St. Pete can't be beat

We just returned home from a week long vacation to St. Petersburg, FL - and it was amazing. Never did we reach that point where we were "ready to come home". Now, that's not to say that home isn't grand, mind you. No, we just enjoyed our time away as a family, together. No agenda, no deadlines, no lesson plans, no sermon to prepare, no lunches to pack....I wanna go back NOW!

I took ALOT of pictures while there so I've been busy these past few days downloading, editing, and ordering the final prints. Tonight, I finally got SOME of them ready to post.

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Traveling with three small children could have been more than we bargained for on this seven hour journey, but we managed by stopping at my mom's house on our way to Florida. Thanks, Mom!

We arrived to a cozy beach cottage and were thrilled to finally arrive and get unpacked!

Breakfasts were usually eaten a tad bit late
and full of fruit and a bit of sugar.

The weather was nice to us. Our first full day gave us sunshine and a cool breeze. Being in the ocean was the highlight of the week for our children. Mitch even spotted a stingray in the sand near the shore. On our last night there, we took our flashlights to the beach and went shell hunting in the dark. Ask them about it.....they'll tell you about their adventure!

One of St. Pete's famous landmarks is The Pier. So,we did the typical tourist thing and visited.

The view of downtown Tampa from the fifth floor at The Pier in St. Petersburg.
(click to enlarge)

There's a small educational interactive aquarium on the second floor at The Pier and the boys were delighted to be able to touch crabs, snails, starfish, and sea urchins.

It only rained one day while we were there (the whole day!).
Abigail didn't like it one bit.

You can't go to the beach without playing some putt-putt....with the Florida gators!


Since we are members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, we were able to get free admission to the Tampa Zoo at Lowry Park. Even though it rained on us during a good bit of our time there, we still had fun spotting the wildlife.

Playing in the wet zone.

The boys on a walk-about.

The manatee thought Andrew was a funny looking thing! I still can't look at one of these animals without thinking of the Veggi-Tales song.

And there you go!

Blaire & Michele, we thank you for giving us a wonderful family vacation. It's so fun being friends with you and we are appreciative for your hospitality. Dinner and ice cream Friday night was so much fun! Michele, you make me laugh - and that's always a good thing. I can't wait to see you again, my friend.