Florida 2013

Have to get a picture at the Juice Store

Chilling pool side

Mini- golfing

Alligator pond at mini-golf

Feeding the alligators

Let's feed some gators

 Gotta love Florida!  We spent the week with Nate's parents and had a relaxing vacation.  Dad had to work, but was able to get out early in the afternoons.  We had an interesting trip on the way down.  We got to Midway and learned our tickets had been cancelled. Say what?!  While I kept the kids occupied Nate figured out how to get our tickets, thankfully we got on our original flight.  We had two flights down and the kids did great.  Julia had a cold so her ears hurt a little. I gave her Dramamine on the car ride to the airport.  When we got out of the car she couldn't really walk straight.  Guess I should have reduced the dosage!   Stephen didn't seem to have any ear issues.  On Sunday we went to church but Julia didn't last long as her stomach was hurting and she had a fever.  I took her home and she threw up, doh!  By the afternoon she perked up and was ready to go swimming.  Maybe it was residual travel effects?  The rest of the week we swam in the pool, when to Ft. Myers Beach and went to Sanibel Island.  Stephen was not a fan of the beach.  Probably the combination of wind and sun.  He did like splashing his toes in the pool.  The kids saw some dolphins in the ocean which was cool.  We let them use their spending money in Florida and Caleb bought a snorkel set.  He spent the rest of the time snorkeling around the pool, it was funny to watch.  Isaac bought a wooden sword and a grabbing claw, not sure how to describe it.  Julia picked out a dress.  The kids loved hanging out at the grandparents house and playing with all the old toys.  Isaac really likes Uncle Pete's old toys.  I'm doing a couch to 5K workout and it was so nice to run in Florida where it was warm!  Running wasn't completely painful.  It was also wonderful to sit and read books during the week, not something I get to do often.  Mom and Dad enjoyed seeing Stephen again, he's changed alot since Christmas!  Stephen is at a fun age where he laughs and makes numerous baby noises.  Julia loves hanging out with her Grandpa, we got alot of pictures of them together.  Although she had to be reminded that Grandpa doesn't like to talk at breakfast, ha!  Grandma had her playdoh, crafts and books on hand.  Mom and Dad watched the kids one night so we could go out for dinner.  We went to Doc Fords and enjoyed sitting outside and having uninterrupted conversation.  We had a long day of travelling home with two flights and a 4 hour layover in Atlanta.  The kids did really well though.  After we were home a couple days we realized we left one of our bags at the parking garage in Chicago- ahh!  Thankfully my parents were going to Chicago later in the week and they picked it up for us.  I guess that is what happens when you have 4 tired, hungry kids and you just want to get in your car as fast as possible. Even though we were sad about not getting to do Mexico with my family, we were thankful for the opportunity to see Nate's parents again.  And any day now Isaac is going to start asking, "when are we going to Florida?"  I swear that kid is going to live down there someday.