We have been home from vacation for two weeks now and the boys are finishing up their second week of school. I have finally taken the time to sort through our vacation pictures to pick the best for my vacation update.
We had a WONDERFUL trip. We left after Tom got home from work on a Wednesday night, swung by to pick up two of my sisters (Adriane and Molly) and we headed for Tierra Verde (south of St. Petersburg). We pulled out of their driveway at 7:20 p.m. I drove until we got to the other side of Atlanta and then Tom took over. After several bathroom/caffeine stops and stops for dinner and breakfast, we made it to the condo before noon on Thursday. We got rained on a little on the way there, but soon after arriving, the rain stopped. After a brief rest, we headed down the road to Ft. De Soto Beach. It was the first time our boys had seen the ocean.
It was overcast, but we still had a good afternoon. Soon after getting there Blake found part of a sand dollar.
Tom likes to refer to this next picture as the boys' "Baywatch" run. They've never seen the show though!
After the beach, we were ready for some seafood. While we were waiting on my sisters to get ready for dinner, Blake took this picture of me and Tom. It's one of my favorites from the trip.
After dinner we drove around the area and found a beach I'd read about online - Pass-A-Grille. Our timing was perfect - we got to see the sunset. I was happy to have my sisters with us or else we wouldn't have near as many good family shots of the four of us together. 
After we left the beach, we found a great ice cream shot. I took pictures of everyone eating their cones, but Kevin had the best shot. (That's the end of his cone sticking out of his mouth in case you couldn't tell!)
The next day we went to Pass-A-Grille to swim. The beach is basically made up of shells. It was something else!
We drove about an hour the next day to Siesta Key. That was my favorite beach. The sand is like powdered sugar. It was amazing! We actually ended up spending two days there. The first day my sisters stayed behind at the condo, so we took them back the next day with us. The water was clear and you could walk out pretty far without it being deep which was good for me and Kevin. Tom also bought us a tube at Siesta Key. We all enjoyed it.
Before our trip, Kevin said he wanted to find a crab on the beach. There were plenty of pretty shells at Siesta Key, but you had to be careful because a lot of them were "homes" to something still alive. I am happy to say that Kevin did find a crab living in the shell on the mat in the photo above.
We also took in a game of putt-putt in St. Pete. Tom won and I came in second beating Blake by just one. Kevin likes to brag that he had the highest score - 89!
We woke up early one morning and made the drive (less than 2 hours) to Orlando for a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth. We had visited all four Disney parks in October 2005. This trip, we stayed at a Hilton on-site and shuttled over to the Magic Kingdom for two days. It was the first time my sisters had ever been to Disney. Blake and Kevin were excited to play tour guide for them.
The tea cups are a favorite of mine. Blake rode with me and Tom, but Kevin wanted to ride with Adriane adn Molly whenever he could.
All three boys (yes, Tom included!) LOVED the Buzz Lightyear ride. As always, Tom was the champ.
On on first day at Disney we were able to hit almost all of the rides, plus see the evening parade after watching the fireworks from Splash Mountain (that was cool!). We took it easy the second day and hit what we missed and what we wanted to see again. We left the park before having dinner and went to Benihana back at our hotel. Tom had been to one before, but none of the rest of us had. It was so much fun!
My boys ate with chopsticks! (They did better than I did!)
I had the best drink of the drink - the Karate Colada - mmmm!
As seen in this last shot...you can't take Blake and Kevin anywhere without having fun!
It was overcast, but we still had a good afternoon. Soon after getting there Blake found part of a sand dollar.
Tom likes to refer to this next picture as the boys' "Baywatch" run. They've never seen the show though!
After the beach, we were ready for some seafood. While we were waiting on my sisters to get ready for dinner, Blake took this picture of me and Tom. It's one of my favorites from the trip.
After dinner we drove around the area and found a beach I'd read about online - Pass-A-Grille. Our timing was perfect - we got to see the sunset. I was happy to have my sisters with us or else we wouldn't have near as many good family shots of the four of us together. 
After we left the beach, we found a great ice cream shot. I took pictures of everyone eating their cones, but Kevin had the best shot. (That's the end of his cone sticking out of his mouth in case you couldn't tell!)
The next day we went to Pass-A-Grille to swim. The beach is basically made up of shells. It was something else!
We drove about an hour the next day to Siesta Key. That was my favorite beach. The sand is like powdered sugar. It was amazing! We actually ended up spending two days there. The first day my sisters stayed behind at the condo, so we took them back the next day with us. The water was clear and you could walk out pretty far without it being deep which was good for me and Kevin. Tom also bought us a tube at Siesta Key. We all enjoyed it.
Before our trip, Kevin said he wanted to find a crab on the beach. There were plenty of pretty shells at Siesta Key, but you had to be careful because a lot of them were "homes" to something still alive. I am happy to say that Kevin did find a crab living in the shell on the mat in the photo above.
We also took in a game of putt-putt in St. Pete. Tom won and I came in second beating Blake by just one. Kevin likes to brag that he had the highest score - 89! We woke up early one morning and made the drive (less than 2 hours) to Orlando for a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth. We had visited all four Disney parks in October 2005. This trip, we stayed at a Hilton on-site and shuttled over to the Magic Kingdom for two days. It was the first time my sisters had ever been to Disney. Blake and Kevin were excited to play tour guide for them. 
The tea cups are a favorite of mine. Blake rode with me and Tom, but Kevin wanted to ride with Adriane adn Molly whenever he could.
All three boys (yes, Tom included!) LOVED the Buzz Lightyear ride. As always, Tom was the champ.
On on first day at Disney we were able to hit almost all of the rides, plus see the evening parade after watching the fireworks from Splash Mountain (that was cool!). We took it easy the second day and hit what we missed and what we wanted to see again. We left the park before having dinner and went to Benihana back at our hotel. Tom had been to one before, but none of the rest of us had. It was so much fun! 
My boys ate with chopsticks! (They did better than I did!)
I had the best drink of the drink - the Karate Colada - mmmm!
As seen in this last shot...you can't take Blake and Kevin anywhere without having fun!It was a great trip. I can't wait to scrap it!
5 comments:
Looks like you had an awesome time! We don't have beaches like that in Oregon! Great pictures!
Amy, looks like you guys had a blast! Great pictures of the four of you. I love the mickey hats! So fun!
Great trip report and lovely photos.
While looking at some of the links to entries in Becky Flec's vacation contest, I came upon your blog. I'm so glad I did! You have some great pages in here--and I love your family photos too! I'll be back for more!
Amy, looks like you had a great time down here in sunny Florida! I love all of the beach shots and the "baywatch" ones were too funny!!
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