sunshine state!

We weren't really planning on taking another trip this year -- we've kind of had our hands full between our trip to the Upper Peninsula and the state parks project. But through good timing and the hospitality of Barb and Kevin, this sort of fell into our laps. We are staying with Barb and Kevin, so the lodging was covered, and I had enough credit card miles to cover four and a half of our five round-trip tickets, so it was really a no-brainer.

After our late night at Benihana, it was tough to get up super early, but we managed to get everyone out the door on time. Johnny (who was nice enough to give up his own weekend sleep!) drove us to the airport, then took our van back to his house for the duration. We had told (in some cases, reminded) the boys all about how air travel is a whole lot of "hurry up and wait," and that was definitely the case here. We had no trouble getting checked in and through security, but then we had to sit around and wait for a while. We had requested seats all together, but instead they put me with Max in one row, Mike with Liam in another row, and Henry by himself in yet a third row. And of course the plane was totally full. It could have been a bad situation, but luckily for us, the woman they had put with me and Max was willing to trade with Henry so we could all be together.

Henry was a total champ for his first plane ride! He and Max looked out the window a lot, read some books, played games together, and just generally were model passengers. It was a smooth flight, too. We landed in Tampa around noon, then had to go through the whole process of picking up our rental car, then we made our way to Sarasota, where Barb and Kevin were waiting for us.

 

We've never stayed in a place with a pool before, so this felt like a real luxury. The boys were completely thrilled to be able to walk outside and dive in, so that's how we spent the rest of the afternoon. Then Barb and Kevin took us to dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, Phillippi Creek, and treated us to a delicious dinner by the water while the sun went down. When they were finished eating, I took the boys down to the docks to look for alligators, and it turns out we just missed one! The other diners were all excited because they had just seen one not too far away. But the view of the sky more than made up for it.