Florida {Part 1}

Last week, we spent the week in Siesta Key, Florida with my family.  My parents have been down there for the past 2 months and we were fortunate to be able to spend a week down there.  We had a great time and perfect weather all week.  Because I want to fully document for the blog book (ie: our family scrapbook), I have lots of pictures to post so I am going to

break this up into several posts.We decided to drive to Florida and determined that the best time (for the girls) would be to drive through the night.  We left around 3:30 pm on Friday afternoon and ending up arriving around 9:15 am on Saturday morning.  It took us just under 18 hours with about 16 hours of driving, stops for dinner, breakfast, bathroom/diaper changes, gas and feeding Avery. 

The drive went surprisingly well and the girls did great, especially with being in the car for so long.  Avery was a champ and a dream on the drive down.  When she wasn't sleeping (which she did a lot), she played quietly in her carseat or just stared at her sister.  Kens did pretty well also.  She watched several movies (Angelina Ballerina - her new fav and Mickey) and managed to sleep sporadically throughout the trip.  She was pretty excited and every stop we made she said, "We're here!  I want to see Nana and Papa."  She ended up being awake in the middle of the night from about 2:30 - 4:30 am happy as can be, just watching Angelina.  We finally shut it off and she fell back asleep for a while.

Taking off...we had to text Nana and Papa to show them that Baby Suzy was making the trip with us.

The condo mom and dad rented was great and very spacious.  Saturday we spent the morning at the beach and then after the girls naps, we spent the afternoon at the pool.  Saturday night was low key with dinner in at the condo and an early night (I think Jeremy and I went to bed at 8:30 after we finally woke up from sleeping on the couch!).

Ready for the beach!

Sweet girl...happy to be out of the car and heading to the beach!

Think she's a little excited?!

Toes in the ocean for the first time this year.

So happy!

Sweet pic of Kens holding her daddy's hand.

Toes in the sand for the first time.

Look at that face!  She isn't sure what she thinks about the sand.

Love the back of her suit!

Loving the raft!

Sunday morning we woke early (this was the theme for the week as the girls were usually up and ready to go by 6 am...they must have missed the memo that we sleep in on vacation!) and went for a walk on the beach to look for shells.  We spent the day at the pool and Kens surprised us by swimming alone (with her floaties).  We quickly learned that she had no fear and spent the week swimming around the pool and even into the deep end with her floaties on.

Sunday night we went out to dinner and then daddy and Papa went to catch a Spring Training game (Yankees vs Orioles).  Nana and I took the girls to the beach to catch the drum ceremony and play at the park.

Kens with her daddy

Searching for shells

She loved the water!

Quick stop at the park for a little swinging

The little fishy!

Dancing at the drum ceremony Sunday night!

Nana and Aves

The beginning of the sunset

She didn't want to leave

 On to Monday...we started the morning out at the beach, did a little shopping and spent the afternoon at the pool swimming.  Monday night Jeremy and I were able to head out to dinner while Nana and Papa watched the girls and put them to bed.  Only a few pictures from Monday.

Cheerio snack on the beach.

Pausing for a picture!

 Tuesday we spent the day at the pool.  Both girls loved the water!  Not only was Kensley swimming on her own with her floaties, but she was jumping of the edge and going under water.  It's amazing to see how comfortable she is in the water already!

Tuesday night we had an early dinner of pizza in the condo.  Papa went to pick up the Lindvall family at the airport, while we took Nana out for ice cream.

Aves has started pulling herself up on things.  She can't quite get all the way to her feet, but she ends up on her knees.

She loved standing on the step.

and floating in the tube

She looks so old here!

Picture with my girls.

The rest of the week to be continued in another post.