Florida Continued

That obnoxious vacation picture of feet on sand :) But isn't it a cute picture?!

We are on a treasure hunt here. The kids were SO into it, it was really fun. Joe ran ahead, buried some 'treasure' and marked it with an X. 

The sand never got old.

Silas found this boogie board in our condo and it entertained him for days. 

Sand castles and feathers as treasures.

The convention was at a hotel down the street so we spent the day at the pool while dad was inside stuck in a banquet room all day.

Kites. Absolute hit! Until they got tangled....

One afternoon we headed to Pier 60 (Clearwater's tourist central) and invested in a pirate ship ride. Two hours in a decked out pirate ship where the staff dressed as pirates. The adventure was geared for kids and right up Silas' alley. They had a treasure hunt, pirate stories, face painting, snacks, water gun fights and a dance party. We even spotted some dolphins.

The staff pulled Joe aside and asked him to be Peg Leg Pete to fit into their story. I wondered where he disappeared to (figured he was chit chatting with some stranger....). 

All the kids squirting Peg Leg 

Her prince :)

Across from our condo was a mini golf course. It was pirate themed so, of course, Silas was all about it.  This was the first time the kids had golfed, and they did well, considering. Silas caught on a lot faster, but Veda was content dragging the ball in the hole with her club.

Silas didn't quite understand that it was typical for it to take a few puts to get it in the hole. So whenever anyone would putt and would miss (like, not get a hole in one) he would say, "Ahhh, you missed!"  Every time! :)

The kids slept like rocks at night. And on this particular day I convinced them to nap. This was the pull out couch that was right next to the sliding door out to the balcony. Between the light breeze and the sound of the ocean these two napped for hours. I tried to join them, but believe it or not this pull-out bed was too uncomfortable for this pregnant lady.

 Love!

Cabana fun. 

 Across the street was a cute coffee shop. Indian Shores Coffee. And lucky for me they had delicious gluten free muffins fresh daily. 

"Hey Joe can you take my picture with the kids?"  

On our last day we had to check out at 10am but our flight wasn't until 4pm. So we packed up and went to the public beach for a few hours before we headed to the airport. Veda crashed on the chair. We all came home with goopy faces and smelling like sunscreen, but it was all worth it.

As a side note. If I can avoid it in the future I will never not book a direct flight while traveling with kids. Whatever we saved in points by doing a connecting flight wasn't worth it. The kids were rockstars, they really were, but it's just nuts traveling in general and then add hungry kids, hungry parents, numerous potty breaks (where the kids want to do everything BY THEM SELVES (locking and unlocking the bathroom door, peeing, washing hands, drying hands...it's a long process!), zero electronics (forgot the dvd player), packed flights, delayed flights, late night landings, popping ears, hurting feet/kids not wanting to walk, and then there is always 'something', it's par for the vacation, right? Like a car rental issue, a car seat rental issue, waiting longer for a shuttle than anticipated, oh, we can't take our HUGE double jogger stroller in the airport and we have to check it? May as well left it at home. I also tried to avoid an early morning flight (kids getting up at 4am doesn't sound appealing), but instead we left a day early (Friday late afternoon, arrived late Friday night) and I had to find a dingy motel by the airport for that night because we couldn't check into our condo until Saturday afternoon. So we took a shuttle from the airport to the motel at 11pm, got the the motel starving...all they had were vending machines. Thankfully some greasy place down the road delivered until midnight. So fries it was. Then we had to be up and out of there in the morning, waiting in the lobby for 40 minutes with the kids for the shuttle to go back to the airport to stand in line for 30 minutes and pick up our rental car. At that point the 4am wake up time sounded more appealing. Total first world problems, so true. But someday we'll look back at this vacation and laugh :) But for real, it was a splendid time and worth every little headache and marital quarrel that came along with it. The sunshine on our faces and our feet on the beach, to die for....especially in the midst of the coldest winter EVER in the history of my life. It was a nice break from winter coats and snow boots.. We feel very blessed to have been able to get away and travel. And if this next baby is an easy going, laid back, great sleeper and traveler then we hope to see Clearwater again next year!