Fun in Florida!

We had a fabulous time visiting Doug's dad, Larry, in Florida! Wow, what a great place to visit! As Aidan said on the morning we left, "Can't we just stay for 5 more days?"

This was my first trip to Florida, as well as the kids', but Doug has been there a few times. We picked Aidan up from school a little early on Thursday and drove to the airport. Our first flight left a little after 5 pm, so the kids had a quick dinner before we boarded and I grabbed a sandwich for Doug and I to share on the plane. We tried to travel light so the three kids just had one small backpack of things to entertain them on the plane. Mostly, the boys enjoyed listening to their MP3 players.

We arrived in West Palm Beach around 10:30. Aidan exclaimed, "It feels like a hot tub here!" It took forrrrrever to get our car rental so the kids were exhausted by the time we got on the road to drive to Okeechobee. We had three sleeping kiddos to carry into the hotel around 1 am.

Friday morning, the kids slept in till 9:15, then we rushed to the breakfast room where Larry was waiting for us. They were so excited to see Grrrrandpa. First on their agenda- hit the pool! Their plan was to swim an hour before and after lunch every day and we managed to make to stick to that plan with a few other activities wedged in. Larry took them on lots of laps around his campground on his tandem recumbent bike. The guys all played a round of mini-golf while Ella and I took her afternoon nap.





We dined on local treats like Blue Clam Corn Chowder, Shrimp, Grits and Gator Tail for lunch from Skip Jack's Southern Seafood. We had a great time at Lightsey's Fish Co. for dinner. The kids loved the decor and the food was awesome, too. We started with Frog Legs and I had Cooter (turtle) and Scallops, while Doug had a huge steamed seafood plate full of food.









Saturday, we hit the hotel hot tub and pool in the morning, then drove out to an orange grove to show the boys citrus farming. I forgot my camera in Larry's RV, so I didn't get any photos there. We had lunch at a fabulous Italian deli, Chef Buddy's in Lake Placid, then headed back for more swimming with Grandpa.

We had an early morning departure flight, so we decided to drive back to Palm Beach for the night and hit the beach before the sun went down. We are so glad we decided to do that, the boys just LOVED the beach! The water was so warm and the weather was just perfect. I took a ton of photos on the beach, so I will post those in a separate entry. By the time we were ready to head to the hotel, the boys were drenched and caked in sand. I had to sit them on a trash bag in the car, then march them straight to the restroom when we got there to strip them down and try to clean them off enough to be seen in public. LOL

We ordered in a pizza, took showers and relaxed watching Goosebumps movies on TV until bedtime. We had to drag ourselves out of bed at 6 am to get packed, eat, the car returned and on our flight home. After a long day of traveling we were happy to get home and chill out the rest of the day.




It was a whirlwind trip, but so much fun! Thanks for the vacation, Larry!