Florida Trip

Because we had Chris's family at our place for Thanksgiving last year, it had been 15 months since we had been to Florida, (well, technically it was 13 because we DID stop at the river on our way home from Hilton Head last summer, but that was for about 36 hours, so...) this years trip turned into quite a long one!  We left on a Thursday night and returned on a Sunday morning, but that length turned out to be a good way to break up our last month of summer.

 

We spent Friday through Monday morning at the Hunnifords' house in Sarasota.  The kids played a lot of "pool table" and swam a bit in the pool.  Mommy and Daddy went on a date.  We played in their cul-de-sac and visited Great-Grandma Nordin at the nursing home.  That was interesting, because everyone there knows who we are "because of all the pictures" in her room.  My children certainly bring a spirit of livelihood when we visit - hopefully its a welcome one!

On Saturday evening Dave and Debbie hosted a family get-together (26 people from every branch of the family tree!) at their home.  Pizza for everyone!  I loved watching Sam play so well with all of Chris's cousins, who range in age from 4-12 (well, there are tons more, but that was the group playing in the pool that day).  It continued the rest of the trip, but that night we saw how well he plays with bigger kids!  It was great to be able to catch up with so many people at once!

Monday morning we all headed north to the river, where we met up with Becky and Benton, as well Aunt Val and Uncle Mike (whom Sam now calls "Uncle" or "Unc"), and their sons Nathan and Alex, and Nathan's girlfriend Gina.  Good thing we stayed at the borrowed big house again!

The river was high this year - the highest that I have ever seen it in person.  Most of the docks along the river were under several feet of water.  This definitely made for a different dynamic in the water than we are used to - with the water so high, there is virtually no current.  Usually you have a hard time standing in one place and things float away quite quickly.  "Runs" were taking twice as long as they usually do, and much paddling was required to make it down the river.  The kids didn't quite have the attention span for sitting in the tubes that long, so Chris and I actually only went on 2 or 3 runs the whole time we were there!  Sam did enjoy stopping by the floating docks to jump from them to a grown-up's tube - fun!

But we played in the water off the dock A LOT - so much more than usual!  Debbie bought a huge float that Chris anchored off, and we hung in tubes and stood on the dock (under water!) and swam.  Sam worked his way up to swimming back and forth between the dock and the raft, but the cold water temps (generally in the 70's) was hard for him to get used to.  Annabelle actually really enjoyed being down by the water.  She was NOT a fan of her life jacket, but fortunately the slow current allowed us more freedom to take it off of her.  She liked to be held and dipped in the water and tried to jump off of my tube right into the water more than once.  Silly girl.

The slower current also allowed me to try another new river activity: kayaking!  Chris and I took the double kayak out one afternoon during a chilly on-and-off rain.  I could never paddle upstream under normal circumstances, but it was a really fun way to see the river a little bit differently.  


Speaking of exercise, I have now decided that there is no better way to end an early morning run is by plunging yourself into a cold, still, quiet river, swimming for a bit, and then returning to a house filled with family and coffee. 

The playing was not limited to the water!  The kids made sure there was plenty of playing during all of their waking moments.  Sam made rounds through all of the adults, building Lego's with Nathan, making music with Alex, planning a scavenger hunt with Gina and Val, running around with Papa, golf cart rides with Benton, etc etc etc.  Annabelle stole a few hearts herself, loving on her new vet kit (animal obsessed - she excitedly touched a frog at some point!).  That girl love the golf cart!

 

I MUST mention the scavenger hunt - they took several days to plan it and it was awesome.  Detailed puzzle clues that made you think, made you run.  Nathan and I (team Poop Deck!) won, but don't tell Sam.  He still think that he and Papa won.  The grown ups enjoyed some awesome games after bedtime, too.  A good game group!


Lots of relaxing, lots of laughing, lots of eating.  And then it was time to go home.  Sam wasn't himself the last afternoon, so neither of us were surprised when he threw up in the car on the way home.  And then the next day we pulled a tick out of his head.  And then the next day he had a cavity filled...but I digress.  Another good trip, our third week-long trip of the summer.  And I think we're all ready to be home for awhile.  We are definitely ready to get back into a fall routine!