mid winter break in florida

every year, the week of president's day the kids get the entire week off school for mid winter break. we haven't traveled for this break in a couple years, so we were excited to have the opportunity to go some place warm this year and see my mom and brother. thatcher stayed back to save up his PTO for summer. if you follow me on instagram, you probably saw pictures and videos from our trip. what i shared was indeed a highlight reel. we had a wonderful time overall, but it did not come without parenting stress. my kids are easier to travel with in a lot of ways now that they are older, but ashford has anxiety and has a hard time going with the flow and throws a lot of tantrums as a result. azalea suffers from bad allergies every time we go to florida (we think it's the live oak trees). she gets eczema, puffy eyes, etc. poor girl. so that's the not so fun side of things but now onto the happy parts :)

day 1:

we had an early morning flight to tampa. we got to the airport at 6am. the security line (which is normally long and painful) ended up being a breeze because we did the "spot saver" pilot program, where you can reserve a time to go through security. we got to "check in" to the security line at 6:15 and go right to the front. aaaamazing. the flight was long, but uneventful. and we arrived 25 mins early!

  

my mom picked us up at the airport and took us to the town of gulfport to kill a few hours before my brother flew in from minneapolis. we got dinner at "sea dog cantina" - delish mexican food and margaritas. sitting outside for dinner in the warm air felt like a dream.

then the kids played on the beach for a little bit. 

 we picked up my brother at the airport after and made the hour+ drive back to my mom's place in venice.

day 2: 

waking up to sunlight, open windows, and birds singing was the best feeling. we had breakfast on the lanai then got ready to head to caspersen beach in venice, it was suuuuper busy there and we almost didn't get a parking spot. we spent a couple hours at the beach searching for shark's teeth, playing in the water, and soaking up the sun. it felt like heaven.

  

 we came home for lunch, then went to the pool in my mom's development for the afternoon. the kids are little fish and would stay there all day if we let them. it was great swimming practice for them!

 

we had dinner at my mom's that night and hung out there for the evening.

day 3:

in the morning we went to myakka river state park. i had been there with my parents and thatcher before we had kids. it's a beautiful park with lots of wildlife - including alligators. we had a picnic lunch and checked out the canopy walk and bird watching. 

 

we came home and swam in the pool and then went for an early dinner at allegro bistro near my mom's house. then we watched the movie "sing" back at my mom's. 

day 4: 

we got up early, packed the car and headed to siesta key beach in sarasota. it gets very busy there this time of year, so we wanted to get there before the crowds. it was the most beautiful day and it's my favorite beach in the world. crystal clear blue water and powdery white sand. we had a fun few hours playing in the waves and building sand castles. 

we stopped at culvers for lunch on the way home. always a treat! then we spent another couple hours at the pool. it was already a busy day, but we wanted to attend a "drum circle" at sunset at nokomis beach, so we packed some appetizers/drinks and set up chairs. there were hundreds of people there and it's always epic people watching :) 

  

when we got home, we had leftovers for dinner and relaxed the rest of the night. 

day 5: 

we spent the morning in venice, checking out the jetty and the fishing pier. 

  

then we went for an early lunch to evie's at spanish point - a 3 story restaurant on the intracoastal waterway. it's a relatively new place, so my mom wanted to show us. the view was beautiful and the food was delicious. 

we spent some time in the pool again in the afternoon. we had dinner at my mom's and then she and i had a little date to downtown venice. my mom wanted to take me to a (in)famous wine bar, but it ended up being closed, so we went down the street to another place for wine, key lime pie, and live music. it was really fun :) unkie brandon stayed with the kids and they watched a movie and had ice cream. 

 

day 6: 

we hung out at my mom's in the morning because she had to take my brother to the airport for a noon flight. we miss him! we got pizza for lunch and went to the grocery store, then it was time for our daily trip to the pool :) in the evening we went to a horse farm about a mile away from my mom's to watched competitive horse jumping. i had never been to something like that before, so it was really cool. my mom goes with her friends a lot. they serve some food there and we also brought along some appetizers and drinks. 

day 7: 

we spent the morning in downtown venice at the saturday farmers market and going in the shops.

 

 for lunch we went to a bbq restaurant called snook haven that also has live music. it was really rustic and fun. my mom also goes there a lot. the pulled pork sandwiches were really good! 

 the kids swam for over 2 hours in the afternoon and my mom and i hung out by the pool with her neighbor friend jan. we picked up dinner for our last night and played scrabble on the lanai. 

day 8: 

it was sad to have our last day arrive. we soaked up as much warm air, sunshine, and grandma time as we could. 

we packed all our bags and headed towards the airport about 5 hours early to hang out in bradenton. we went to a restaurant that was on the roof (8th floor) of a hotel for lunch. the view was incredible and the food was great too. we walked along the river walk, which was really pretty. 

 

we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and the lines were short and our flight left on time. it felt like a very long flight back (5.5 hours), but it was easy. we were all falling asleep by the end because of the time difference. thatcher picked us up at the airport. we were so happy to see him.

now the kids are back to school and we are re-adjusting to regular programming. and rain. is it summer yet?