For our 14th anniversary we went to the beach in Florida. We stayed on Lido Key which is just one island north of where we stayed last year. Lido Key is within walking distance of St. Armands Key which has great shopping and restaurants. Here we are dining al fresco. Tessa took the picture and I am pretty impressed with her photography skills. We love to sit outside and people watch. Most restaurants are doggie friendly so Tessa was entertained watching people eat with their pampered pups.
The beaches are one of the main reasons we vacation in Florida. They are absolutely gorgeous with crystal clear turquoise water and super fine white sand. We stayed in a condo with a huge balcony and this was our view. Looking the other direction we could see the Sarasota skyline. We ate several meals out here and watched a few glorious sunsets here too.
We logged many hours of beach time, Tessa played and played and played. Miss Never Met a Stanger made friends with other kids on the beach. Ryan and I were actually able to lounge in our chairs and read or talk to each other. The water is so clear and calm that Tessa could swim easily. One day we were all three out in the water and a manatee swam by us almost close enough to touch. It was huge! It glided along looking for a seaweed snack. We also saw a very large shark. Thankfully we were just walking on the beach at that time. The lifeguard cleared everyone out of the water and we hung around chatting with him. He told us he judged it to be a 20ft shark based on the size of its dorsal fin. Wow. The shark stayed near one of the buoys and seemed to be feeding. Apparently tarpon was in season and that's what the lifeguard speculated that the shark was eating. We figured it was a good time to break for our own lunch.
One of our mornings we went on a guided kayak tour. I didn't know they made triple seat kayaks. That was a bonus to find out that we could all paddle together. Or rather, Ryan could paddle me and Tessa around. Just kidding, I helped paddle. Tessa, not so much, although she did try. Our guide had a masters in marine biology and he was full of information about the waters we were exploring. For instance, because of the dense vegetation growing right at the water's edge, this area is the nursery for the entire gulf. He said 90% of sea life in the gulf starts right here, if I remember that correctly. Amazing. Along the intercoastal waterways, he hopped out of his kayak to pick up different sea creatures. You can tell Tessa wasn't squeamish about touching anything. My favorite is the little round sea urchin. He also fished out a conch, a sea cucumber and a large hermit crab for us to see. As we paddled we saw dolphins, although we didn't get nearly as close as I had hoped we would, and more manatees. The tour ended with a trip through the dense mangrove tunnels. It was nice to paddle through this shady part but it was pretty tricky steering our long kayak through the narrow tunnels.
On our actual anniversary we went to Disney. Yes, we were just there a couple of months ago but it is not a bad drive from the beach. So we did a day trip to the Magic Kingdom and had tons of fun. Splash Mountain was closed the last time we were here so that was one of our must dos this time. Tessa loved it. Thanks to Fast Pass we were able to cram lots of rides into just one day.
Theoretically we were just going to ride rides and not take time to meet characters. Who was I kidding? We saw most of the characters, including Alice who we had missed in February. Tessa had a new costume, of course, Princess Sofia. During the parade the characters would call out to her and bow or curtsy. She has the cutest little curtsy that she does in return. My sweet princess, how I wish this magical age would last forever. The characters and cast members noticed our anniversary pins and made a big deal about Ryan and me too. Even the adults are included in the magic of Disney.
I know Ryan thought I was a little nutty, but I really wanted to try paddleboarding. So we rented boards and they were delivered directly to our beach. I took Tessa on my board and we paddled away. You start on your knees and then stand up when you get balanced. I would like to think my balance is good thanks to yoga but I think Tessa's weight made it a little easier for me than for Ryan. When I did lose my balance, Tessa and I toppled into deep water. She thought it was hilarious to fall off. We laughed and laughed and then climbed back on the board. After that, she would try to tip us by leaning to the side, silly girl. We went pretty far out, way past the buoys and took a few more spills. Paddleboarding is pretty tiring so we eventually beached our boards and spent the rest of the day lounging in our chairs. I would definitely do this again, it is so peaceful to glide along the water.
On our last day we drove to Tampa to catch a major league baseball game. We talked ourselves out of doing this last year and really wanted to make it to a game this year. As luck would have it, the Yankees, Ryan's favorite team, were in town. But first, we made an important stop at the Taco Bus. We have a hard time getting good Mexican food here in SC and I crave it. The Taco Bus is parked just down the street from the stadium and we were not the only ones who had the idea to grab a bite before the game. But it was worth the long wait, it's so yummy. We even brought home a bottle of their homemade salsa. After that we watched the Yankees beat the Rays. Since it seems like most of Florida's citizens are originally from New York, the crowd was pretty entertaining. This is one happy daddy with his girl.
To make our drive home the next day easier, we drove to Jacksonville after the game. Unfortunately, we hit some kind of metal debris in the road and ended up with a blown out tire and a busted wheel. So Ryan had to unpack the entire trunk to get to the spare. Bear in mind that Tessa and I do not pack light. Thankfully, BMWs come with full size spares. And Ryan, being the tire engineer that he is, had actually checked the spare to make sure it had air. The only problem was the soft sandy dirt on the side of the road did not support our tire jack. When Ryan cranked the car up into the air, the jack wobbled and broke. We called roadside assistance and Ryan said many bad words. Tessa was happily watching a movie still safely strapped into her seat. While we waited, Ryan managed to repair the tire jack. I'm not sure how he did except it did involve banging the jack onto the concrete a few times. Not to make the same mistake twice, he hunted through our stuff to find a nice solid surface to put the jack on. Tessa's daily Bible fit the bill, talk about building on the rock. This time he cranked it up and swapped the tires in record time. A highway patrol officer stopped to check on us. He looked at all of our stuff strewn alongside the road and at the new tire. He wasn't sure what was more impressive, that Ryan had managed to fix the jack and change the tire or that Ryan could get all that stuff into the small trunk of our little BMW. I had to laugh at that. We made it safely to Jacksonville and then home the next day. With the exception of our tire incident, it was a fabulous vacation. Our time together is so precious, I'm especially thankful for vacations like this.
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