Florida 2010

We had yet another wonderful trip to the Sunshine State! This is Kaylee's 4th trip and Ainsley's 3rd! Kaylee is really able to pull out memories from past years and she was very excited to go. We had to come up with a countdown calendar to try to yield some of the "When are we going" questions. In fact for Christmas my mom got the girls monogrammed luggage sets. They included 1 extra large duffel bag (I could probably fit both girls in), 1 medium bag ( I could put Ainsley in) and a large back pack. About 2 days after Christmas Kaylee started randomly placing some items in the back pack. Thankfully I remembered this because I only used each of their medium bags and she had placed her new Scooby beach towel in the back pack. What a travesty that would have been to get to Florida with no Scooby beach towel.

In years past we have always flown. We are fortunate that my mom and Tim would drive and take all our stuff down so we would only have to take a carry on. However this year we opted to drive. It's a 19 hour drive and I was very hesitant to say the least. I kept checking on plane tickets just in case there was a great deal for 4 tickets; yes we would have to get 4 this year because Ainsley is 2. While we could have bought the tickets I just couldn't find any deals that I would be willing to pay for, so in the car we went. I also felt like it took much more organization on my part, there was the clothes and toys for the condo where we stay, but then there was snacks to pack, car activities, movies, and even the mini-potty chair for any desperate bathroom situations that may occur. The plus side was we really had A LOT of flexibility for what we wanted to do as far as when to leave, stop, etc. We knew if it got really bad on the drive down we could get a hotel. We decided to pick up the girls around 2 from school and the sitter on a Friday and head south. We stopped in Marion for dinner at a McDonalds with an indoor play area and let the girls play for a bit. We then drove another 2 hours and stopped for gas, PJ's and final potty break. Around 10:00 p.m. the girls were still contently watching DVD's, I finally turned them off so they would go to sleep. Overall, both coming and going the girls did AMAZING!! I was a little nervous when we got to Downs and Kaylee told me she was bored but we started to explore some of the activities I had packed and that seem to solve that issue.

Here we are on our way!!!

Kaylee was very excited to bring her camera. Every time we passed some place new she wanted to take photos. She is looking forward to getting photos printed so that she can make a book.

Of course Ainsley needed to take photos too, hers are mostly of herself.


Finally, Saturday afternoon we were down by Naples. We had to stop at the Bass Pro Shop first, and then checked in at the condo. My parents weren't there yet and of course the girls were ready to jump right in the pool. So we unloaded and changed and headed for a swim!


They also LOVE the beach. The ocean water is very cool this time of year, but they didn't care, they would run in it, sit in it, splash each other, etc. They loved it. I could sit on the beach for hours and just watch them.

Of course while at the beach one should always build a sand castle, this was a daily activity. Usually it was wake-up, eat breakfast, go to the beach, come back, swim, eat lunch, take a rest, and then swim again or go back to the beach. Such a hard life! Ainsley, as usual, tries to sit in anything that has a hole in it. Below is her "taking a bath" in the buckets. Notice the guy walking behind her and his questioning look.

This was one of our morning trips over to the beach. It is still a little chilly in the morning, it's usually pretty warm by 10, however the girls want to just live in their suits the entire day!

A couple cute photos of the girls. I usually get them some new clothes, especially Kaylee as Ainsley has all of Kaylee's clothes from earlier, the below outfit Ainsley is wearing is a shirt with leggings, it's a 3T, since she will be 3 in May it will last her through the summer. It was so big that it was an almost ankle length dress. So maybe it will last her 2 summers, HAHA!

One morning Brad found a puffer fish that was on the beach. He made sure it was dead and wouldn't spontaneously "puff" up before letting Kaylee hold it. I can't believe how much she likes stuff like that! I hope that never changes about her.

I love taking these beach photos. I would just sit and take photo after photo. I will admit this one was staged. I had taken one like this from the year before and wanted to do another one because 1. I like how it looks and 2. Just for posterity sake.

I love going to Florida. Next year Kaylee will have school and I'm not 100% sure what we will do. It's a great time and nice reprieve from the winter. I still can't believe how great the girls did on the drive. On the way back we hit some bad weather and stayed in TN, but they still did great.

I'm so thankful to my mom and Tim for sharing this with us. I know they enjoy the girls and it makes my heart happy that they love making these memories with their grandchildren. I know it's something that we will all remember and I love that they, my mom and Tim and the girls, really get to know one another and experience these different things together.