2014 Pollywog Vacation Awards

2014 Pollywog Vacation Awards
And the results are in for the 2014 Pollywog Vacation Awards

Best experience with an animal
Lisa the Monkey at Little French Key Honduras was the hands-down favorite. Anna Lauren and Tyler spent an entire afternoon holding her and only occasionally letting another child have a turn. Lisa was rescued after being stolen from her mother by animal traffickers who broke her legs so she couldn’t escape.
Camel riding in West Palm Beach
Lorikeet feeding at Butterfly World
Running from monkeys in Gibraltar didn’t get Bryan’s vote, but it sure was funny to watch him run.

Best room accommodations
Everyone had a different opinion on this and no one provided an explanation.
Cabin on the Disney Magic was Anna Lauren’s choice.
Apartment in Barcelona got Bryan’s vote. I’m not surprised that Tyler passed on this. I sent him down to the courtyard to explain to the people sitting there that he needed to retrieve his grandmother’s panties that she dropped off the clothesline.
Hotel in London
Apartment in Reykjavik appealed to Tyler. The clothes dryer was inside the apartment.

Best Food Experience
Frog legs in New Orleans didn’t get Anna Lauren’s vote although she thought they were tasty.
Calamari on the Magic was Bryan’s favorite and launched the boy on a lifetime search of restaurants serving the delicacy.
Chicken Paella in Barcelona was a hit with all the kids, especially Tyler and Anna Lauren. Paella is usually served with a variety of seafood, but the kids preferred chicken.
Mushy Peas in London was another of Anna Lauren’s famous tries. Perhaps after the iguana soup and mealy worms, mushy peas simply didn’t measure up.

Best Junk Food Experience
Sweets from the oldest sweet shop in Barcelona were Anna Lauren’s favorite. Sarah, our tour guide, let each of the children select their favorite flavor.
Daily ice cream on the Magic is a Lull Family Rule. I guess the thrill has lost its magic.
Churros dipped in chocolate in Barcelona were the boys’ choices. The kids sat at the bar on La Rambla and scarfed them down.

Best Tour Guide
Oscar in Madeira was the favorite of Tyler and Anna Lauren. This was our second tour with Oscar, and he was as wonderful as the first time.
Sarah in Barcelona was new for us and to the tour. She was warm, enthusiastic and great with the kids. Kid-friendly tours are always fun.
Guy in Malaga who made “questionable fashion choices” drove Bryan nuts. He couldn’t quite make peace with the guy’s outfit or his murse.

Best manners
Soccer players at Placa Reial in Barcelona who invited Tyler and Bryan to play with them and later posed for a team picture provided the experience of a lifetime for the boys, so both voted for the soccer players. Tim and I watched while enjoying a pitcher of sangria.
Marriott Manager in London who carried Anna Lauren’s luggage up the steps from the tube station and to the hotel won Anna Lauren’s vote and Tim’s admiration. Anna Lauren’s luggage was too heavy for her to drag up the steps, and Tim had dread written all over his face. Along came the manager of the Marriott and offered to carry it for her. At the top of the stairs, he asked where we were going. When he learned we were staying at his hotel, he led the way with Anna Lauren’s luggage in tow.
Angel who let us leave our luggage at her tiny store in Barcelona and later found friends to help us carry the luggage to the third floor apartment.

Worst Manners
Horse-head boys on the Disney Magic took Bryan’s vote probably because they chased him through the hallway until he screamed like a little girl. I know I flew with Bryan dressed as Wolverine, but, seriously, who lets teenage boys bring horse masks on a Disney cruise.
Drunk guy in the fountain in Barcelona who stuck his finger in a woman’s ear got Tyler’s and Anna Lauren’s votes. They love to retell that story—just ask them.

Biggest Goose Egg
Tyler, who lost two room keys and stuffed half his clothes behind the drawer on the Magic until the drawer wouldn’t close, didn’t even vote for himself. The cabin attendant was quite helpful.
Anna Lauren who cried because the caricature artist at the London Eye wouldn’t draw her with characters from Frozen.
Bryan who bought a soccer shirt in Barcelona featuring a player he’d never heard of.
Keegan, who lost three room keys, her favorite skirt and shirt, left her passport on the plane, and finally found her flip flops in lost-and-found, was the unanimous favorite.

