Vacation continues! Kevin was gone for the first few days of this week, but we continued our daily trips to the beach where Finn loved making holes in the sand to fill with water (and splash of course) and various sand sculptures with Grandpa and Grandma (who did most of the work!). The weather continues to be perfect – warm and sunny. 
Griffin snapped this pic during our walk for shells – I think it’s great!
Even though you’d think vacation is full of rest – this boy did not take many naps! He did crash pretty hard a couple of days, or he’d fall asleep within two minutes of getting in the car to go to dinner a couple times! He’s been a big snuggler for quite awhile now, especially at night time but at naps too. He just wants to “snuggle” for a bit before he gets into bed. Warms my heart :).
We continue to enjoy daily trips to the pool where Finn loves to float using the noodles and also jump in from the edge. I’ve included a few videos too. 
My friend Sarah’s parents have a house in Siesta Key, about 5 minutes from Mom and Dad’s condo. So I called Mrs. Huff and we arranged a meetup at their house. It was lots of fun – they had a spread of fruits and snacks for us and I think Griffin ate at least 3 plate fulls of fruit and crackers. He is definitely growing. Finn loved playing with Bella too. 
We ventured to Venice one afternoon for a bit of shopping and lunch. Afterwards we went to Casperson Beach, a beach that is known for being able to find Shark Teeth. While we didn’t find any ourselves (we didn’t have any real equipment that is best for shelling) a kind stranger gave us two she had found along with a piece that she said she’s read could be part of the jaw. Finn was super excited! 
After a yummy lunch it’s back to our regular shenanigans of the beach and pool. 
Kevin returned very late on Wednesday night after a close call missing his connecting flight in Atlanta. There were harsh thunderstorms and his flight from Columbus circled north of Atlanta for an hour! By the time they landed and jogged to his connecting flight and got on just in time to depart! Whew! That also meant he got in just in time to pickup our rental car before the agency closed for the night. Yay. We headed out for breakfast on Thursday morning and then went on to Turtle Beach at the far end of Siesta Key. It is crazy to see how different the beaches are within the same island! This beach had larger shells and was much more shallow (from land to the water) and the water color was very different. It was a fun exploration. We then decided to head to check out where my Grandma Kirk used to live in Sarasota. We drove by her condo and through her old neighborhood. It all looks just as I remember (and I even remembered the address!). Then we headed for an ice cream treat at Albritton’s, the orchard and retail stop that we would frequent when we visited my Grandma. We’d always get the orange soft serve ice cream cone. Tasted the same now as it did then!
Finn has recently become very interested in coloring, and more specifically coloring within the lines! He just kind of slipped the switch and colors amazingly well for his age (I think!). He is so proud when he is done! He’s also gotten quite good at spelling Finn 🙂
Finn loved playing with his scuba diver and shark that he got at the children’s store in Venice. They were used as beach toys, shower toys, pool toys, they went everywhere with us!
Our last trip to Siesta Beach on Friday called for the biggest sand castle yet! Complete with a moat, multiple stories, sand castle drippings, and bird feather top!
On the last day of vacation Dad got his waterproof camera charged and working again so we were able to get some fun water pics. 
Cheers to our last dinner with Mom and Dad at Carrabba’s!
Saturday morning Mom and Dad headed home for Ohio bright and early at 5 am! We slept in a bit and then headed out ourselves, stopping first for breakfast at The Broken Egg. It was delish (I had Bananas Foster Pancakes!) and I bought the cute little mug as a keepsake too. 
We drove north to Orlando for our Disneyworld adventure. We had only told Finn about it a day or two before so he was pretty excited. Kevin found an awesome deal online for our hotel – the advantage of waiting until 3 days before arriving to book a place! It turned out to be a great hotel. We filled up on a good lunch in our room and then headed downstairs to the awesome pool area. At 5 pm the hotel opens up a complimentary happy hour with drinks and snacks. It even included cotton candy so Finn was super excited about that. 
