Over the weekend we were able to travel to St. Pete Beach to spend some time with my Uncle Mark and Aunt Debbie. Unfortunately, Aunt Debbie has a sore back and was unable to join us outside of their home, but we did our best to keep her company and she even helped out by feeding Lucy.



The rest of us enjoyed their pool, which is mere steps from their back door. Benjamin had a blast shooting his Great Uncle Mark with squirt guns and swimming with the pool noodles.



In the evening Uncle Mark gave us a tour of his boat slip that is across the street from their house. While we were checking things out we got a glimpse of two dolphins swimming together just a few feet from where we were standing. I wasn't able to get any pictures of them surfacing, but Great Grandma took some time to point them out to Benjamin:



We walked over to the beach side of things and on our way we stopped to make friends with this fella:


At the beach we played on the shore


and watched a beautiful sunset


The next day we returned to St. Pete Beach and dragged what seemed like a million bags to a cabana for shade. Lucy stayed under the shade with Uncle Mark while we all took to the water and Benjamin and Great Grandma made sand castles.



For our last day we had planned to visit Clearwater Beach, but during our lunch at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill, we realized that Lucy was not feeling well and maybe the beach wasn't the best idea. So we went back to Great Grandma's where Lucy and I hug out inside and everyone else went to the pool. Up until this day Benjamin was too afraid to swim around in the water by himself, but with the help of a friendly lady who lives in Grandma's complex, he finally took the chance and began to swim unassisted (although he was still wearing his water wings). Grandma Chris caught it on video:


The day we left Florida was rainy and cold, so we were happy that we had a bunch of very nice days of sunshine while we were there. We had an awesome trip and now Benjamin has a new place he'd like to live when he grows up! Hopefully Uncle Mark has an extra room... ;-)

Better weather and the promise of Greek food brought us to Tarpon Springs on Friday. The town is famous for its Greek sponge diving community. The historic area is basically one long street on the water that is lined with Greek restaurants and souvenir shops. I've been visiting it since I was Benjamin's age. It was fun to share it with him this time around.




(a rare picture of me)

The shops and restaurants there have deals worked out with each other where you can get a coupon for one place at another and vice versa. We ate at Costas because someone gave us a coupon for free wine/soda/baklava. Mom, Dad and I shared a plate of broiled octopus. It was great to get some fresh(?) seafood.





The big kids (Dad, Grandma and Benjamin) "dived" into some ice cream after we shopped around a bit. Benjamin experienced tragedy when his scoops took a flying leap off of his cone onto the ground, but the shopkeeper was kind enough to give him some new scoops - this time in a cup.



After tiring ourselves out by walking around Tarpon Springs, we decided to head back to Grandma's to swim in her pool. The weather was warm enough, but the water was not. Benjamin had the shivers, which I remember all too well from swimming in the same pool years and years ago. Lucy is much too little to take a swim, so she lounged by the pool in her new swimsuit and sunglasses, making sure to stay out of the sun.



Friday night is bingo night in the clubhouse at Grandma's condo complex and it was her turn to organize the games. She didn't have to call out the numbers though, so she was free to sit with Mom, Benjamin and I. Benjamin had a couple of close calls during a few games, but it wasn't until the very last game that any of us actually won anything. I just happened to be the lucky winner of $7.00 on the last cover-all game. I was very pleased with my big win!

Our trip began on Tuesday with an excited Momma, Grandma, Grandpa, Baby Lucy and Benjamin at the Minneapolis airport waiting on a delayed flight to Tampa. So we all spent time cooing at this face:


and reading books.

Benjamin has begun to read like a madman. He finished about 5 chapter books on our trip and was almost never seen without a book in his hand. When I look down the table at a restaurant or have a peek at him in the backseat pouring over a book, my heart swells: my child is a reader. Ain't life grand?!

The flight eventually proceeded without too much trouble. It was a bit turbulent and with an infant on my lap the bumps were a little more stressful than normal, but both kids were angels on the plane. Unfortunately, our first full day in Florida looked like this:


But it was brightened a little by these:


And by this:

Dad was trapped in the elevator (ol' unreliable) at Grandma's condo complex and the fire department was called in to rescue him. He was only in there for about 20 minutes, but coupled with the weather forecast for the day (although you will note that although it was stormy, it was 75 degrees!):

...it was quite an adventurous situation. We decided to venture out despite the rain and possible severe storms to a restaurant just down the street from Grandma's place: The Pierogi Grill. We had amazing European food and spent time browsing in their European Deli, which was full of items we were familiar with from living in Chicago, but that you cannot find here in Minnesota. It was lovely.

After lunch, we even attempted a drive down to the beach, but the rain picked up to a monsoon by the time we got there. Luckily the weather improved greatly for day 3 of our trip...