Scariest Place
Tower of London dungeon was pretty gruesome but apparently not scary. Anna Lauren even made a note of the penis crusher in her trip scrapbook.
Ripley’s Mirror Maze was Anna Lauren’s scariest place, because she ran face first into the mirror. Bryan also voted for this, and I have no idea why.
Anywhere gypsies are lurking was a place to be avoided. Just ask Tim about his pickpocket experience on the Barcelona subway. Anyway, Tyler kept close watch and voted for the gypsies.
Oceaneer’s Lab, the kids’ club on the Disney Magic, was the place I thought they would unanimously vote for. After all, they absolutely refused to set foot in the place and kept taking off their club wristbands. At one point they had run up a lost-and-replaced wristband bill of $90. This was brought to my attention after the three of them were arrested by the cruise ship police for wandering barefoot into the dining room looking for Strawberry, our waiter.

Best Place to Sleep
Bunk beds on the Magic were the favorite in this category. The boys seem to love bunk beds—top bunk only. I don’t know why Anna Lauren voted for this; she ended up in bed with me every night.
Beds pushed together in Barcelona created a summer camp experience for the kids. Our two- bedroom apartment, just steps from La Rambla, was comfy and fun. At night, the kids linked their beds along one wall and told stories. After a while, I would join them to tell stories about funny things they had done. However, their favorite stories by far were always Rachel stories.
Sofas in the living room in Reykjavik were where the boys slept while we were in Iceland. Given that the sun barely set around 2 am and rose again at 4 am, it isn’t surprising that this received no votes.
Back seat of the bus in Reykjavik with your mouth hanging open must have been Keegan’s favorite place. The pictures are quite revealing.

Best way to get an arm loose from a Tube door
Only Bryan would get his arm stuck in the door on the Tube.
Anna Lauren’s spit—she offered but Bryan didn’t think this would work. Tyler apparently thought this was the best of the solutions.
Jerk on it until the arm falls off was my idea.
Uncle Tim’s hand sanitizer did the trick. Bryan and Anna Lauren, after giving up on the spit idea, recognized this as the best remedy.

Best excursion in Barcelona
Chocolate workshop at the Museu Xolata where they don’t speak English and pour chocolate down your throat would have gotten my vote. Tim and I left the kids at the kids’-only workshop with a leader whose English was a little sketchy. Oh well, they figured it out, and we had an hour to enjoy the chocolate museum and a coffee.
La Rambla where vendors sell birds, flowers, souvenirs, and penis pepper seeds took the boys’ votes. No surprise there.
Boqueria Market where the eel and octopus stare back at you is quite a cultural experience. The kids tried not to squeal.
Gaudi’s crazy buildings were Anna Lauren’s favorite.

Best Place to Shop
La Rambla in Barcelona
Harrod’s in London. Tim wanted ice cream here. Eight people, some of whom shared the gigantic sundaes, and $200 later, Tim was over ice cream.
Any gift shop—large or small—with any assortment of junk—no question about this one. These kids love to buy stuff.

Best Excursion in London

They loved London and especially Ripley’s. Anna Lauren couldn’t decide on just one, so she picked seven.
Tower of London
London Bridge
Crown Jewels
Royal Mews
Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
Ripley’s Believe or Not
Madame Tussaud’s
Egypt exhibit at the British Museum
London Eye
Kings Cross Station and Platform 9 ¾
Boat ride to Greenwich
Royal Observatory Planetarium Show

Best Excursion in Iceland
Blue Lagoon and the mud masks was the most fun for Bryan and Anna Lauren whose mother later spent good money at a salon getting the silica out of her hair.
Standing between Europe and North America was suggested by the former geography teacher.
Watching the volcanic hot pot explode.
Walking in an old volcano was Tyler’s pick. The year before I had a difficult time convincing Bryan that he was really better off that the volcano wasn’t active.

Scariest Ride
Anna Lauren didn’t vote for this category and stated that “nothing was scery.” This is the same girl who wouldn’t ride the roller coasters at Disney World in December.
Wooden Toboggan in Madeira starts at the top of a hill and ends downtown after a wild, death-defying ride through the street of Madeira. The two men who push the toboggan appear to be from the senior center. The first time Bryan rode in the toboggan, he kept screaming, “I’m going to die today. Tell Mama I love her!” He did better this time, but Tyler thought it was scary.
Bus in Barcelona was crowded enough to get Bryan’s vote. Little did he know that getting his arm caught in the tube door in London would be worse.
Floating through a cave in Belize on a raft
The London Eye was too slow to be scary for anyone.
Ziplining in Belize was more rush than scary for the boys. Anna Lauren was underage and saved her ziplining experience for the man-made pond at San Destin.
Tube in London quickly became an easy read for the kids. They took turns navigating our trips around town.


Please complete the following sentence
Bryan--I like Pollywog Vacations because “It’s awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Tyler—I like Pollywog Vacations because “they take you to places you have never been.”
Anna Lauren-- I like Pollywog Vacations because “they are fun.”

Thanks to my Pollywogs for sharing their lives with me. I am so blessed.