We picked the right year to return to St. Pete's Beach to enjoy the warm weather and visit GiGi and PopPop in Florida. Escaping the record snow fall at home and missing last year's cooler temps in Florida, we lucked out. Megan enjoyed herself and was obviously able to do more than 2 years ago when she was only 1 year old. Now, she walks everywhere (minimal stroller use, sand doesn't bother her feet, less riding on daddy's sore shoulders). Here's a breakdown of the week's activities:
Sunday: We arrive around noonish and make our first stop at GiGi and PopPop's for a lunch that they had waiting for us: Megan's favorite: fresh strawberries and blackberries, sandwiches, pickles, etc. We sat at the table with a welcome breeze of fresh air and relaxed. GiGi and PopPop took us for a walk around their large community. We then left to check in and shop for groceries for the week.
Monday: We revisited the Lowry Park Zoo to see what we didn't have time for last time. Megan did great with walking, but we also rented a stroller for her needed rest also. We ate at a fine family restaurant with a view of giraffes, elephants, zebras, etc.
Next, she was so brave, she fed a giraffe out of her hand, rode a camel with daddy, and rode her first rollercoaster with daddy! Can you guess which event scared her to tears?
Tuesday: Another warm, sunny day so we spent the morning at the beach, then took a drive to the shops at John's Pass. We ate at Hooter's for lunch, watched the pelicans dive for fish and the dolphins play near the boats. I made a stop at the Spice store to pick up some goodies: a madagascar vanilla bean, some coconut sugar, sassparilla root, and pesto mix. Megan picked out some beach toys.
Next, we went further north to Tarpon Springs - a cute greek village where they dive for sponges and make olive oil soaps. We ate a greek dinner and got treats at the greek bakery. I learned that real greek salads have potato salad at the bottom and are delicious.
We spent the night at our pool where Megan swam with mommy, then used her inflatable arm swimmies to swim by herself for the first time!
Wednesday: Another warm, sunny day- we spent more time at our pool - Megan loved swimming. We took a drive to the St. Petersburg pier (not too eventful), so we returned to the beach at our hotel.
Thursday: Morning thunderstorms. Did laundry and dishes. Went back to visit Gigi and PopPop. They took us to the botanical gardens and then to Savory's restaurant for dinner.
Friday: One last goodbye to our beach. We revisited GiGi and PopPops to say goodbye until the end of April. We then ventured into the city of Tampa. We headed to the Glazer children's museum for a few hours. Being by the riverwalk and an outdoor ampitheater/park, Megan enjoyed playing in the warm sun, playground, and fountains again.
Saturday: Nonni and Papa returned to our house with Bailey, who Megan missed very much.
Now that we are unpacked, we can figure out how to display all of the beautiful shells that we collected at the beach. We are happy to see almost all of the snow gone here in CT, however we are also anxious to plan a return trip to Florida soon (Megan did very well on the plane)!
We picked the right year to return to St. Pete's Beach to enjoy the warm weather and visit GiGi and PopPop in Florida. Escaping the record snow fall at home and missing last year's cooler temps in Florida, we lucked out. Megan enjoyed herself and was obviously able to do more than 2 years ago when she was only 1 year old. Now, she walks everywhere (minimal stroller use, sand doesn't bother her feet, less riding on daddy's sore shoulders). Here's a breakdown of the week's activities:
Monday: We revisited the Lowry Park Zoo to see what we didn't have time for last time. Megan did great with walking, but we also rented a stroller for her needed rest also. We ate at a fine family restaurant with a view of giraffes, elephants, zebras, etc.
Gigi and PopPop at their winter home in Seminole, Florida. In Tampa, we went to the zoo, where "Lorakeete" birds landed on me for Megan to see. We also went to the aquarium and strolled the botanical gardens where we saw a live, wild alligator. We also learned that it is a $500 fine for molesting wild alligators, in case you were wondering. We stayed at St. Pete's Beach where we walked the beach each day, swam in the pool each night, and took a dolphin watch / sea shell picking boat trip. We had a nice dinner with GiGi and PopPop on our last night and look forward to seeing them home in May. Our hotel was particularly appealing to Megan because it had 2 ceiling fans and many walls were mirrors.
