Fingers were crossed, prayers were said, Covid tests were taken (remember last year's attempt to go to Florida?) and we healthily hopped on a flight to Tampa in early August!
We weren't sitting in our usual 2 Baileys in front of the other 2 Baileys position, so we forgot to take a selfie before takeoff. Instead, Todd snapped one when we landed!
My mom and I went to get our hair done at Monique's the morning of our first day there, while Todd and the kids hit up the neighborhood pool. In the evening, we went to the Belleair Country Club for dinner. We had to do some shuffling of the cars, and Grant got to drive the golf cart, all dressed up!
We had a great dinner at the Club and had the waitress take our family picture after dinner. Yes, Grant is that tall now. He towers over my mom and Aunt Sara, but only just passed his sister this week, believe it or not (they were the same height at their physical in mid July! Literally two weeks prior to this!) Those new kicks make him *a bit* taller though. Don't think he'll ever pass his dad!
Afterwards, we swung by my mom's old condo, just in time to see a really pretty sunset over Clearwater Beach at low tide!
On Friday, we took the kids out to Honeymoon Island, which is a state park I had never actually been too, despite living here for 18 years.
It's a great beach - not a huge beach, but not overly crowded either. And the water is really green here!
Gotta have beach snacks!
We also enjoyed watching the (thankfully) distant rainstorms that were down toward Clearwater and Hurricane Pass. Interesting story about Hurricane Pass - the island you see across the water is Caladesi Island. Honeymoon and Caladesi used to be connected, but a hurricane in 1921 created a break in the barrier islands (errr um, probably why you should never build structures on barrier islands). Rumor has it that there was a casino in Indian Rocks Beach at the time that got wiped out in that hurricane!
The man loves a good dribble castle! The sand here is very different than the whiter, softer sand down by Clearwater Beach. This sand was much darker and we joked that it was like volcanic sand!
Well, one kid was paying attention. And can I tell you how happy we were that Honeymoon Island had chairs and umbrellas? This was $30 well spent. The cooler and snacks stayed in the shade, and so did the kiddos.
Eventually she emerged from under the umbrella to look for coquinas in the sand.
And they both emerged from the umbrellas to get a little vitamin D. I remember one time Todd and I were out to eat dinner (alone, when the kids were small) in Clearwater, and he looked at me and said, "Man, I'm so glad you didn't grow up in Schenectady!" That has always stayed with me because a) it's funny and b) it's true because I grew up in a beautiful part of the world! (No offense to Schenectady!)
Friday evening, we met up with my amazing friends from middle/high school - Kim and Bethany - for dinner and drinks at Big Storm Brewing (I see what you did there) tap room. Kim was thrilled to finally meet the magical unicorn, which is what she always calls Todd because he's so awesome.
My brother joined us later for a beverage and I forgot how everyone called him by his whole name when we were younger! "Hey, it's Cory Swales!"
This photo is just so funny to me - he really is a magical unicorn! (Although he always gets mad when Kim, Jessica, Tanya and I call him that!) He doesn't think he's that special, but for my dear friends who have spouses who are terrible at marriage, he definitely stands out among the masses!
Saturday was a GREAT day, where the cousins all finally got to hang out after years of not being able to see each other! Greta practically tackled Grant! We even had special appearances by Aunt Sara, Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Dave!
There was charcuterie and cousin discussions to start the afternoon.
There was *gestures hands frantically* THIS.
There were hugs - wait these are my kids, what is going on here?
I think Pop Pop would be proud of his pretty girls.
And his boys too! I know Nana is! The boys with the bluest eyes!
Grant was playing some game on his phone, probably Subway Surfers!
There was also a conga line, led by Miss Hattie, followed by Natalie, who is taller than Aunt Rhonda. The caboose was Greta, who will be taller than Aunt Rhonda very soon!
Todd and Cory cooked a bunch of burgers and dogs for everyone - please note: it was a thousand degrees outside and Todd was enjoying one of my mom's neck fans (those aren't headphones!) Natalie also loves her cousins very much, and memorialized it in a message for everyone!
After everyone left, the kids wanted to drive around the neighborhood on the golf cart, perhaps their favorite past time in Largo. Thankfully the one driving at least has a learner's permit!
OK fine, you guys can go out without an adult. Please don't run anyone over.
And there was a beautiful sunset Saturday evening!
Why does his phone look like his old iPhone 7 took it??? Well, it was cute anyway!
And that concludes part 1 of our trip to Florida!
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