Oh how I love Florida! We’ve recently decided to make a yearly trip to Florida with our family a tradition. This was our third time visiting, and it was our best experience so far. We went during a time of year where the weather was fantastic. Not a drop of rain showed up throughout our entire 11 day holiday, and the temperature every day was hot, but not really that humid.
As any parent can attest, vacation with 2 little ones is limiting. With Reese napping twice a day and Stella still desperately needing her afternoon nap, our adventures were on the mild side. Nonetheless, our days were full of fun, and by the end of each day the girls were POOPED!
We spent one day visiting the outlet malls which was fun. Somehow we spent most of our money on stuff for our kids and not ourselves… funny how that happens. It’s an outdoor outlet mall, so the girls were happy to ride in their strollers and watch the world go by while Matt and I shopped and chatted about life.
A few glorious mornings we spent at the beach. Reese loved the way the sand felt on her toes and her fingers, and she looked so darn cute in her bathing suit I could hardly take it! She sat and played in the sand for almost the entire morning on both occasions. Stella adores the water and sand, and spent the whole time working up a sweat. Stella and I dug a deep hole in the sand, and she immediately set her heart on filling that hole with water. Obviously, each bucket of water that she dumped in the hole quickly disappeared, but that didn’t discourage her. She continued to collect water and pour it in that hole for what seemed like forever until I distracted her onto another task… making sand castles with Daddy! But even then, the moat needed to be filled with water… it was a never ending task. Loved to watch her working away so intently.
I cannot possibly count how many times we visited the pool while we were there. It was about a 5 minute walk to the pool from where we were staying, so Stella would often hitch a ride on her Daddy’s shoulders to get there faster!
Everyday we spent at least a little bit of time in the pool, and some days we went swimming with the girls on two separate occasions. Those days made for early bedtime and sound nighttime sleeps. Reese loved the water. She was so happy just to sit in her floaty thing and watch everything going on around her. There was a few times when both Reese and Stella would “jump” off the side of the pool and make a big splash. Reese was so excited to be playing alongside her big sister! Stella became even more of a fish while we were there as her Daddy (the swimming instructor) pushed her to grow as a swimmer. As the mother, there were times where I had to just look away as he would throw her 6 feet in the air and then come splashing down and under the water until he’d scoop her up and she’d take a deep breath in and say, “again.” Her willingness to participate in these kinds of shenanigans would give me peace of mind. Stella learned to do what she calles “dive” in the water, which is characterized by her holding her breath and dunking her head under water, and then popping back up for air. I was given many lessons by her concerning this method of “diving,” and according to her, still have much room for improvement.
FOOD: We went and ate at some of our favorite restaurants including the famous Cheesecake Factory, The Olive Garden, Tommy Bahamas, and Yabba City Grill. One of my favorite food’s was the coconut shrimp at Tommy Bahamas… SO GOOD!
The restaurant Tommy Bahamas is located in a beautiful part of town where we walked around after dinner. The trees are all beautifully lit up, and there is live music playing outside (which Stella LOVED dancing to).
The Yabba City Grill restaurant was really yummy as well. They are famous for their crab, so of course we got their crab cakes as an appetizer. They did not disappoint. Stella’s favorite part of this restaurant was not the food, but meeting the alligator statue out front.
The last note on the food department concerns the best ice-cream I’ve ever tasted in my life. It comes from this place called Kilwins, and the flavour is “toasted coconut.” To say this ice-cream is amazing would be an understatement. It’s too good for words.
As you can see, Stella agrees.
Our time in Florida was amazing. Not because of the place we were in, but because of the time we spent together as a family. I thank God for experiences like these were we can grow together as a family. I am so blessed!
