Our Florida vacation.

We were all very excited about our first vacation as a family of 4! We rented a 3 bedroom condo in Clearwater for the week. Caleb kept asking when our "vatation" would start. I will admit, I was worried about the 14+ hour drive we had before us when we left Friday July 8th. But surprisingly, we made it in just over 15 hours and thanks to the van's DVD player it was almost painless! We are all a little tired of Shrek, Toy Story and Finding Nemo though.
Caleb and Elizabeth LOVED the beach. We built sand castles, jumped the waves and took long walks looking for seashells. We didn't even swim in the condo's pool because we all enjoyed the beach and ocean so much. That is a big thing because Blake usually prefers the pool over swimming in the ocean.

Sweet Elizabeth on the beach for the first time.



Mommy and her beach babies.

 Blake always enjoys eating out on vacation and we weren't sure how that would work with both kids in tow. But we chose some great places with outdoor dining and went early to beat the crowds. This proved to be pretty smart and Blake got to eat some yummy "surf and turf" afterall. One of the places we ate at was a great Italian restaurant called Cristino's. They had the best wood fired pizzas and gelato. Caleb got some yummy homemade ravioli too. We got compliments on how well he and Elizabeth behaved which was nice to hear. You just never know how babies and 3 year olds will act in public!

A beautiful sunset....we had one each night.

Me and my handsome boy.

Daddy's girl.

Goofing around and figuring out our new camera.

Our family

 We had planned on visiting the Lowry Zoo in Tampa one day, but with the temperatures being at 90' everyday and no clouds to give relief from the sun, we decided to skip it. Fortunately, Caleb was enthralled with the idea of visitng 2 aquariums instead. We first went to the Clearwater Aquarium. It was a little disappointing because it didn't match the advertisements we had seen for it. There was only one tank with fish and sharks, some sea turtles, otters, sting rays and their famous dolphins. Caleb is so into fish and marine animals that he was pretty vocal about asking where the rest of the "sea creatures" were.




Thursday, Blake and Caleb actually went out deep sea fishing with a local fisherman. Their trip was cut short due to the choppiness of the water, but not before everyone had caught a fish. I felt a little bad because the day before Blake received some pics from his brother Luke showing the big fish he had caught on his own vacation. So after the guys got back and we ate lunch, we headed to Tampa to check out the Florida Aquarium. It was really nice and fulfilled Caleb's desire to see big sharks and lots of sea creatures.

The Wetlands at the aquarium.

Caleb found a comfy spot to watch the fish.

The week was a great chance to be together as a family of 4.  I loved waking up next to the man that loves me and the kids so dearly.  I loved relaxing and watching my babies laugh and play together.  I loved watching the waves and experiencing some of the beautiful landscapes God has created.   I even loved the 18 hours we all spent in the van driving home because we were together and made it home safe.  I am truely blessed and our vacation was a reminder of what a lucky woman I am.

Beach portraits.