The next morning we were up and at ’em early. We had a tasty breakfast at the hotel and then got in our car to head to Disney’s Magic Kingdom which was about a 15 minute drive. We had excellent parking and walked to the monorail to get to Magic Kingdom. Finn was taking it all in!
Our first ride at Magic Kingdom – It’s a Small World! Griffin loved it and throughout the day just kept asking if we could ride it again!
Though you can’t hardly tell, the sign says “Goodbye Kevin & Megan” and then “goodbye Finn”. We had used our Fast Passes for the ride so I assume that’s how our name was on the board. We almost missed it!
Griffin was able to meet Mickey Mouse! Here we are waiting in line and then he got his own private turn with Mickey! He was pretty bashful but I think he enjoyed it. And he loved talking about it afterward. 
We ended the evening with the fireworks show and then dinner. We nearly missed being able to buy Finn a keepsake as the Emporium was “closed” but fortunately Kevin found us a side door in and we were able to get Finn a toy. Of all the lovies he chose Lady, another dog, to take home!
We rode the ferry back to the parking lot and then hopped in our car and headed to the hotel. It was late – almost 10:30 pm – and we all were exhausted!
You can’t tell by the looks of their faces but this picture was taken at 4:45 in the morning at the airport! We’ve been looking forward to our trip to Florida for a really long time! Our day started really early as we woke up at 3:20 am (after having turned the lights out at 1:30 am) to begin our trek. We gave Lily and Brutus a small bit of breakfast, packed up the car with our bags, and took off for the airport. This is the least amount of baggage we’ve ever taken on a trip! Kevin and Finn shared a suitcase, I had one, and Finn had a small roller bag with his lovies and blanket and books and such in it. Kevin had his briefcase and I had a purse and that was it! So we didn’t check any bags for this flight. I was pretty impressed, I honestly didn’t think we’d make that happen. Griffin was excited for this plane ride, it is his second one, and he was all smiles once we got on the plane. It was still dark out (we departed at 6 am) so we couldn’t see too much but he got the window seat anyhow. He didn’t nap at all on the flight, instead he played games and watched a couple shows on his tablet. 
When we arrived in Ft. Myers it was cloudy and raining. Mom and Dad picked us up at the airport and we headed toward Siesta Key, stopping for breakfast (which seemed like the lunch hour to us!) at Cracker Barrel. After we arrived at their condo we hung out and then headed to the beach, as we thought we had a break in the weather. Not so much! It was windy and cool so we didn’t last too long! Finn did play for a short bit at the awesome playground they have at the beach area. 
Finn loved checking out the pool at the Condo with Grandpa (and splashing through the puddles to get there!). Compared to the air temp the pool felt super warm!
After a long morning the boys (cousins and daddy included) all enjoyed naps while watching a show. They were in deep sleep here!
Over the next few days we enjoyed lots of delicious food, ice cream, time at the beach and at the pool. We arrived in Florida a few days before the Bethune’s departed so we could all hang together for a couple of days. It was a great time!
We stayed at a hotel in Venice, a short half hour drive to Siesta Key. We started each morning with a yummy breakfast at the hotel 🙂
The water temperature was right around 70 degrees. It definitely felt cool when you first dipped your toes, but after a couple of minutes it didn’t feel so cold. We didn’t go “swimming” in the ocean but we definitely played a lot in the water and walked in up to our bellies!
One day after arriving at the beach some yelled “Kevin!”. As it turns out Kevin’s second cousin, Patrick, who lives in Ohio, was sitting directly behind us (literally 10 feet) at the beach! This is a huge and crowded beach so the fact that we were sitting right beside one another was crazy! Not to mentioned we had no idea they were in Florida and vice versa! Patrick was there with his family for winter break and his mom, Lauren, was there too. So we all hung out for a bit, fun times! 
