Friday, August 9, 2013

Our wedding week in sunny Florida!!!










The start of our WONDERFUL wedding week begins!!
October 5th, Joey, Jackson and I took a 6 am flight to Florida! We arrived around lunch time, rented a car, and drove from Tampa to the Siesta Keys. Ahhhhh, relaxation began from here. First we checked into our BEAUTIFUL condo that walked out onto the beach! We were literally steps from the white powdery sand. We quickly unpacked, got our swim suits on and ran to the beach! At first, Jack wasn't too sure what to think about the feeling of the sand on his feet. He warmed up quickly though!  This was the very first time that we had seen the ocean with each other. We spend the rest of the afternoon building sandcastles, collecting seashells, and walking along the shore line. This routine would be part of our next 7 days! That night we had a wonderful dinner of shrimp and veggies. It was a beautiful view to watch while eating our first meal in Florida!

The next day we started our morning with a great fruit and yogurt breakfast then off to the beach we went! We quickly became used to this!
While exploring one afternoon, we found a great ice cream shop called "The orange octopus", I had pumpkin ice cream, Joey had chocolate and Jackson had strawberry! It was sooo good!

It was so nice just spending time with one another. We explored Venice beach which had black sand, and was having a bad case of red tide. Come to find out through the newspaper, it had not been this bad since 2002. The smell of red tide and what happens to all the fish is enough to remember it be!

Before we knew it, it was Wednesday morning! Joey's brothers and their families had arrived!!! It was finally time to spend some time with one another! Then Nana, Papa, Zack and Suzy made it! Gram, Grandpa McGinnis and Grandma Becky also finally joined the party :)






This day turned into another beach day except now Jack had his cousins to play with!

Slowly but surely the ENTIRE family arrived! Have I mentioned how blessed we are to have such a loving caring family to celebrate with! We wouldn't have had it any other way!


Over the next few days, we spent it...at the BEACH! Best (and first) family vaca ever!