St. Pete's Beach

As much fun as we had with the group, when it looked as though the skies would not cooperate, we made our way back up north for our last two days of vacation. Quiet once again, we enjoyed a little family time. It was perfect weather- sunny and clear, but not too hot. This beach, St. Pete's, had gorgeous sand, that the girls appreciated after Marco's shelly stuff. It was soft and plush, if sand can be called that. We did (in our usual manner) end up being somewhat pokey getting up there, after clearing out of our Marco condo, but had a bit of the late afternoon/evening to enjoy the views and pool.  

Here's our last day...perfect beach day! The girls got busy with the sand and dug an impressive hole :)

They had some nice pools we tried out..

We found out there was a festival down the road, near where we were during our first week, so we drove over, and took Daddy and Aurie (who was sleeping when last we went) to our fav ice cream hang out..Super Scoops!

We had our fav pizza at the festival and got some fun freebies from different booths.

An ice cream place along the festival route had a wooden ice cream truck :)

The next morning, we dressed up in some pretty dresses we brought and took some pictures, hoping some will work out for this year's Christmas card!

The Pontoon Boat

On Wednesday afternoon, all of the families went out together on two pontoons boats. Ellie decided to ride with the other boat. Ours was driven by daddy! (Mommy was so impressed!) Lia looks weary here, but really, she wasn't- they all loved it. (We even did better than the two boys we rode with who were very nervous!) It was really neat. We had a suggested destination, an island where we could jump out and swim, and saw lots on the way- raccoons swimming, dolphins, (oh and HUGE carp- five feet long! off the dock when we first arrived!) and huge bird nests.

 

Our partner ship...

No one was immune to this darling bottom in these ruffles! ;)

Mommy will admit, it was a porr choice to enjoy the boat ride along with some mommy drinks that put her in a bad place by the end of the trip. Poor darlings still ask me about feeling better :(

Marco Island

This is what greeted us after we took off from Treasure Island, and made our way 3 hours south to Marco Island- who knew! Mommy read that there are about 100 in the wild near there, and they live mostly in the wildlife preserves, west of Marco Island. Yikes! Just freaky to see the signs. Daddy was impressed- he always thought the team name was just made up!

This is our beautiful view off of our balcony on the second floor. Gorgeous. The little boardwalk is the way to get from the pool area to the actual beach- just a short walk. This was the evening when we arrived.

And the next morning's coffee view...

Boogie boards were all the thing on this beach since the sand was really so full of shells that it made playing in it difficult. Even Aurie joined in and loved it. We saw so much more sealife on this beach. Conch were under our feet in the water- the kids put them in buckets to watch for a while. A few starfish were picked up and shared. Sting rays did swim by, but we didn't get to see those. Dolphins could regularly be seen from our balcony, especially in the morning.

This leg of the trip was like a big party since we spent the time with three other families. The girls had a blast with all of the kids. This is our "set up" one day- we took over a good portion of the beach on our own! We had shared dinners and lots of running around between rooms. It was so much fun.

Everyone was so impressed how easily Aurie konked out for a nap. First day was on mommy's lap on a beach chair, but this second day, after falling asleep on her own towel beside mommy in the sun, she transferred easily to under the tent!

This is how the kids entertained themselves while out at a restaurant/bar for the Monday night Steelers game!

We did have a cloudy day, and enjoyed a walk along the beach in the morning. There was lots of shell collecting.

Mommy's idea- a make your own sundae bar one night for the group (mostly the kids!) after dinner.

A'Hoy Mateys

We went on a little adventure yesterday morning to try our hand at some adventure mini golfing. The girls really liked it. Lia got a hole in one, and we even fed some gators! Aurie was absolutely darling the way she tried so hard.