One evening at dinner we celebrated moms 70th birthday! Wowzer, how can that be? Amy and I and the kiddos had met up at home a few weeks ago and the kids made a hand-printed platter for her. They each chose the color for their handprint and the stem of their flower has the number of leaves to represent their age when we painted it. On the back they each chose a “bug” to paint and they each wrote their names! It turned out super cute. 
When Grandma Kirk lived in Sarasota one of her favorite restaurant’s that we would go to when we visited was a place called Millie’s. We had a morning girls breakfast there while the guys made a breakfast for the guys at the condo 🙂 They are known for their apricot stuffed french toast – so that’s what I had!
Griffin had his first real taste of fish while we were in Florida. We went out for dinner at Phillipi Creek where Kevin ordered Red Snapper and Finn enjoyed several bites. 
On Saturday morning the Bethune’s headed back to Ohio and we moved from hotel in Venice to the Condo in Siesta Key. Later that morning my cousin Missy, and her husband Dave, and their kids Lindsey and Maggie came to visit. They live in Vero Beach, FL, but had been in Apollo Beach about an hour north of Siesta Key. So we hung out for the afternoon mostly at the beach. Griffin loved playing with the girls and really enjoyed playing football at the beach. Kevin had stayed back at the condo as he was very pink from sunburn! They also came back on Sunday and we met up at the local Art Fair in downtown Siesta Key and had a nice lunch together there too. Then they headed out and we went home to get Kevin ready to fly back home for a few days of work. He sent us a pic of our condo from the sky!
On Sunday there is a drum circle at the beach, so after Dad returned from taking Kevin to the airport we walked over to the beach and checked out all the action. Lots of people (and good people watching, lol!). 
https://youtu.be/ZE7YRC_KTzM
Griffin enjoyed some bears in the snow pancakes from the Pancake Pantry one morning 🙂 Then we explored the Village area shops for a short bit and then later headed to Dollywood. The weather was so warm! We were in short sleeves and were toasty walking around but once the sun went down the temps dropped too. We had a great time and Finn got to sit and talk with Santa. He asked for a real baseball bat, a real baseball, and a real baseball glove. (No more of this soft stuff!). He also saw Clarice, Yukon, and Abominable again this year. He also played a “baseball” throwing game where if you get all 3 balls into Abominable’s mouth you win a stuffed Abominable toy. Sure enough, he got three in a row on his first try! We were happy for him and he was so excited. He was tall enough this year to ride several of the rides this year so we saw several smiles of him enjoying new things. He and Kevin even rode on a crazy spinner ride that he thought was great!
Another new adventure for us this year was heading to Ripley’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg. It is really a nice place and we spent a few hours walking around checking out the different animals. They even had a couple of animals you could touch so Finn got to feel what a jellyfish and a horseshoe crab feel like!
Another really neat area was the penguins. There are tunnels that kids can crawl through that go right through the swim tanks and then they can pop up and stand amongst the penguins! He loved going in and out several times. 
A new restaurant we hit up this year for breakfast was Crockett’s Breakfast Camp. Oh my, it was delish! I had their signature pancakes that are cooked in a cast iron skillet and they are literally 2 inches tall, each! Griffin helped me polish off the strawberries and whipped cream that accompanied my griddle cakes 🙂
We moved cabins this year in the middle of our stay as we were there long enough that neither cabin had the full length of our stay. The second cabin we went to, “Lover’s Lookout,” we stayed for only single night before being moved at our request due to gross amount of cockroaches that we discovered after returning to the cabin on what would have been the second evening. Gross! Fortunately, we were able to move to “Treehouse” which was a great cabin and we enjoyed the rest of our stay there :). 
And here are some videos from our time in Tennessee, including Griffin’s first flip! He was so excited that when we went back to The Island the next day he wanted to do it again.
And we celebrated anniversary #4 while on our trip this year. We spent the evening at the Dixie Stampede and then moving from a yucky cabin to a clean one. It was memorable!