Find your beach

We just got home from a very long overdue and much needed vacation. We flew to Tampa last Thursday and stayed until Tuesday. On this trip, we got to go out on TWO boat rides, with Ed's Aunt Joann and Uncle Ron. Both boat outings were fantastic. The first night, they took us to this huge sandbar that was created from a storm a few years back, it's a mini-island with more seashells than we could fit on the boat. Amazing!

We also got a very nice piece of coral. Shhhhhh, not exactly sure if it's legal to take those things home, but it was up on the sand, not in the water, so we think it's OK, right?

We actually saw a pod of Dolphins playing in the Gulf of Mexico. If you look closely, you'll see the dorsal fin of a playful Bottlenose in the middle of the picture below:

When we got to the sandbar, Isabelle had a huge wide open area to just run and be FREEEEEE. She scared away all the birds for Mommy. It was a beautiful area with crystal clear warm water, no waves, and like I said, more seashells than you could possibly carry.

On the second boat ride of the week, we went to a shallow water sandbar area and anchored out with a few other boats. We got floaty things out and tied up to the boat so we didn't drift away, the current was pretty strong that night.

Isabelle is starting to love boats, just the reason to buy one in a few years when she's a bit older. This was the first visit to Tampa when we got to ride on a boat. I always love seeing a town from the waterside view, it really is a totally different perspective. We passed Kenny Rogers house one night (well, one of them anyway). But I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the mansion on the water. Below is a pic of Isabelle and Mom-Mom Susan a few minutes before sunset.

And the actual sunset on the Gulf of Mexico is below. I've seen a lot of sunsets in my lifetime, and they all leave me speechless with their beauty. But watching the sun set on the water is pretty cool for an East Coast girl. I've been fortunate enough to see a waterfront sunset in Key West, Ireland, and now Tampa. Amazing.

Fantastic vacation, but as always, way too short. We're going back to Tampa for two full weeks in February. One week to work and one week to play. Ed has a conference down there for a week, I'll work from Susan and Bill's house while they play with Isabelle. The second week will be time off from work so we can play play play! It won't be boating or beaching weather, but at least there won't be snow or sub-freezing temperatures. We can still do the zoo, children's museum, and Busch Gardens!