Vacation in Sand Key!

By some miracle, we all recovered from our illnesses (at least enough to travel), and we had a lovely vacation week in Sand Key, FL.  The flights there were tight, and we had to sprint through JFK airport, but we made it!  This was our first time visiting the Gulf side of Florida, and the sand was as soft and white as we had imagined.  We didn't go on this trip with any particular agenda, other than escaping the Vermont winter, and it was just what we all needed!  

Ready to depart from BTV

We arrived to find pickleball courts right outside our room at the resort.  Yay!

First day at the beach!

The sand was sooooo soft

We lucked out with the weather while we were there. It was sunny and warm every day, and we had lots of fun at our resort playing pickleball, lawn games, corn hole, volleyball, and swimming.  The beach was gorgeous, but unfortunately there was a Red Tide bloom in the ocean, so we didn't get to do as much ocean swimming as we had hoped.  We all felt some respiratory irritation when we got near the ocean (coughing, sneezing, burning nose), and there were a lot of dead fish, which smelly, gross, and really sad.  Despite the Red Tide, we had lots of fun!

The Jolly Trolley was great!

In addition to enjoying all the great amenities at our resort, we took a dolphin boat tour, spent some time browsing shops and eating in Clearwater Beach, spent a day at a water park, and we went to a Phillies Spring Training game.  The kids were able to get some autographs of some up-and-coming players after the game, too!  It really refreshed us all to have a break from the clouds and cold of Vermont, and to have a week of relaxation and fun.  

The dolphin tour was amazing.  It's illegal to feed the dolphins, so they just come to the boat because they are social and playful.  Such beautiful creatures!

Gotta enjoy a tropical drink or two on vacation!

Lots of ice cream was consumed over the week

Gulf coast sunset

Night swim

Relaxing poolside

Dinner in Clearwater Beach at sunset.  It was beautiful!

We ran into this double-dutch club, and they invited us to try.  What a fun group of ladies!

My old schoolyard skills came right back to me!  I had a blast!

We played pickleball most days.  What a treat!

The kids joined us for a few games, too

National League trophy at the Phillies stadium

Phillies vs. Pirates

Autographs after the game

There was a Girl Scout cookie booth at the grocery store. Quite a different scene from our booths at Walmart in the winter!

We watched UVM basketball from the pool deck while the kids swam one evening.  We felt SO spoiled!

The kids loved the extra-long night swim during the basketball game!

The Red Tide made the beach impossible for a couple days, so we checked out a nearby water park

Another day, we played mini golf in Clearwater at a cool pirate-themed course

Gelato after mini golf

A small glimpse of the dead fish from Red Tide.  Very sad.

This tractor was raking up all the dead fish on the beach.  Yucky, but thank goodness they did!

One last beach day.  We didn't swim, but enjoyed the sand and surf and collected some cool shells.

An awesome family week in FL!

As we returned to reality, we tried to think of the things we were looking forward to at home.  We were excited to see Frankie, and Evie was looking forward to all her St. Patrick's Day shows for Irish Dance.  Noah was excited to get back to his drums and toys (and his own bed!), and he's going to be the star student of the week in his classroom this week!  

Back to reality?! No thanks!  Ha ha!

Dance Show #1 at Holy Family

Dance Show #2 at St. Michael's for Senator Leahy

What an honor!

Celebratory pizza after the show

Beautiful Girl Scouts hike at Niquette Bay State Park.  It felt like Spring was in the air!

What a face to come home to!

The fresh VT air felt good to our lungs, too!

Noah has been busy building Mandalorian armor since he got home