Staycation memories bring smiles

Posted on July 31, 2014 by jeffcuz

The summer staycation ended way too fast, and my sister, Catherine, and my niece, Abbie, are back home in Missouri.

Goodbyes are tough, but the memories made during the visit will have me smiling for weeks to come.

The all-important Great Doughnut Survey was completed, and a quorum determined The Donut King is king in Central Florida, but Go For Donuts’ chocolate pretzel doughnut did get an honorable mention.

Paige's giant salad bowl — Paige’s salad bowl at Cask & Larder.

When it comes to restaurants, Abbie picked Yellow Dog Eats and 4 Rivers Smokehouse as favorite meals during the stay.

I won’t quickly forget the meal I had at the Cask and Larder. It was the best food I’ve had for some time.

But food aside, what was so great about the visit was simply time to enjoy the company of family, and I think family enjoyed the time with J.P. and his new dog.

Catherine got a quick lesson in service dog commands and was able to take Karina out to “hurry” while Paige and I attended to J.P.

Abbie and Catherine quickly learned how to get J.P. loaded in our wheelchair-accessible van for trips all over Central Florida.

Abbie makes breakfast — Abbie makes pancakes.

With family, you don’t need to ask for help doing these kinds of things, Paige and I are lucky to have family that simply sees a need and fills it.

Catherine and Abbie even watched J.P. for a couple hours so Paige and I could enjoy a couple’s massage at Hand and Stone. What a nice treat!

Abbie will be a sophomore in high school this year, but acts much more like a college senior. At one point while trying to figure out how we would spend our week, she said she would be fine with skipping the theme parks so all of us could be together.

J.P. doesn’t do well in the summer heat for long periods, so Paige and J.P. would have stayed home if we had gone.

We spent time together watching “The Last Ship” and saw the movie, “The Heat.” That was really funny.

I guess it didn’t matter what we did because what was important was simply being together, laughing and enjoying each other’s company.

Vacations don’t get better than that.