As I exited the car my heart was pounding from excitement , I could smell the beach and warm air from in front of the hotel. I was so amazed at how big all the hotels everywhere were and how awesome the inside of the hotel we stayed at was. Once we got everything out of the car we started to carry it all up to our room which was on the seventeenth floor. We had to carry my mom’s bags. my dad’s, my two brother’s stuff, and my things. Plus my aunt, uncle, and cousin had to carry all of their own stuff too and we didn’t have a cart to help us because everybody was checking in for spring break.

Finally we had gotten a cart to put everything on and a free elevator with no one in it we were heading up to our room it was like walking forever. After waiting a half-an-hour, my cousin Kyle was already at the room because instead of taking the elevator like the rest of us he got tired of waiting for an open elevator to come so he decided to walk the next fifteen flights of stairs with all of his belongings. We were on the second floor already because the elevator doesn’t start at the lobby. The first thing I noticed about the room was that the door handle didn’t need a card, it just needed a lock code, which I memorized once I had my Aunt Beth tell it to me. When we had opened the door it wasn’t very hard but when we had the screen door open and then there was somebody trying to come in. Then it was hard to open because of a cross draft the screen door was creating. “I literally couldn’t believe that we could afford all this,” I thought. The place was bigger than I ever imagined, as I inspected the rooms it had a kitchen in the room!! Also the biggest living room/space I have ever saw, with a flat screen t.v. and three bedrooms, all with queen sized beds of course, plus a bunk bed right outside one of the three bathrooms it had. And surprisingly enough there wasn’t any shells in the room. This hotel was a five star establishment for sure. It was no doubt about that.

Finally when we got everything settled and unpacked if we wanted to, we all were everywhere around the place. Some of us were out on the terrace and others were in the living room adapting to everything and watching t.v., but when I tried to get everybody to do something like walk around nobody would come.

So I just decided to go walk around with my cousin and check the place out, to you know see what they had to do and see what was here. I was so excited to go look at the place that I ran down the stairway and raced him to the lobby. When we reached the lobby we didn’t know where to go so we just started walking straight but then stopped at the sight of an awesome game room in the corner between the main hallway and another hallway out to the beach. We both just looked at each other and didn’t say a word. Then we just bolted through the doors and when we were in it was even cooler than it looked from outside. The glass walls and door was all sound proof so you couldn’t hear all the noise from the games outside and all around the lobby. And the games were the coolest, they had terminator and a ton of other awesome games. My cousin Kyle and I were impressed for the first like two minutes or so, but then we decided to leave and go do something else. So we picked to go and walk down the beach, although we sadly had to ask my aunt and my mom if we could.
“Hey mom can me and Kyle go to the beach and walk around?” I asked politely
“No, I don’t want you going down there by yourself,” my mom replied.
“But I’m not going to be alone. It’s going to be me and Kyle.”
“Well, no I just don’t think it’s a good idea, but we can all go down to the beach later.”
“Fine, but were still going to walk around and stuff.”
“Ok see you in a little bit. Wait, when are you going to be back?”
“I don’t know, in a little while.”
“Ok go have fun.”
“I will, see you later mom.”
Kyle and I left the room. We went back down to the lobby and sat on their couch. We both had been so bored at the time that we sat there for like ten minutes trying to think of something to do. So we couldn’t think of anything to do. So we just went back to our room. When we got there they were ready to go down to the beach.. The beach itself was really nice but the water was as cold as ice. I went ankle-deep and didn’t want to go in for the rest of the day.

The next day wasn’t as exciting as the first day, until the afternoon. Around two-thirty p.m. everybody went outside and walked around the beach again. Kyle wanted to go and buy a skim board at Ron Jon Surf Shop down the road. Although his mom, my Aunt Beth, wouldn’t let him go alone so I had to go with him. Even though it was pretty fun we spent an hour down there so I didn’t get to go swimming.
When we got back we just went up to the room where everybody else was and sat down once again doing nothing. I didn’t know what to do so I just walked aimlessly around the entire hotel room looking for things to do. Then finally I saw that my other cousin who went, and his friend were getting their swimsuits onto go down to the pool. So naturally I asked if I could come too and said I could but also that they were leaving soon so I had to get dressed fast. When I got dressed and walked into the living room to go out the door my mom asked where I was going.

“Hey Jackson where are you going right now?” my mom asked wonderingly.

