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!