The Bailey Planet : Annual Trip to Tampa, FL

Florida is always so pretty, so I feel the need to break this trip into two posts because I always take so many pictures!

On Sunday, the day after our family BBQ at my mom's house, we met up with Cory, Brie and the kids at everyone's favorite place on the planet... Indian Rocks Beach!

Todd made a killer dribble castle, natürlich.

Cory and Brie brought the inflatable paddleboard which all of the kids attempted (my kids even tried surfing!). Cory and Greta took it out first. Greta was really awesome on the paddleboard!

The last time we paddle boarded with the kids, it was at my parents old house, it was before we moved to Germany, we had Mustang Joe with us (from Memorial Elementary) and the kids had life jackets on. Todd struggled to stay up back then (it's hard when you're a giant) and we still tease him about it!

Grant tried not to fall off! Cory also tried to show Nat and Grant how to surf - I think that's what's going on here! Not a lot of waves on the Gulf Coast though.

Hattie was "swimming" between Brie and I and it was so cute! The water at IRB was a tad bit cooler than up at Honeymoon, and that made a huge difference. Don't get me wrong. It was still hot. I mean... it's Florida in August! But it was a bit more refreshing!

Hello out there! Good thing Todd is so tall!

Everyone got tired of swimming and needed some drinks and snacks so we went back to the chairs, where you can see Grant fell asleep.

A very ominous dark cloud came overhead but nothing ever happened - although it did make the water look super green!

Some of those people out there belong to me.

The ominous dark cloud drifted west and everyone was super hot, so we decided to call it a day.

But wait, there's more! Since my mom was going to take the kids to Frenchy's without us, we didn't want to miss out on the best little dive bar on the beach, so we drove up to Clearwater Beach and stopped in at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill for some snackies and drinks.

Our waitress must have found this funny! I know. I know.

This is what happens to New England teenagers who get too hot, and are sleepy from staying up too late.

I love Frenchy's Rockaway Grill because it literally sits in the sand but weirdly isn't in the VE flood zone. It's definitely AE zone though!

Monday morning was the BEST! Natalie, Mom and I went for manicures and pedicures and I don't think I've ever had a better pedicure. If you're in the Clearwater area, ask for Donna at Soho Nail Spa off of Fort Harrison! Natalie and I even convinced my mom to do a paraffin wax treatment for the first time ever. She wasn't a huge fan, ha ha. Well, at least she tried it!

In the evening, Todd and I went down to Pass A Grille to meet up with our friends Rob and Nadia who actually live in Falmouth, not too far from us. They used to live in Tampa Bay for a bit so they come back here all the time. It was total coincidence that we were in Florida at the same time! We met up and had a nice grouper dinner at the Hurricane before grabbing our coolers and chairs and to go down to the beach and watch the sunset. Todd, Rob and I went for a quick swim, but Nadia forgot her bathing suit, so I got out and we looked for shells on the beach.

I spy the Don CeSar resort, one of the most historic hotels in all of Pinellas County, or Tampa Bay for that matter. It was built in 1928, it was a hot spot for celebrities such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lou Gehrig and many U.S. Presidents (32, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43 and 44.) In 1942, the U.S. Army took over the hotel and used it as a sub-base hospital, followed by a period where it was used as a convalescent center for airmen returning from WWII. After that, it was a regional office for the Department of Veteran's Affairs until 1969! Well that's weird! In 1973, it reopened as a hotel and has been ever since.

The sun is about to drop!

Todd, me, Nadia and Rob on the white crunchy shells of Pass A Grill beach. Prost!

Really.

He's a funny guy, folks.

The four of us right before the sunset.

I FINALLY WON!

Going...

Gone!

But the best light show came AFTER the sunset!

Todd and Rob played a little catch and the lighting was just so perfect. We sat around and talked until the stars came out before heading back to Largo, but it was so good to see our Massachusetts friends down in Florida!

On our last full day, we went to Splash Harbour Water Park in good old Indian Rocks Beach.

We oddly found (short) chairs in the shade and the other three quickly found tubes and jumped into the lazy river.

We've been here five minutes and they already look like they might melt.

The official photographer of all things Bailey Planet fun spots Nat separated from Todd and Grant in the lazy river.

There are two slides at Splash Harbour (yes, they spell it the British way). The yellow and green slide requires a tube - either a single where you can ride alone, or a double where you can go with someone else. The blue and white is just a slide, no tube required. You can see Todd waiting for the kids to emerge from the green and yellow slide.

Squealing with delight, they ran right back up to the top! I have never actually been on these slides before, but I did this time, and they were hilariously fun! This water park is kind of expensive for just two slides, but they were super fun and definitely worth the money for New Englanders who were melting in the Florida heat on vacation.

They also have food and drinks for sale (including alcohol!) so Todd and Natalie went to grab us some lunch and cold drinks.

You know it's been a good day when this kid had fun. The only thing I think they could improve on here is the walkways. They literally burn everyone's feet. Kids were screaming and crying because their feet were burning. Isn't there a deck type that could be installed so it doesn't burn everyone's feet and you don't need shoes to run around? I imagine people burn their feet every day here.

We went back to Nana's house around mid afternoon to get ready for dinner with Cory, Brie and the kiddos. Hattie didn't want to be in this picture, but LOOK at Grant and James! TWINSIES! And Greta is making the "Nana face!"

Hattie said she would only be in the picture if Mommy was in it too! Did Grant, Natalie and James plan this out? We may never know.

Yay! All of us! Well, minus one. 😢

My mom had plans to go to dinner with Aunt Sara (who was leaving for a month the next day) so only the nine of us went out for Mexican at Carmelita's. Grant was having THE funniest conversations with Hattie, who must have gotten her gift of gab from Pop Pop! She was sitting across from him and telling him all about her favorite Disney movies.

Eventually she moved over to have serious conversations with Natalie!

These two are definitely brothers from another mother.

Meanwhile, Greta and James were deep in conversation with Brie and I, while Grant was on his phone. (Don't worry, I yelled at him about this!)

Ok guys, let's do one nice photo (Hattie is a narwhal here, I can't even remember how that came up!)

Now one ridiculous, silly cousin photo!

This photo was super funny. Cory and I were trying to take a sibling selfie, and Greta jumped in front of us and Cory was like, "Greta, no just Aunt Colleen and I... oh okay whatever..." so he snaps the photo, and neither of us realized Natalie was behind us! These girls definitely conspired to photobomb us!

Might have to finally replace the picture I have of us on the dock in 2002 with this one.

Alas, it was time to say our goodbyes. Our time here was entirely too short, as it always is. Going back to the car, Grant noticed the 4-Play Adult Superstore across the street. His face! (I think he said, "Of course. Because it's Florida.") HA!

Back at Nana's house, I spotted my only Rootie of the week. There used to be a ton at our house in Indian Rocks Beach, but here, I only saw this one all week!

Nana wasn't back from her dinner yet, so the kids wanted to take one more ride around the neighborhood in the golf cart. I love Grant's face in the side mirror ha ha!

We went over to the other pool that is under renovation, and I made them take a pic with their favorite set of wheels.

Our flight back to Boston was delayed by a couple of hours, but we had gotten an alert on my phone so we didn't need to get up as early as we initially thought. We still got the airport early, had some lunch, and then Todd snapped this family end-of-vacation selfie before we boarded the plane.

Goodbye 20th Avenue! My friend Rob says that orbs are spirits of the dead, which is funny because my dad passed away in that house out there, and there's an orb at the top of this picture!