Trip to Florida

We flew to Florida the week after Thanksgiving to visit Gus, Nancy, Grandma Groves, and Great Grandma. Gus and Nancy flew down from New York, but Bella thinks that Gus lives at Grandmas. This was the first time we flew with Evelyn and all in all both kids did well on the flights. We were looking forward to getting away from the cold Iowa weather, but it was not as warm as we had hoped. Florida was experiencing record lows during our trip with frost warnings overnight. Despite the weather we were able to have a lot of fun. It seemed like the weather got colder everyday we were there. You will probably see that we are more clothed in each picture.

Bella got to fish with Gus and Grandpa caught her first fish.










No trip to visit Grandma is complete without visiting Parkesdale for some Strawberry Shortcake. Unfortunately they didn't have Strawberry shortcake yet, but we were able to get a Strawberry Sundae. Bella was upset that she had to share one with Mom even though they are huge.

















We played a joke on Bella and caught it on video. Thank you, Gus, for knowing when to end the joke. Gus's maturity helped to avoid a complete meltdown by Bella.







We did swim one day while in Florida. Bella sporting her new swimsuit with built in life vest and enjoying the water with Grandma.




















Evie watching the swimming and showing off her two bottom teeth.














We also made a trip to Busch Gardens. Bella had a blast going on the rides and meeting many Sesame Street Characters. Her favorite ride was Air Grover (rollercoaster) which actually goes surprisingly fast. The weather helped as the park was not very busy so there was no waiting in lines for any of the rides.







Here are a couple of pictures of Evie just to prove she was in Florida as well. She is taking a snooze under my coat while we are at Downtown Disney shopping. After she woke up she tried on the Minnie Mouse ears.









































We really did a lot while we were down there. Here are some pictures of our trip to the Glazer Children's Museum in Tampa Bay. We were all happy that we could get in for free with our Children's Museum cards (ours was expired, but we are planning on renewing...).










































In addition to the cool firefighter outfits, there was also a pole they could slide down. Gus was a pro, but Bella had never seen such a thing and just fell straight down rather than slide down the pole.















We were so busy that many of our nap times took place in the van. On one trip Robin was the only one awake for a 40 minute stretch as all three kids as well as Nancy and I fell asleep. This picture is taken on our way home after the Children's Museum and a lunch at Burger King.
















Here is the 4 generation shot with Grandma, GG, Robin, and the girls.