Wow, it's almost two months and I am just posting this! I guess in order to get away I had to play a little catch up, then spring sports, then I thought I might as well dive into dentist and other fun appointments...then the end of school rush and beautiful weather pulling us outside. I had even hoped to finish before Taylor's big 13th birthday, but didn't quite finish for that, either. I've got to jot my thoughts down about our fantastic getaway to Florida before it escapes me completely.
This year was Taylor's turn to choose a spring getaway with mom. I'll explain more about our spring getaways when I catch up on a post about Addy's trip last year to San Diego. Taylor already knew where she was headed--Florida, to swim with Manatees. She's been dreaming of that for a few years now ever since learning about how they are endangered. Now that we've moved East, Florida fit a lot better into the set budget we give to each of the kiddos for their one-on-one getaway. So Tampa, Florida, it was, and Taylor's only hope was to see the Manatees and just hang out on the beach. Easy enough. Part of the fun was working with her on choosing a hotel and figuring out all that we could fit in 4 days without going too over budget. We found a somewhat beach-front hotel not far from the airport, which was key as I would be renting a car and I'm not the best at navigating new areas, as much as I love to study maps. I was a little more wary about Florida in general compared to the west, just seemed like it would be more crowded or foreign, or both.
Despite discovering Spirit Airlines is cheap for a reason ($40 per carry-on bag?!), having a 2-hour delayed flight, and being pulled over by a tourist-hungry cop just outside the terminal for my lights not being on in a brightly lit airport parking area just after I pulled out with the car, we made it without overly-frazzled nerves and felt right at home at our hotel. Oh, and I might add it also took an extra 45 minutes to figure out how to pull into the hotel from the highway, but we worked that out as well. All that was long-forgotten when we walked out to this view in the morning:
Then after grabbing some breakfast foods and beach essentials, and a few more wrong turns, we drove up the beach-front roads in search of a good beach to grab some sun and relax. I never realized Florida beaches were so covered in shells--teeny tiny ones, and not so teeny tiny ones, in all sorts of shapes and colors. Made me wish we had all the kiddos there to enjoy it.
This year was Taylor's turn to choose a spring getaway with mom. I'll explain more about our spring getaways when I catch up on a post about Addy's trip last year to San Diego. Taylor already knew where she was headed--Florida, to swim with Manatees. She's been dreaming of that for a few years now ever since learning about how they are endangered. Now that we've moved East, Florida fit a lot better into the set budget we give to each of the kiddos for their one-on-one getaway. So Tampa, Florida, it was, and Taylor's only hope was to see the Manatees and just hang out on the beach. Easy enough. Part of the fun was working with her on choosing a hotel and figuring out all that we could fit in 4 days without going too over budget. We found a somewhat beach-front hotel not far from the airport, which was key as I would be renting a car and I'm not the best at navigating new areas, as much as I love to study maps. I was a little more wary about Florida in general compared to the west, just seemed like it would be more crowded or foreign, or both.
Despite discovering Spirit Airlines is cheap for a reason ($40 per carry-on bag?!), having a 2-hour delayed flight, and being pulled over by a tourist-hungry cop just outside the terminal for my lights not being on in a brightly lit airport parking area just after I pulled out with the car, we made it without overly-frazzled nerves and felt right at home at our hotel. Oh, and I might add it also took an extra 45 minutes to figure out how to pull into the hotel from the highway, but we worked that out as well. All that was long-forgotten when we walked out to this view in the morning:
Then after grabbing some breakfast foods and beach essentials, and a few more wrong turns, we drove up the beach-front roads in search of a good beach to grab some sun and relax. I never realized Florida beaches were so covered in shells--teeny tiny ones, and not so teeny tiny ones, in all sorts of shapes and colors. Made me wish we had all the kiddos there to enjoy it.
Instead I just reveled in the quiet one-on-one time I had with my beautiful soon-to-be teen. Nothing like enjoying sweet berries on a warm spring day on the beach. We eked out all the sun we could get, and took in another beach in Clearwater, before escaping back to the hotel for the evening. We knew that first day might be our only chance at good sun and warmth, with the start of hurricane season only a few weeks away, so we took in as much beach time as possible.
Day two of our trip we hit the mall, knowing a good downpour was on it's way. And what the downpour! We stayed at the mall an extra hour just to avoid being overly drenched on our way to the car. We ended up only half-way drenched, but made out with some good finds! I'm not sure which Taylor enjoyed more, time at the beach or time at the mall without siblings in tow, both rare occurances.
Day 3 was Taylor's dream come true, and mine, as our tour to swim with manatees in the Crystal River turned out to be perfect. Look at that grin!
Then the rest of our free-time, we just hung out and enjoyed the views together, and the quiet!
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