Florida Vacation

This is going to be a long post with lots of pictures, just a fair warning. We had THE best time in Florida this month and we were pretty sad to come home to work and school and Philly weather (High of 70 degrees yesterday and no sunshine. I was appalled). We left for Florida early on a Thursday morning and the airport was packed. So much so that we actually missed out flight waiting in line to check our bags with the airline. Luckily they booked us on a direct flight one hour later and Russell was a trooper despite waking up at 4 AM. He loved the plane and was entertained the whole time with the window, the tray table, and the people sitting around us. 

We spent the first few days at Ricardo's parents' farm. Russell had a great time running around with his cousins. He also ate a lot of watermelon:

8 of the 9 grandkids went to the beach one day with Ricardo and I and Ricardo's parents. It was crazy keeping track of everyone but also a lot of fun. Russell LOVED the beach. It was so fun to see him chasing seagulls and laughing whenever the waves came in. We love our Florida beaches.

   "He did it!"

We took Russell to his first splash park with some newlywed friends of ours. It was fun to eat lunch with them and see their new house and then take Russell to the park. He enjoyed it and especially enjoyed the undivided attention of four adults.

After a few days with Ricardo's family we headed to my house and left Russell with my mom for a few days so we could go on our 5 year anniversary trip to west Florida. I was nervous about leaving him at first but my mom clearly had plenty of toys and they got along great while we were gone:

We spent the first night at Ricardo's brother's new house in Tampa. Sadly we didn't take any pictures with them. Their house is great and they were such wonderful hosts. It was so fun to see their cute town and spend time with their fun boys. The next day we did some shopping and then stopped by LECOM's dental school to see a few friends since it was on our way south.

 We spent the next few days at the beach in Siesta Key/Venice Beach. It was so nice to just relax and have no obligations. We went on our honeymoon to the same place and we took a picture with this same statue five years ago. We had dinner near here one night so we couldn't resist another photo op. Can you tell which one is which?

We enjoyed some fun local restaurants including this cute and delicious French restaurant.

We had the best time on our "second honeymoon" but we missed Russell so it was fun to see him after three days without him. We spent the rest of our trip at my parents' house.

Reading books with Grandma. Looks like I'm the one being read to, not Russell.

We did meet up with Russell's cousins again at the Orlando Science Center thanks to Ricardo's sister. Russell had a lot of fun.

He's really into hats right now.

Digging for dinosaur bones.

Russell liked baby Emmeline a lot more this time around.

My poor mom pushed Russell around in this little car A LOT. He obviously takes driving very seriously.

We did the park and another splash pad day with my parents. Russell loves being outside and he loves water. Florida was a win-win.

"The swing is so boring Mom."

That face...

Grandpa made it into a picture!

We got together with an old high school friend for crepes at another old high school friend's new restaurant. It was very cute. We walked around downtown Orlando afterward.

The pool was obviously another success. It was a little cold for me but Russell could really care less.

Until next time Florida. We love you.