Our vacation to Florida

Day 1: We decided to take a beach vacation since we didn't go on one last year when I was pregnant and we were both wanting warm weather, ocean, and sand. We left on our 4 year anniversary and it was a great place! We were nervous as to how Addy would do flying, but she did AWESOME! We got compliments and the college guy sitting next to Jared on the first flight even said, "I'll be honest I saw I was near a baby and cringed, but she was the best baby I've ever seen on a plane". That made us feel good :) We had a short lay-over in Atlanta before arriving in Tampa and then rented a car,  and went to the Clearwater Aquarium where we saw 'Winter' the dolphin from the movie Dolphin Tale. Winter lost her tail due to being  caught in a crab net and was rescued, they had to amputate shortly after getting her to Clearwater Aquarium and then she had to learn to swim using a prosthetic. The aquarium was small but fun, we got some cute pictures and saw nurse sharks, sea turtles, fish, and sea otters in addition to dolphins. We then drove a little over an hour to Siesta Key. I had done some googling and this is currently the #1 beach in America and it was so pretty. There was white sand, plenty of room, and gorgeous water!!! The weather was awesome during our stay. We got to our resort and moved in before grabbing dinner at the Daiquiri Deck. We ordered drinks and appetizer of Gator Bites, which Addy tried grabbing right away. We were so hungry after traveling all day, and luckily dinner tasted very good! We walked to the beach but the sun had long since gone down, and it was nice to hear the waves crashing against the sand and Addy got excited to put her toes in the sand and feel the chilly water.

                                                              Ready for the plane ride

                                                                 Zonked Out

                                                                  Palm trees

                                                           Outside the Aquarium

                                                     Winter's Prosthetic

                                                            nurse shark

                                                   Addy touching the starfish

                                                                  Happy Girl

                                                              Winter

                                                      Sea turtle

                                                       Nicholas wanting to play

                                                            Addy trying to grab our gator bites

                                             Addy's first view of the beach, pretty dark out

                                                              Love the beach!

                                                          I've got my toes in the water....

Day 2: After getting up, we went to the store and got some groceries since we had a one bedroom suite, we had a fridge, stove, and microwave to use. We went to the pool in the morning and Addy loved the water and got used to her floatie, we then went back to our room for lunch and in the afternoon headed out to the beach where we walked almost 2 miles to the public beach and then back before enjoying the water. Addy enjoyed napping during our walk and we got our workout taking turns pushing the stroller (which we love by the way- it is a Jeep brand with big tires for off-roading, however the tires were a tad deflated so this made pushing it more difficult during our daily trips up and down the beach). Addy liked it when we held her in the ocean, but I think it was too wavy for her floatie. She loved to taste the salt water, licking our shoulders after coming out of the water. She enjoyed playing at the water's edge and would try to eat the sand at times. She definitely had the splashing down from bath time at home. That night I cooked spaghetti and made a salad and we ate dinner in then went on a walk and got some ice cream while we missed the sunset on the beach by about 10 minutes.

                                                             Good morning!

                                                              Love my daddy

                                                    1st time in the pool

                                                     Fun in the sun wears a girl out

                                                         gorgeous!

                                                                Play time!

                                                                 Siesta Key Beach

                                                    Hillbilly baby with her one top tooth showing

Day 3: We went to the pool in the morning again, lunch in the room, and beach in the afternoon and then had leftovers for dinner. We made it to the beach again in time for the sunset and it was gorgeous! We went out for yogurt and then to bed.

Day 4: was a lot like days 2 and 3. We wanted to take full advantage of our pool and beach time. We were worn out and all took naps and then got dressed up for dinner and went out the a place called The Hub. They had a band playing and Addy enjoyed "dancing" in her highchair, and flirting with a couple of guys at the bar. We went and watched the sunset and got some more good pics before getting ice cream and heading in to pack stuff up.

Dinner at The Hub

Family Pic on the Beach

                                                                   Sunset

Day 5: Headed out after breakfast to drive back to Tampa, return the rental car, and fly home. We had a layover in Houston (which of course the next flight was at a different terminal and quite a walk) and then were on a small plane. Addy did great again, thankfully and we received more compliments. We were sad to leave the beach behind, but glad to have our own beds again. Traveling with a little one is definitely different, but I wouldn't change it for the world! Overall the trip was great, the downfall was Addy did not sleep well at all but she hadn't been doing so at home either. She is teething and we think that is a big reason. Hope you enjoy the pictures! I'll post more to facebook.

                                                    Addy doesn't look too happy to leave

                                                                   Bye Bye resort

                                                             Silly girl on the plane

  What's out there?