florida 2015 pt. 2

here is round two of our vacation pictures! 

siesta key beach: 

the second beach we went to was 'siesta key' which is up near sarasota. this beach is a must-visit because of it's powdery soft sand. it's a huuuuuge beach that gets pretty crowded by the afternoon, so we went in the morning. it was a bit windy and not super warm when we were there, but we are hearty minnesotans so we didn't mind too much ;) 

ashford was hilarious - he loved walking in the sand even though he would fall down every couple of steps. he kept laughing and doing it over and over until his face was covered in sand. what a silly boy!

sleep:

thatcher, ashford, and i slept in the master bedroom (ashford in a pack n play that we rented), azalea and my mom slept in the second bedroom, and my dad slept out in the living room (he always insists he doesn't mind). ashford's sleep was pretty horrible all week. he woke up 2+ times a night and since we were sharing a small space, i wasn't going to let him cry it out, so i would nurse him back to sleep. every day he was up for the day by 5:30. which makes no sense, since we were ahead an hour. i don't know how that kid functions with the sleep schedule he has. thatcher and i ended up napping a lot when he did just to survive. haha. 

hanging out at the condo:

i always feel a little bit bad when my family takes over my parents' condo, which is really the perfect size for just the two of them. that said, it's so nice to have a full kitchen, and space for the kids to play...not to mention it makes it very affordable to go down, so we are very thankful. we spent lots of time just playing out on the drive way, ate most of our meals there, took naps, visited with the neighbors. etc. 

the fishing pier:

there is a huge fishing pier in town, with a gorgeous view. one morning we went for a walk in the park that is next to it and then walked out on the pier for a few minutes. 

date night: 

one night my parents told thatcher and i they would watch the kids if we wanted to go out for dinner. yes please! we drove to the jetty and watched the sun set (along with everyone else. ha!). then we had dinner at an italian restaurant downtown called "made in italy." i ordered gnocchi with shrimp, arugula, and tomatoes and it was so delicious! we laughed about our cliche date night, but it was really nice to have some time to ourselves. 

playgrounds: 

i swear our vacations the last few years have become a tour of playgrounds. haha! this time was no different. we went to three playgrounds this time (shamrock park, casperson beach, and marina jack), 2 of them were new to us. this was the playground at shamrock park (we went there twice). the second time was to meet up with my parents' former neighbors who have three young girls. it was so nice to see them! 

my dad: 

it was so nice to spend an entire week with my dad (and of course, my mom too). my dad is still getting chemo, but it's definitely getting harder on him. he goes every 4 weeks now instead of 3 to give himself more time to recover in between. it's hard to see him getting thinner and more tired, but he is fighting the good fight! the big deal of the week was that he had fluid drained from both lungs that had been building up and making it harder for him to breath. they emptied over three liters (isn't that insane?!!). he was feeling much better after having that done and hopefully it won't be a problem again any time soon. there are supposed to be some new "immuneotherapy" drugs coming out (that use your own immune system to fight the cancer), so he is hoping to get on one of those soon, but nothing has been figured out as of yet. 

whew, this turned into picture overload, but i love re-caping (ahem, re-living) our vacations :) i hope we are lucky enough to all get to be together down there again next year!