Tampa was planned about a month ago in a last minute sort-of way, when we discovered that we had an outstanding credit that wasn’t properly applied to some of Paul’s travel. We were going to loose $300 if we didn’t both book and complete something travel-related by September 12th. We looked at cities that Southwest serves through direct flights and decided on Tampa (gulf coast beach). Matt and Laura were up for a couple’s weekend and with Laura’s skills with deals and destinations, planned the getaway.
It was the longest time I’ve EVER been away from the kids. I was still nursing Kate and at approximately 3 nights and 4 days (Friday morning-Monday night), it was the longest time I’d gone without nursing. Surprise: I didn’t swell up to gargantuan proportions during the absence AND, Kate quickly took back to nursing without incident. So much for that as a potential weaning strategy.
The kids stayed with my parents joined by my brother and sister-in-law. This provided the 2:1 ratio (two adults for each single child) as recommended when watching our kids. As we understand it, a great time was had by all… but by Monday they (the care-givers, not the kids) were looking forward to getting us back and taking very long naps. My Dad decided that Kate was Klingon (attributed to her grunt-speak) and took it upon himself to teach Will that his parents are “old,” a detail that Will lost no time in sharing with us. Repeatedly.
I am a bit embarrassed to say that while I certainly thought about the kids at every moment, I was happy to have some down time. The feeling must have been mutual, as the kids weren’t particularly distressed in our absence and took our return in similar stride. (Okay, I admit it. My heart swelled like the Grinch’s when we came in and they ran up to jump in our arms.)
It seems unreal that there were full days where I could sit and read pool-side, look for seashells, and leave the sliding door to the balcony open while running inside for a drink… all without worry. The company was more than we could have asked for — we made a lot of good memories and laughed all the time. A perfect way to vacation.
Considering that Matt is a professional photographer and I am a wanna-be, it makes perfect sense that neither of us managed to get a group photo. But I did get some good tips from Matt, got to play with his impressive camera and super-wide lens, and had Paul scared stiff that I was going to want to switch to Nikon. (It’s okay… I love my D400!) Artsy-fartsy playing with the camera pictures from the weekend to follow.
Rose petals from a beach-side wedding ceremony.
Morning walk along the surf… with the birds.
Scruffy sea dog hanging out while his owner fishes in the Pass.
I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I seem to be obsessed with shelling. Me and all the Florida retirees, stooped over at the foamy edge. Next I’ll be wearing black calf-height socks with my sandals and shorts. New obsession: making jewelry with found objects.
Showy gulls.
Matt and Paul (below) in the few moments we had almost sailing. The outboard motor died before we were out of the Bay (it had an existing problem with water in the engine that hadn’t been worked out yet) — leaving us in the middle of the channel in a dead calm. We had to be towed back to shore. Good thing it happened before we were really far out, otherwise, those jokes we were making about Gillian’s Island could have come back to haunt us. And that would have sucked since I completely forgot my MaryAnn outfit.
This is as far out as we got. Notice the sea wall? We didn’t have a lot of time to drift before needing a tow.
This is where we were trying to go. Next time we’ll make it!
Sunsets were gorgeous.
Beautiful beautiful sky, beach and sea!
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