I probably should have started with this post, since it represents our flight there and our first four days, but since the beginning of the trip represented cold, rain and had winds of up to 40 miles per hour, I chose to start with something a bit more Floridian with the beach pics.
We were a bit stressed about how Jackson would be on the plane ride, but on the way there, he was a trooper. He slept the first half of the trip and then played, ate and had a super great time flirting with a lady across the aisle. We landed and got stuck a bonus 30 extra minutes on the plane because the jet bridge was broken. We watched them bring out two separate ones with no luck. I just kept holding my breath as Jax started to get a bit restless, but all in all it was a success. We ended up walking off of the plane onto a set of stairs, breathing in the warm, salty air.
Rental car? Check.
Warm weather? Check.
Navigation to the condo? Check.
We arrived at the Blue Wave and got checked in and unpacked and then walked down the street to a fish restaurant, followed by some shopping.
We noticed that the wind picked up quite a bit but headed to the beach to show Jackson the ocean.
This is ALL sand? Awesome!
Matt was holding on to Jax by laying on the ground on the other side of the Clearwater Beach sign, which now thinking about is pretty hilarious.
I can't get enough of this picture - although it makes him look like a three year old.
Our little boy is growing up too fast!
After a few minutes of watching him in amazement of the sand and snapping some touristy photos, we headed back to the condo because of the crazy weather.
The next day we just hung out and checked out some shopping plazas and fishing areas for later in the week. Even my dad said it was too windy to fish, which I've only heard one other time in my life. That night, Matt, Jax and I headed to the beach to get some sunset photos, but Matt and Jax ended up having to stay back because of the high winds.
Jax all bundled up to go to see the sunset
Halfway across the country, back in Iowa, Kristen and Brad were becoming parents and our sweet nephew Dayton Thomas was brought into the world. It was still a stormy kind of night, but I managed to get a couple of sunset photos about the time Dayton was born.
The next day dad set out to go fishing on Redington Long Pier. We attempted to stay out with him that first day, but again, the wind got the best of us and we bailed. He stayed pretty much the rest of the day and had a blast.
That night, my friend and former roommate Becky drove in from Jacksonville Beach to hang out with us for a couple of days. We got some dinner, she got in some baby time and then we did a little shopping. Becky is hands down one of the funniest people I have ever met in my life, so among the catching up were plenty of laughs.
The next day we headed to the beach while dad was out on his deep sea fishing excursion...
Yay! Becky was there to take a photo of the three of us!!
Check out this area on the beach that was nothing but shells. It looked pretty beautiful, but was hard to walk on with so many broken pieces sticking up everywhere.
That night we took my dads catches from the fishing trip to a local restaurant to have them prepared for dinner. Yummy!
And then, Jax got some Grandpa reading time!
On Friday, we got ready and headed out of Clearwater, but before we left, we had to take our traditional vacation photo where everyone wears the same t-shirt. This year, we were even lucky enough to find one for Jax. This tradition has never disappointed. Even though we only had our shirts on for five minutes, a girl walking by made a comment about us looking great in our matching ensembles and then started laughing. Hilarious.
Next stop? Sunken Gardens in St. Pete!
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