Readers! Team Hamer was on Vacay! For the 4th of July we decided to head own to Amelia Island, Fl. But we did not go alone! No,The Boy brought a friend, which we will refer to as ZCP. By 9:50am on Tuesday morning we were off our bellys full of bagels, coffee and apple juice and out car pack up with a number of bags, tablets and bikes. The drive took us around 5 hours and 45 minutes. We did not run into too much traffic or construction.

It is very interesting riding in a car with two 9-year-old boys. They were both on their tablets while watching School of Rock on a portable DVD player. The Boy has watched that movie so many times that he was quoting the lines of entire scenes. Pickles! We arrived to the to Ritz Carlton at Amelia Island around 3:30pm with the sun shinning and the temperature around 90 degrees. Hot!

Our Room

We chose a room on the club level of the Ritz Carlton. Why did we pay the extra money for the room and the extras? As you all know, food and drinks at any hotel is $$$$. I mean $20 for a hamburger? Your kidding right? At this point, my appetite has taken a nose dive and I hate paying for food I don’t even finish! We ate lunch and it coast $100.00. Two kids burgers and fries, shrimp tacos, a taco salad (that I thought tasted funny), a beer and a bloody mary. Really? With the club level you get five “meals” and all the drinks, sodas, wine, water, cookies, candies etc you want. We ate breakfast every morning. Two kinds of eggs, oatmeal,bagels, fruit, rolls etc. I can’t begin to think of the $$$ we saved from breakfast alone. Then there is lunch, snacks, appetizers and deserts. If you work it right you can make it work for you. Which is why I am drinking champagne in the club level room as I write this. Waiting for the snacks to come out at 4pm. Ahi Tuna anyone?

We ended up getting a King sized bed room with a chair that folded out into a twin bed for the boys. We also had a roll away bed but in the end chose not to use it. Ok, first thing to say about the room, the outlets! There were so many! Which is good when you have four tablets and three phones. We had a nice balcony with two chairs and a table that over looked two of the three pools and the beach. Wonderful to watch the nightly sunsets from. There was a flat screened tv and the largest closet in a hotel I have ever seen.

I think someone is up.

The boys started out sleeping on the twin pull out but at some point The Boy says he woke up with ZCP on top of him and moved to our bed. ZCP said he was using The Boy as a pillow.

Daily activities

ZCP brought a boogie board so of course we had to find a surf shop so The Boy could get one. It cost a little more than we thought it would but it was a well made one that provided hours of fun for The Boy. The waves were large on Wednesday due tropical storm Arthur but were pretty calm the rest of the week. The boys had a blast. Much more than at the pool, although they did enjoy the indoor hot tub and enjoyed going there at night.

How cool is this? They moved the club level room to the beach! Woot! Woot! My Man was thrilled! We walked up and was shown to a set up chairs, towels and beach umbrellas (a must for me). There were sodas, waters, beer, wine and snacks too much on while hanging out by the water. it was nice to just hang out, watch the boys ride the waves and read my magazine.

The weather was very nice most of the trip but there was some rain. Once while we were visiting downtown. The sky just opened up and the rain poured down. There was thunder and lighting and The Boy kinda freaked out. Not a fan of lighting.

The Boy and ZCP

My new voodoo doll!

Yummy!

Overall we had a great time. The Ritz is known for their service and they did not disappoint. Everyone was so nice, introduced themselves and went out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed.

And now some food porn….

You cook your meat on a 400 degree block of salt! What? What?

The cutest thing I ever ate.

The Kitchen seat

ZCP and The Boy

Future Chefs?!

By the time this came out I was in a food coma. SO FULL.