Our Trip to Florida

Last month (I know, I'm a terrible blogger) James had a continuing ed. course in Tampa Bay, so we decided to make a little trip of it. We flew down early Wednesday morning and headed straight to SeaWorld. There we learned a very valuable lesson -- never ever take a very tired, somewhat hungry 3-year old, who is also a little timid and who, you think, may have an ear infection, to the Shamu show the second you walk into Seaworld. I promise it will be a disaster! Tyler cried through the entire 45 minute show and made me hold my hands over his ears. Thus, we have none of the typical pictures from SeaWorld. However, he loved seeing all the fish, turtles, baby dolphins, etc. up close. He was even brave enough to pet the huge Clydesdale horses. But we were not able to talk him into going to see any of the other shows that make SeaWorld so much fun. This has nothing to do with our trip, except for the fact that I took this picture in the hotel. We took a three-month hiatus from getting haircuts, as evidenced by this picture. Tyler loves getting his "crazy hair" in the tub.While James was at his seminar for the next few days, we went to the Tampa Bay zoo and the children's museum. Both places were a blast, and Tyler even got his very first ice cream cone. I know - how do you get to be almost 3 before having an ice cream cone? It's really quite ridiculous! Needless to say, the top scoop dropped off in about 3 seconds, but Tyler survived. Ryan spent most of the trip fast asleep in the stroller. He was so great during the whole trip - he really is such an easy and happy baby.
On Saturday we went to St. Petersburg to go to the beach. When we finally got there, the wind was blowing so hard that there was a small sandstorm going on. Tyler wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but made a valiant effort to play in the ocean with James. That is until a combination of a wave and the huge gust of wind nearly toppled him over. After that, he was pretty much done. If I ever figure out how to download the video from my camera, I'll post that video because it was really pretty funny.
Between SeaWorld and the not-so-ideal day at the beach, it may sound like a disastrous trip, but we really did have a great time. It was so nice to get out of the cold weather, and so great to be together for a few days.