Florida

Finally, a family vacation. A REAL one. Thanks to Brye's job, he gained enough Rapid Rewards to get us three free airline tickets to anywhere in the continental USA. So we took advantage and booked a flight to Florida! We figured a shorter trip would be better for the boys so we flew out from Dallas to Ft. Lauderdale on a Thursday morning. We spent two days in Ft. Lauderdale just beachin' it up then drove to Ft. Myers and Sanibel Island on Saturday.

The flight to Florida went great. It happened to be timed right at naptime so Beau was tired and slept almost the entire way. We enjoyed shrimp at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. the first night and just strolled along the beach on the way back to the hotel. We spent the next day on Ft. Lauderdale beach, just enjoying each other. Bex loved swimming in the waves although they were pretty high and he couldn't get very far. That night we went to a wonderful restaurant for dinner and on the way home Brye and I spotted a guided fishing boat. We checked out the prices, "just to see" and it so happened the boat was expected to leave for an eight hour tour "right now". It was only $65, which was really cheap. I told Brye to go for it as I knew he'd never get the chance again. So he did! The boys and I strolled back to the hotel and had an early night. Brye didn't get home until around 4:30 AM!! The boys were up on their normal schedule at 7:30. I tried so hard to keep them quiet, but was commonly unsuccessful. Brye eventually got up and took a taxi to the airport to get us a rental car and then we headed to Ft. Myers.

Bex in Ft. Lauderdale

Beau

Bex and Brye building Sand Castles

I had never been to Florida so the drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Ft. Myers was really amazing to me. The Everglades is not exactly what I expected. I don't know why I always pictured more tropical scenery than just vast grass and what I call swamp lands. I was corrected on the last day of the trip that The Everglades is not swamp. We spent the day driving and taking in the scenery and sights of Florida and Sanibel Island. We got checked into our hotel and strolled the beach. On Sunday, we had a wonderful day on Ft. Myers beach. The weather was really great. It did rain for about 2 minutes, but that did not stop Bexley from swimming. The ocean waves were not big, so Bex was able to really play in the water. Beau even enjoyed it a lot. We could hardly keep him out of it.

Bex running along Sanibel Island

Bex playing in the Gulf at Ft. Myers Beach

After our day at the beach, the boys took a nap and I scheduled a Pirate Cruise for us to take. It was so much fun. Bex was very apprehensive at first and even began to cry at one point because he was scared of the pirates. We bribed him with a real pirate sword and he was good after that. He even got to have one of the pirates paint a Jolly Roger tattoo on his arm. He got to pick out "treasures" from the treasure chest, and play games with the other kids and pirates. He was even brave enough in the end to take his picture with the Captain. It was well worth it. After the Pirate Cruise we met one of Brye's old co-workers for dinner. It was so nice to see him again. He was such a dear friend when we were living in the UK. He kind of "took care" of us, showed us around London and really made us feel comfortable with living 5,000 miles away from home. We had such a great time in Florida. The flight home was not as great as the flight there. Beau was just exhausted and didn't want to sit still. He wasn't screaming so much as just constantly moving, which made me and Brye exhausted as well. We were glad to be home.