Vacation!
Oh. My. Gosh. We needed this! I had been counting down the days to go somewhere warm AND not have to worry about our kids competing in any activities OR work for a whole week!. Just a week of fun in the sun with people we love. We decided in October to do a family vacation, so Nick was our travel agent and planned almost everything as far as location and lodging. Chad and Annie, Mom and Dad, and our family all went down and met in Palm Harbor, FL, which is only about 10 minutes from where Nick's mom lives. I was so happy to go! We did a lot of fun things throughout the week.
Heading Southeast!
Nick doesn't look nearly as excited as the rest of us.
Can't wait for warm sunny weather!
Our first night was spent just north of Atlanta, GA. We left on Friday morning around 10am, and made it there about 12 hours later. We took a detour around the south side of Nashville after being held up by an accident near Paducah, KY. It was a very long first day of driving and the hotel we stayed at wasn't great. We got up pretty early the next morning to head further south.
We took another pit stop in Gainesville, FL. Nick somehow managed to get us tickets to the UFL softball game against LSU. We went onto campus and took a look at some of their athletics facilities. The football stadium was open to all and there were many other people visiting or working out. The concourse was being used as a track and there were several people running stadiums up and down the stairs. I was a little surprised that they leave their facility open to the public.
Gracie and Owen with the gator statue in front of the football facility
Side shot of the gator
Owen and Nick inside the stadium
Gracie sitting inside the stadium
But this is where she really wanted to be...
UFL softball stadium
Another pic outside the softball stadium
Watching some warmups
Basking in the warm sun
Dad and daughter enjoying the game.
Family pic at the game
When we arrived in Florida, it was a wonderful 94 degrees. It felt so great to be sweating instead of shivering. I know it was nice back in Missouri when we were on vacation, but I loved every moment of being in the hot weather! After the softball game, we headed another couple hours south to Grandma Deb's. It was an evening game, so it was almost 10pm by the time we arrived in Tarpon Springs. Deb was, of course, waiting up for us.
First thing...pool time!
We had a morning of swimming and beach before the arrival of the rest of the family.
Breezy, sunny, sweaty run with a view!
We have driven out on this causeway many times, and I always see bikers, runners, walkers. Today I got to be of them! It's been way too long since I had a run like this. No record breaking times, just complete happiness!!!
My destination run on a beautiful Sunday morning.
Ocean and beach!
We also went to the beach for an hour or so before Chad and Annie arrived.
Playing catch in the water.
Owen loving the sun
Sun, sand, and fun!
Mama and daughter
The birds in the background wanted her ice cream cone.
More ocean time.
Finally the Wearmouths arrive and we're headed back to the pool!
Annie and Kaia ready to swim.
River is getting a ride from Gracie!
Gracie and Owen each had a night with Grandma Deb. Hers was Tuesday night of our trip. They took Jazzy for a walk a park the next morning and went for a bike ride down the causeway that I had previously run at.
Miss Vicki's is the restaurant that we came to a couple years ago and Owen insisted that was come back. He was convinced that we would be able to see dolphins swimming there again.
Unfortunately, not this time.
Family pictures by the water.
My favorite people
We came here instead for lunch. It was still outside, but a little more sheltered from the wind.
Luckily it didn't rain while we were there.
So, as I'm going through these, it looks like they are in reverse order. The next pictures are from Wednesday, March 31. Nick, kids, and I went kayaking in the river with Deb for the morning. I'm not sure how far we went, but we ended up at a restaurant to eat lunch. This day, it actually did rain, kind of hard for awhile. Luckily we made it to the restaurant and waited it out before heading back. It was also a pretty warm day, so the rain wasn't to bad.
Heading out on the river/bayou.
Gracie in her kayak
Owen and Grandma Deb heading out
We did get to see some dolphins while we were kayaking, which was pretty fun to watch.
No manatees, though.
Owen and Grandma Kate after dinner
Owen playing with his food.
Chad ordered King Crab legs and Owen got to try them for the first time.
They have always been pretty intimidating for me, so I've never tried them
Owen seemed to like them.
Eating some crab
The Wearmouths
Yep, this is the best picture I could get. Sorry.
Grandma with her grandkids.
Gracie enjoying the water
Owen and Nick getting some sun
Owen seems pretty happy
More smiles in the ocean
Annie and Kaia enjoying the beach
Monday was spent at St. John's Pass shopping and doing tourist things. I believe there were several establishments that some members of our group tried out for the beverages. There seemed to be something for everyone here.
We had come here in 2016, which seems so long ago. This is where the kids went on the dolphin boat tour and we had a really good lunch after our flight had been delayed for a whole day. It was just as fun this time!
Gracie and mom on the way to St. John's Pass.
The girls in the back seat.
Nick spent some time here.
I can't remember the name of it, but there was an indoor zoo that we went to. The kids got to hold a small gator and feed the little gators. Lots of reptiles, spiders, pigs, and other live creatures to look at.
Owen, River, and Kaia holding the gator
feeding the gators
I believe Gracie is admiring the tarantula
More gators - River is looking through the bubble
Gracie posing at the entrance
Bikes provided by the rental house
Tree house for the kids
Our bedroom for the week.
Ginormous refrigerator and freezer.
We kept it pretty full with 10 people in the house
It seems that I did not get a picture of our whole family, which I'm kind of disappointed about, looking back. I have been wanting to do something like this for such a long time and it was so fun to be there all week with our family. I'm so glad we went ahead and started planning this back in October. I hope our kids will remember this for a very long time! Every day was full of stuff to do. I either went on a walk or run every day. There was a pool at the house we stayed at, so the kids got to swim. There was actually a little league field a couple blocks away from our house, so Gracie got to go down there with Nick to throw and hit. Deb joined us every day for at least a little bit.
Here is an outline of our days:
Friday: Car
Saturday: more driving and ended up in Gainesville for softball. Arrived in Tarpon Springs pretty late.
Sunday: morning run, pool, beach. Afternoon - more pool and dinner at home with the whole family in our rental house
Monday: Morning run (Nick went and it was a little rainy). John's Pass after lunch. Reptiles and another evening of home cooking.
Tuesday: Morning run and then beach day at Honeymoon Island. Went out to eat at Rusty Bellies in the evening. Gracie stayed with Grandma Deb. The adults tried out the Salty Lime Mexican Cantina a few blocks away.
Wednesday: morning walk. Kayaking and lunch on the River. A little rain mid-day. Went out to eat near our rental house with the whole family for dinner. Adults stayed out and visited the Thirsty Marlin and then returned to the Salty Lime. Owen stayed with Grandma Deb.
Thursday: Run in the morning. Not nearly as warm. Went to lunch with Deb and my parents. Tried Miss Vickie's then went to Captain Jack's for lunch. Fish fry at home in the evening.
Friday: started our return home. We decided to try a different route and drove along the Gulf. We met up with one of Nick's former co-workers from ISU in Hattiesburg, MS and then ended up just south of Memphis in Southhaven, MS that evening. I enjoyed this drive much more than driving through Georgia. Not nearly as much traffic.
Saturday: Returned home mid-afternoon.
We made it to an outdoor church service on Easter morning!
It had been well over a year since we had been to an actual, in-person church service.
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