Our Florida trip started very early on a Friday morning...as in, the adults got up at 4:30 am, I think. Our flight left Bloomington at 6:45, and we got there in plenty of time. Nora and Tirzah slept the whole flight! Once we got in Atlanta, we ate some breakfast and settled in for our 5 1/2 hour layover.
Nora being very cool with her Starbucks and iPod. (Actually, it was MY Starbucks...I think it was a salted caramel frappuccino or something like that...not much coffee flavor and lots of sugar. No wonder she liked it!)
Katy loaned us her iPod so each kid could have one...it worked great. :)
Max can attest that 5 1/2 hours is a very long time to be in an airport...unfortunately we had to wake him up from this nap to get on the airplane! On the flight from Atlanta to Sarasota, we hit a HUGE 'bump' in the sky...we're talking a loud noise (Greg thought the wing was going to fall off for a second), the lady next to me (not wearing her seatbelt) getting thrown into my lap, people screaming when it happened. One of the flight attendants said, "It takes a lot to scare me....and THIS scared me."
Not surprisingly, it scared me, too. I was a wreck the rest of the flight; every tiny movement up or down made me feel like I was going to puke. I am not sure when I have ever felt as relieved as I did when we started our descent and finally landed. It's a good thing we were staying in Florida for 8 days...I might not have gotten back on a plane any earlier than that. :)
BUT, we did make it. And it was rainy and humid and warm and wonderful in Florida. We were pretty overdressed in our long sleeves, jeans, and jackets. We got settled into our hotel and everyone but me and Tirzah went out to see the beach for the first time. It felt so good just to be there and hear the ocean!
Traveling can wear you out!
Max at the beach Saturday morning...the first shell finding excursion!
Saturday morning we walked all around St. Armand's Circle and visited the shops. Max found a friend!
One place we went was called Le Macaron. I've never had one before, so we got a box to try. Aren't they pretty?
Nora wanted a pink one...
...so Max did, too.
The kids did pretty good for shopping all morning...it helped that there were statues and things to look at.
That evening we drove out to Siesta Key to see the white sand beaches and watch the sunset.
Cloudy, but pretty!
On Sunday we went to Sarasota church and enjoyed seeing people we remembered from two years ago...it was even their Sunday School wiener roast that night, just like last time! Unfortunately, our kids fell asleep pretty late for their naps, and I was not about to wake them up. We ended up going in to downtown Sarasota for supper that night, at a place called Tropical Thai. They had very impressive carved wooden tables...but even more impressive than that, Max and Nora ate the tempura shrimp and loved it!
Yum!
Monday morning Greg went out on the beach hunting for shells again. Me, Nora, and Tirzah joined him later.
Quite a haul of sand dollars!
He also found a live clam, starfish, and two (I think) lightning whelks. These things were huge...look at them next to Nora's feet!
We walked along the beach, and all of a sudden the heavens opened and the rains came down...Tirzah was not impressed as I tried to run across the sand to the safety of the hotel across the street. We were all completely soaked, Nora's hair was drenched, and Tirzah had water running down her face despite my best efforts to cover her up. It was memorable!
Max and Nora snuggling with Tirzah once the girls were warm and dry
We switched hotels on Monday, and Tirzah was so tired she just fell asleep on the bed while we were packing up!
We went to the Mote Aquarium once we left the hotel and saw some cool sharks.
Max tried to hard to pet the stingrays...I think he did eventually touch one.
Pretty lily pads in the turtle pond
Max's new favorite animal: The "am-in-tee!" He got a stuffed baby manatee in the gift shop and it has become his new best friend. :)
As always, the turtles were fun to see, too.
Near the aquarium is a bird sanctuary called Save Our Seabirds. It was pretty interesting...I'm not even sure how many types of birds they had!
Nora and the pelican
We loved seeing all the gorgeous flowers in bloom.
Nora, saying, "I flying! I flying!"
Monday was Halloween, and for supper we decided to eat on St. Armand's Circle again. We chose Crab & Fin, and when we got there they said it was an hour wait. No problem, we just walked around for a while. Apparently, Halloween is a big deal on the Circle. Adults and kids alike dress up, local businesses compete in dressing up the statues around the circle, and most businesses hand out candy to the trick-or-treating kids.
Not sure if this statue won or not, but it should have. The dragon blew smoke! Max was quite impressed.
When we were seated at the restaurant, we had a perfect table: the corner of the outside patio. Our waiter was dressed as an Angry Bird, much to Max's delight (he really was excited, don't let the picture fool you), and we just sat and watched everyone walk by. An interesting night to people watch!
Tuesday we finally got out to the beach club. Tirzah was super impressed, as you can see.
There we go! Loving the warmth in her cute little swimsuit!
On Wednesday we took a Sea life Encounter boat tour (or something like that)...and to our delight, we saw dolphins!
I think it was a momma and baby catching fish.
One even came right up close to our boat!
As part of the tour, we stopped on a small uninhabited island to learn about the mangrove trees and to look for creatures on the shore.
Max liked it!
I found a dead jellyfish on the beach...I had to ask our guide if it was really a jellyfish or just a blob of sea goo.
This is a crab molt...when it comes time to change shells, the whole crab just backs out of the shell, leaving it on the beach!
Another huge lightning whelk (I think)
A stone crab molt...these crabs were in season, so you'll see later on that I got stone crab at a restaurant. They only harvest the claws of these creatures, then send them back into the sea. The crab goes into hiding down in the sand, and 6 months or so later, it has two new claws!
Max got to hold a star fish.
After the island excursion, our guide put a net in the water and hauled it onto the boat to talk about the fish and creatures we caught. I wish we had a picture of the aquarium on the boat...it was pretty full by the time she got the net emptied!
This is a lizard fish...kind of ugly.
This is called a cow fish...it was really cute! It's body is hard, almost like a shell. I'm sure we had a picture of Max holding the baby cow fish, but I cannot find it and am afraid it was accidentally erased somehow. :(
After the boat tour and lunch, it was back to the beach club! The kids loved the 1 ft. kiddie pool.
Even Tirzah got in!
Happy baby.
Nora said she was "feeding the cows" with her red bucket.
I think I took a picture of Tirzah nearly every time she took a nap...she was just so cute!
For supper that night we ate at Tango, where Nora was very excited about her noodles and butter...
...and I was excited about my lobster ravioli!
To be continued...
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