“Oh I’m going down to the pool with Blake and Zach.”

“And did you ask them?”

“Yea they said it was alright if I come.”

“Blake are you sure it’s alright?”

“Yea Aunt Denise it’s cool were only going to be gone for like an hour.”

“Ok, if you say so.”

“Thanks mom see you later.” I said in a happy tone

“Bye”
All of us went down to the pool and dipped our feet in and decided in an instant to just go right to the hot tub and relax. About an hour later we were all bored of the hot tub so Blake and Zach took me back to the room. Then they changed back into regular clothes to go and wander the streets of Florida for a while. A few days went by and we all didn’t do very much, we just went to the beach and went out for dinner a couple times and that was really it. The third day we were there was awesome because Kyle and I started walking around in boredom but then we quickly thought of an exhilarating idea to go to the roof of the hotel and look down on everything. Once we got to the thirtieth floor we had to walk up a flight of stairs because the elevator doesn’t go as high as that specific floor. As we walked up we were hoping that the door to the roof was open, and it was. Sadly though it wasn’t to the actual roof because it was like a room with a little office in the corner of it, so as we surveyed the entire place it was kind of messy, like an extra storage room for things that they have as backup. While both of us were up in there I found a ladder that looked like it went up to the actual roof, we were hoping for. It looked like it would’ve gone up there but, about a day or two before there was some people who got up there and dropped a watermelon off and had it splat in the pool. When I was over at the beach earlier that day I overheard two guys talking.

“Yea, there was pieces of watermelon all in the one of the pool, it looked like somebody died.” said the officer.

“Seriously?! I think that’s what they were going for.”

“Probably, too ya know freak everyone out and get them all worked up about it.”

“I hear you.” replied the bystander.

“Oh yea and if you see anyone drop anything off the roof or any balcony, contact me.”

“Ok will do.”

“Thank you because that is a felony, thirty days in jail, you are banned from this hotel, and it is a thirty five hundred dollar fine.”
Neither of us wanted to drop anything off we just wanted to look up on top there, so when we figured out that the ladder was locked. We both disappointed on account of there being almost nothing else to do. Since boredom took over again we looked like idiots and stayed up there for a good five more minutes to double check that we were sure that there wasn’t any other way up. Right before we left both Kyle and I heard a noise like something dropped in the little office area where all the hotel cameras are. I thought I was just imagining things but when I turned to look at Kyle and asked if he heard something too, neither of us wanted to stick around and find out what it was. We both tip toed to the door, gently closed it and bolted down the flight of stairs and quietly waited for the elevator. We headed back for the room and didn’t tell anybody what happened or where we really went.

The final day we were in Florida was so sad and disappointing, it was the best and coolest time of my life. My family of me, my two brothers, and my parents had to leave earlier than my Aunt Beth and her family because the next day or Sunday was my littlest brother’s first communion and we couldn’t miss that. When finally everything was packed up and we had all of our suitcases into the living room by the door all ready, I didn’t want to leave.

“I don’t want to go home yet,” I said in a sad tone.

“Sorry sweetie, but we can’t miss your little brother’s first communion,” says my mom.

“Yea, I know, let’s just get it over with.”

“Alright, I think we can do that.”
My dad left early to go down to the lobby and get us all a cart to put our luggage on so we wouldn’t have to carry all of it. About an hour later after we left the hotel and were on our way back home, it was getting to be around lunch time. Since none of us had a real big breakfast we were all starving. My parents kept seeing these “Waffle house” restaurants on the way in to Florida, so we thought we might as well stop at one to eat and see how it tastes. Once we got out of the car and found a seat we ordered our waffles, when the food finally reached our table I was starving like a trucker. I ordered two giant waffles and devoured the first one but only ate half of the second waffle because I was stuffed. Everybody finished and we started back for the car, but when we all got settled in and driving again I fell asleep within the first twenty minutes. I stayed sleeping in the car until about dinner time, and we were only about halfway to home at the time, so it was going to be a long ride back.

When the car pulled up in our driveway we all were pretty tired after sleeping in a car for a day. We got everything unloaded and back in the house, it was nice to see my dog Izzy after a week. I was so happy that everything was unpacked and put back into our rooms and the living area, so I could just chill out in my room and take a nap.

I’ll never forget my first time in Florida those couple of days were amazing and just plain awesome. The best part of it all is that were all planning on going back to Florida next year.