We hit Clearwater Beach, FL the last week of October with our great friends Jess & Jared and their two daughters Keira (3) and Anna (6 mo).
We rented a house with its own pool that was also just a few blocks away from the beach. We had our own 3 season porch, pool, backyard, kitchen, etc...so we made a lot of meals at home and spent A LOT of time in the pool. It was a great setup for our needs (well, and for our wants too!) We didn't try to pack too much in and really did a lot of relaxing. Well, as much relaxing as you can do with 4 kids age 4and under ;-)
Jess and I took Keira and Ava to Magic Kingdom one of the days - and while it was hot (like 90 degrees and not a cloud in the sky), it was fantastic! We all had a great time and it was surprisingly not busy at all. We were able to get on most of the rides in under a 5 minute wait. And we made seeing the princesses (Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Belle) our first order of business - another short wait and 2 VERY happy little girls!
On another day we all went to the Tampa Zoo - and had a similar experience to Disney. Hot weather, but very few people. Jared and Scot took the big girls on a dolphin boat ride too one afternoon. We all ventured out to dinner one night and then we swapped babysitting a couple of other nights so we could each have a date night dinner - it was great.
The backyard pool was probably everyone's favorite attraction. Ava and Keira were both able to swim independently with the help of floatation devices. And the last couple of days, Ava bravely tried swimming without her water wings and did a great job! Reese LOVED the water. The first time that Jess and I had the girls out by the pool, Reese literally walked right in. Thank God I was within a few feet of her! She jumped into the pool over and over and over again and got the hang of floating around pretty quickly. The adults liked the pool just as well, especially during naptime :-) Jess and I did a lot of sunning and reading...while Jared and Scot tried to prove their manhood with various stunts into the pool. If anything, they were good for a lot of laughs.
Awesome time all around...though we agreed that in a few more years it would be a lot more relaxing!
Just a sampling of the 500+ pictures from the week...
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