itchy just slightly red and risen.
Liam wanted to buy lots of tat, poundland is one of his favourite shops at home and he's a bloody nightmare in it as he can never decide what to buy, it doesn't matter either way cause whatever he buys will be broke inside 5mins anyway!

In CVS I got some NYX makeup, an eyeliner and some concealer.
Then in Dollar tree I got a load of sweets/chocolate/candy whatever you want to call it!

Sweet tooth?

Liam got some beach toys and a snake that you put into water and watch grow, I think Liam was expecting it to turn into a anaconda... it went from the size of my little finger to the size of my big finger!

Haha there's the big scary snake!

We popped back to the room to leave all our bags and Nigel and Joseph were up and dressed sitting on the balcony, they'd watched us walking in from the road.
We were now getting hungry and I had spotted an Ihop over the street and was desperate to try it.

The restaurant was nice and quiet when we went in, we'd missed the breakfast rush, and it was so clean. Our server was lovely and gave us our menus and brought us some drinks. Me and Nigel both got the split decisions with scrambled eggs/sausage/bacon/french toast and pancakes. Joseph went for chicken and waffles and Liam just got a drink as we knew he'd have a full breakfast from parts of me and Nigels.
Everything was so good, the french toast was amazing and the pancakes with maple syrup... yum!

My bites were now starting to make themselves known and I'd for got to get something in CVS earlier so we went back to the little shopping area and got a dabby pen thing for bites which was amazing. It was also brilliant on blisters, it just seemed to numb the area and take the itch or sting out of it. It was so good I bought a few more to bring home!

Nigel also found some bottle coolers witch he loves and we got some pain killers and aftersun too.

He didn't buy these ha!

We also stopped in at Publix for some bottles of water and beloved Dragon fruit Vitamin water.

Besties

Once everything was deposited back in the room we hit the beach. I had a beach bag with me for towels, sun-cream and my phone.
Nigel had a pocket in the back of his shorts were he put his phone and said to me, “remind me I have this phone in my pocket”!
Well you can probably guess what happened... He walked straight into the sea phone still in pocket. The minute the water was at his waist he realized and he ran out again but the phone was completely soaked and wouldn't turn on.
This was a brand new I phone only 5 weeks old!
He took it back up to the room to try and dry it out on the balcony and we carried on with our day, not much else we could do but hope it would turn on later.

Back to the beach we had a swim in the sea which was so warm it felt like a giant bath!
Joseph was complaining about the sand, he just hated it. Now, we go to our local beach at home at least two/three times a year and he happily walks and runs in the sand but whatever he got into his head this time he just hated it (people with autistic traits will understand this). It was really starting to upset him and no matter what I said to try and take his mind off it or reassure him he just couldn't settle!
In the end Joseph and I went to the hotel pool and messed about in there for a while which he loved. Nigel and Liam joined us after a while and before long we were ready for some food so got washed and changed back in the room.

We decided to have Chick-fil-a for dinner, this was really cheap but the portions were quiet small. You can go back up to the counter and they will refill your drink for you, which I thought was good.
We were sat near a sheriff and another police man.
While we were eating a Father and his two young sons came in they sat down across from us and I heard the Dad say to the kids, thank the officers for their service. The Dad got up and walked over to the sheriff and his colleague and said excuse me we just want to thank you guys for your service and he nodded over to the kids who said thanks also. The officers just said, sure thing and carried on eating, as if they hear it all the time! It made me feel all fuzzy inside

Anyway while the boys ate ice-cream and cookies I walked over to Publix to get a bag of rice to stick Nigels phone in as I'd read on Google that the rice would draw the water out of the phone and we were willing to try anything as it still was completely dead!
As soon as I went to the till with the bag of rice the cashier said Oh Oh someones dropped their phone in water haha! I told her what happened and she said it happens all the time, and that the rice should work.
I think I got the right rice for the job

I went back to Chick-fil-a feeling very hopeful and we all went to the car and put the phone in the rice and left it in the under the boot beside the spare wheel were it was nice and warm.
It was now 7:30pm and we didn't really know what to do as Joseph was refusing to go near the beach! I had mentioned the Ellenton Mall and Nigel wanted to go for a drive so we thought we'd try it even though it closed at 9pm!

