Florida 2015

The Goforth family had a wedding to attend in Florida for a longtime family friend.  The wedding was on Longboat Key, an island near Sarasota.  When planning the trip, I asked my parents if they would like to join us so they could watch the kids while we attended the wedding.  They said "sure!"  Then we realized that a certain someones 1st birthday was just a few days after the wedding.  Since all of the other important people would already be there, we recruited the Claytons to join us as well.  And so the Langs, Claytons, and Goforths rented a house in the same neighborhood where Larry has his second home.  It worked out very well.

We flew in and out of Tampa and both flights were right after lunch, which is perfect timing for Graham.  He slept almost the whole way on both flights! Pretty much the only way you can enjoy flying with a 1-2 year old is if they are unconscious.  

The first night we arrived and everyone else was already there so we headed to Larry & Sandy's house for dinner.  The Johnson's were staying there as well. The kids were reunited and got to swim a little before dinner.

The next day we hit the beach.  It was overcast and not too hot, a very pleasant day.  Graham fell asleep on the way there and took a little surf side snooze.

On Saturday, Greg, Gennie, Eric, & I drove up to Longboat Key for the wedding. We had lunch at well known restaurant on St. Armand's Circle called Columbia and then headed to the hotel to check in and get ready.  The wedding was on the beach and the reception was beautiful, such great food!

The next morning we met Gen & Eric for breakfast and then headed back down to our families.  When packing up our stuff that morning, Greg and I were treated to some dolphins swimming in the lagoon outside our balcony!

That evening, everyone headed out to the beach for some DIY family photos.  It was a lot of people to take all those pictures of and the kids had just about had it near the end, but we got some good ones.

Then back to our house for dinner and Graham's birthday cake!  The smash cake was supposed to be vanilla and I am not sure if Graham liked the chocolate all that much.

The next day we rented a couple boats and rode down to Cabbage Key.  All of the kids on our boat fell asleep except Jack.  The restaurant on the island is known for their burgers and is rumored to have inspired Jimmy Buffet's classic "Cheeseburger in Paradise".  

After lunch, we anchored the boats and hung out on an empty island for a while, so relaxing!!

We had some more swimming, a little shopping, and dinner out in the next couple days.

Then everyone else went back home.  We grabbed one more lunch with Larry at Snook Haven, a restaurant on the Myakka River.  On Thursdays, they have live music in the form of a 16-man banjo group.  

Then we headed back up to Tampa to spend a couple nights with our friends, the Yohes.  Nate is one Greg's closest friends whom he met in college.  They have a son, Jackson, who turned 1 in December and another on the way.  Before we arrived to their house, we wasted some time by visiting the Children's Museum in downtown Tampa.  It was nice to just let the kids run around in the A/C.

  

We had such a great time visiting with Nate, Angela, & Jack (and their dog Sully).  We took a swim in their pool and visited the Aquarium.  We look forward to seeing how Jack and Graham become buddies through the years.