Florida!

I know that this is very old news now, but I was waiting for some additional pictures and since this will probably be our last vacation to St. Pete with everyone, at least for a while, I wanted to make sure I posted it. 

Our trip to Florida was fun and exhausting, as usual!

We stayed at a different place this time for the first time since I was in middle school. The Florida Dolphin was sold, and they increased the price significantly. Even so, Harmony and her family were going to stay there, but they "lost" their reservation. They drove all the way down and had to figure out where to stay once they got there.

Luckily, they found a nice place right off the beach, and we were able to "camp out" there on July 4th for a perfect view of the fireworks.

We found a nice two-bedroom condo in a building with just 20 units, so the pool was never crowded, which was nice. It was also a private building with a code, so there was added security. The price for that was about the same price for the one-bedroom at the Dolphin once they increased the price, and this place was much nicer and newer.

For the first two nights, we were there with Ben and his kids, so there was lots of good cousin time, including a fun cousin sleepover (when the siblings and spouses had our own night out...thanks to grandmommy for being so brave)!

Things calmed down a little after they left, but we had a constant stream of family and friends (who are like family) coming to visit.

Newlyweds Debbie and Mike came to see us. We got some good time with Greta, Kellie, Emma and Mia. Mr. McKinnon, Rachel, Cameron and Mia came too. And of course we can't forget the beautiful Leila and her family. Leila came back several times and was a huge hit with all three kids! I did not get to see as much of Lynn this time because she is moving, which makes me very sad. We also were able to briefly see my mom's friends, Cathy and John. Cathy's health is not good right now, so the time with her was especially important.

Karyssa became an absolute fish during the time we were there. She swims so well now! Kyran is almost there, but still wanted to use his puddle jumper, and I felt much more comfortable with that.

Gemma has no fear when it comes to the water. She loved to jump in, get dunked and just play in the pool.

They also all love the ocean, but I'm not the biggest fan, so we didn't spend a lot of time there. Jason and Karyssa did take a couple of morning shell-hunting trips, though!

July 4th was amazing, as usual! The St. Pete Beach fireworks display doesn't disappoint, and the weather stayed nice all day long!

The highlight of the trip for me (other than seeing the kids have so much fun) was my surprise HELICOPTER RIDE! When I lived in San Francisco, I really wanted to go ride a helicopter through the Grand Canyon. I wasn't able to do that, but Jason surprised me with the next best thing - a helicopter ride over St. Petersburg! I will put the rest of those photos in another post.

We had planned a dolphin-watching speedboat tour, but the boat needed repairs that day, so we weren't able to go. We did get to see some baby alligators on a nature walk.

And, of course, ate plenty of ice cream and cousin time!