Anakai & Kacia: NY - FL Road Trip

Mom's beemer is packed. The twinkies are strapped. Awayyyy we go! Introducing the road trip crew - ready to pull out of the driveway: wing-mom Beth, Anakai-kai, Kacia-roo, and me, your blog hostess and designated driver /camerachick, Sheila (not pictured, as usual).

Day 1
We drove through NY, PA, MD, WVA, VA, and NC. The route we took successfully circumvented all of NJ, and every metropolis (woohoo!! :)

Fun Fact #1: Last time I drove to FL from NY, I met Christopher! :)
Got balloons, binkies, dread locked rasta-bear, snacks, and Dora the Explora playing on DVD. Anakai dons her blanket turban - a sure signal that sleeptime is close by. We were hungry and tired when we finally crossed the VA/NC border, so we asked Miss GPS where should we eat and sleep? She gave us all sorts of options near and far, and found us Japanese food and Elk Inn, in (where else?) Elkin, NC. Apparently we can ask GPS anything - from coffee cups to construction delays - and that still doesn't stop mom from getting into an argument with her.

Day 2
We continued through NC, SC, GA, then FL (yay!) This is where we spent our second night.
This nipa hut is Tito Mort and Tita Luz's bahay kubo (tagalog for home :) It's like driving to the Philippines!

The covered clay pot atop its cooking counterpart is used to cook meals. Its called a palayok. Tita Luzmin made my newest favorite mungo (mung bean stew) without ampalaya (bittermelon) for dinner. Followed by The most beautiful mangoes I've ever seen for dessert - yummmm...ma sarap, eh!

Who is checking out who? This is Kacia-roo with the roo-sters.

The story of
"The Chicken, The Rat, and The Snake"
told by Tita Luzmin

Fun Fact #2: Mom reminds us of the 'Rooster's Call' story. A looong time ago, dad and Uncle Nick heard the roosters in the morning when dad endearingly said in his strong tagalog accent,

"Do you hear the roosters calling 'tok tok ta LAH-ooo'!!"

Uncle Nick (from Armenia) argued, "THAT's not what the rooster said! He said 'koo-koori-cu-KOOO'!!"

Youngster Didi said, "You're both wrong! A rooster says, 'cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Above is a mini-model of an ulog (oo-log) the mountain province dialect for 'honey-moon house'. Its a single room hut perched on special carved wooden stilts. What makes it a 'honey-moon house' is the detachable and retractable ladder feature for the newlyweds! ;^)

Days 3-14 or so: The beach! Pompano was the first beach we hit. The south Florida temperature was averaging in the mid 90's and the Atlantic Ocean was similar. Waves were 1' high, just right for Anakai (yellow vest) and Kacia (pink vest).

Anakai's ready to jai-alai. (Did I mention this playground is perfectly situated adjacent the tiki bar between the pool and the beach? :) :)