Off we went, the drive there was really nice, we all loved the bridge.
We thought at one point we were lost, the satnav sent us through a residential area and an industrial estate but we finally got there!
It was now 8pm so Nigel told me to go off by myself and he would take the boys with him, I was in the first shop before he'd finished saying it hehe!

I was so over whelmed by the size of it, I am so bad at navigating maps too, I could honestly get lost in my kitchen!

Getting bored...

I eventually found Bath & Body works so I bought a few things in there, I then went into Guess but I didn't see anything I liked. Next was the Vans shop but I knew I really didn't need anymore as I have pairs in blue, grey and white!
The last place I went was Lindt as I love their chocolate. The shop was full of boxes, bars and single chocolate in loads of flavors that I'd never had before.
The deal was you got to fill a big clear plastic bag full of all the Lindt balls for $20 + tax so it was a really good deal because those chocolates are so expensive here.

That was the end of my shopping as by the time I'd finished buying the chocs the stores were all closing so I got back to the car where the boys were waiting for me. Nigel managed to get himself a Nike vest top, he actually wanted a Yankees top he couldn't find one!

We drove back to The Grand Plaza and were back in the room by 10:30pm, the boys wanted to chill and play/watch their tablets so I stayed with them while Nigel went up to the rooftop bar and got a few photos and had a beer.

He was back in the room by midnight.

Coming soon... moving to the villa

[Floridaagogo]

What a lovely day.glad it's not just me addicted to dragon fruit vtamin water ! That bridge is bizarre 😀

[mouselover22]

What does Dragon Fruit water taste like?

Time flys in those malls!

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

What a lovely day.glad it's not just me addicted to dragon fruit vtamin water ! That bridge is bizarre 😀

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Oh I wish we could get it here. Thanks for reading x

Originally Posted by mouselover22

What does Dragon Fruit water taste like?

Time flys in those malls!

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Dragon Fruit Vitamin water is kinda like a berry taste, it's hard to describe... it's really good get some when your over!

You could easily lose a week in those Malls

[waiting4disney]

What happened with the phone 😯 don't leave us in suspense.

[OllieT]

Smashing trippie so far, please keep it up

[LISAM]

I'm also dying to know if the rice worked! - loving your report so far though

[FLAFantastic]

We also stayed at The Grand Plaza! Loved the hotel but we stayed over the weekend and there were a couple of weddings.

The weddings were fine, it was the partying before and after that was not! Numerous phone calls to security didn't really help and after about 4 phone calls, they eventually shut up.

The 2nd time it happened, was in the room next door to us! Argh, we were all fast asleep. Didn't wait for security - just jumped out of bed in PJ's and banged on their door. They were all very apologetic but I think the sight of the mad woman with bed head hair, convinced them to shut up! We were all fast asleep.

Would go back to the hotel but I would just avoid weekends!

AnnMarie

[mrmoo123]

Fantastic day thanks for sharing
Would you recommend St Pete Beach for a day trip ?

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by waiting4disney

What happened with the phone 😯 don't leave us in suspense.

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Hahaha, at this stage of the report it was still drying out! Trust me you'll be fed up hearing about by the time I'm finished this report!

Originally Posted by OllieT

Smashing trippie so far, please keep it up

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Thanks Ollie, I'm really going to try!

Originally Posted by LISAM

I'm also dying to know if the rice worked! - loving your report so far though

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Lets just say that a few of my sacred holiday hours were spent in the Apple Shop

Originally Posted by FLAFantastic

We also stayed at The Grand Plaza! Loved the hotel but we stayed over the weekend and there were a couple of weddings.

The weddings were fine, it was the partying before and after that was not! Numerous phone calls to security didn't really help and after about 4 phone calls, they eventually shut up.

The 2nd time it happened, was in the room next door to us! Argh, we were all fast asleep. Didn't wait for security - just jumped out of bed in PJ's and banged on their door. They were all very apologetic but I think the sight of the mad woman with bed head hair, convinced them to shut up! We were all fast asleep.

Would go back to the hotel but I would just avoid weekends!

AnnMarie

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Sometimes you just have to sort things out yourself!
I honestly don't think we would stay at Grand Plaza again but St.Petes was fantastic!

Originally Posted by mrmoo123

Fantastic day thanks for sharing
Would you recommend St Pete Beach for a day trip ?

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Yes StPetes would be a perfect day trip just set off early it's not too far you'll have a great time!