Thursday, July 5th~
We got home from Holiday World at 11:30 Wednesday night after a long day in the sun. Bria's temp was 104! She must have gotten overheated/dehydrated. Poor baby! We all jumped in the shower and tried to squeeze in a few hours of sleep before we met up with my sister and mom at 6am to head to Florida! I've always known we were lucky to have good travelers, but I drove 16 hours to Florida with my 6 girls and outside of a 20 minute crying fit by BellaMei around 8:30pm, it was easy-peasy!
Friday, July 6th~
We let the kids sleep in. Big kids that is. BellaMei was up bright and early as usual so I took her and Bria on a walk to the park nearby so the rest of our crew could sleep in. Then Tracee and I went to get groceries while Mamaw & Braylee held down the fort. We finally made it to the pool after lunch. (We had planned to hang out at the little bay close to my in-law's house but the red tide was in effect. 🙁)
We enjoyed an hour or so of the pool, the babies had both fallen asleep in my lap, and I was ready to relax for the next hour. Then the regular Florida afternoon thunderstorm started to roll in! Ugh! Red tide and then a shower. We weren't getting a great start to our vacay, but we knew just the ticket to redeem the day... a trip to Sweet Scoops!
Saturday, July 7th~
We loaded our coolers and drove over to Englewood Beach at Manasota Key to avoid the red tide. BellaMei's 1st time at the ocean! 💓 Unfortunately, she wasn't as excited about it as I was! ha! She didn't want to touch the sand or the water!
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| My only baby to ever hate the beach! |
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| Doing a little better if she didn't have to touch the sand. |
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| At one point, Tracee and the big kids were out in the water and dolphins popped up just about 10 ft from them! |
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| These two and their 'nacks! 😄 |
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| Juan was fine as long as she was in my lap. So this was my view most of the day. |
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| Then she took a little nap in the tent! |
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| After dinner, we walked about a mile to Dairy Queen for dessert...some of us in our jammies. 😉 |
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| July 7th. It was a good, good day. ♥ |
Sunday, July 8th~
Braylee, Brynna, and I went to church where my in-laws attend when they are down here. Then we all went back to Englewood Beach. BellaMei finally let her guard down a little and seemed to enjoy today a little more! She even laughed when Braylee would hold her high in the air, something she's usually not fond of!
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| Happy in mommy's lap. |
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Then she was back in momma's lap for the rest of the afternoon where she felt safe.♥
One of the best things about Englewood Beach... we can easily swing by Sweet Scoops for more ice cream on the way home! |
Monday, July 9th~
We went up to Siesta Key for the day. The girls always love to play on the sandbars there.
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| Mamaw and the grandbabies |
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| Making sure no part of herself touches the water or sand. 😉 |
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| A little progress... |
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| Then this magic happened! Brynna convinced BellaMei that the beach is fun! |
Tuesday, July 10th~
We did a little shopping at Fisherman's Village, ate lunch on the water at Harpoon Harry's, and then visited the bird rescue sanctuary in Punta Gorda.
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| All of the girls picked out a variety of salt water taffy to try. |
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| She picked some out too but didn't get to eat any of them. 😉 |
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| Sometimes I feel like I'm in a dream. I can't believe I get to be their mommy. ♥ |
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| Meeting this puppy (that looks like our Leila) made Beilyn so happy! |
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| Beilyn LOVED seeing all of the different birds and turtles at the rescue place. She loves all animals! |
Wednesday, July 11th~
One more day at Siesta Key! BellaMei still had her moments, but she finally was brave enough to walk all over the beach today.
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| A Smile! |
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| Finally had a chance to stop at Tomatillo's! We all ate here a few years ago together and loved it then too. |
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| Perfect ending. A full rainbow right over my in-law's house as we were packing up. |
It was a fun and relaxing week with my sister, mom, and all 9 kids. We ate way too much...3 trips to Sweet Scoops and 2 trips to DQ plus all of the snacks at the beach! We had an uneventful drive home on Thursday and Juan was happy to see her daddy again!
