Florida Trip 2019

It has been way too long since our whole family visited Nana, Papa, and Great Grandma in Florida.  With the kids in school these days we chose to visit at the peak of summer.  We knew the weather would be hot but that also means it would be great pool weather!  We flew to Florida on August 7.  The flight was uneventful except for the technical delay on the soon-to-be-retired MD-80 flying from DFW-JAX.  We are blessed that our children are such great travelers!

Once in Florida, we had a great time catching up with family, eating yummy food, and spending time in the bathwater-temperature pool in Nana and Papa's neighborhood.  The water was almost too warm to stay in too long!  For something unique, we decided to experience the dolphin encounter at Marineland.  We spent about 30 minutes in the water with a trainer and a dolphin named Dazzle.  Dazzle performed tricks, swam by all of us, and even allowed each person to come in for a kiss and a dance.  We all had a great time and I'm very glad we went!

While in town we also visited the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, which is my favorite zoo anywhere.  It was crazy hot but we were able to see all of the exhibits (and the alligator feeding!) before we needed to head home and cool down.  We also took the girls to the beach one morning.  It wasn't too hot at first and things were going well until Claire got sand in her bathing suit - then it was over!  We enjoyed our time at the beach but we learned that Claire is a pool person!

Katie and I also celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary while in Florida!  We had a delicious family dinner at Enza's to jointly celebrate both my parents' 43rd anniversary (belated from July) and our 15th.  On the 12th, Katie and I had a "date night" and enjoyed a round of drinks in town before a nice seafood dinner at Schooner's.  We would have liked to further experience the town on foot but opted to avoid the stifling evening heat!

It was a great trip and a true vacation.  We were sad to leave on the 14th but we had a smooth flight back home.  Thank you for the great times and hospitality Nana, Papa, and Great Grandma!

Florida Trip 2019 Pictures!