Florida

We went to Sarasota, Florida from February 13th to February 21st. My parents rented a home in Sarasota for the month and we went to visit them for a week. We had a super time. The weather was cool at times but overall we had a wonderful and relaxing time as a family. We had never gone on vacation with my family since we have been married so it was nice to get away with my parents.
Bruce was super at finding us cheap flights through Northwest Airlines and my parents were the best for picking us up at the Tampa airport which is an hour away from Sarasota. It was the first time for both of our kids to fly on a plane so Luke was thrilled to get on an airplane and see the clouds.

Here are some pictures of our trip, they are not in any particular order.

My parents have a dog and Allison loved sitting in his doggie bed while she read books and watched TV. Allison got a really bad cold half through our trip. Her little nose is really red.
When I was younger my parents used to own a condo in Sarasota. So we were in Sarasota quite a bit when I was a teenager. We went to a church there and I got to know some girls in the youth group really well. We have kept in touch throughout the years and I was able to get together with Heidi and Annie for dinner one night at Chili's resturant. It was so nice to see them again. We talked for hours at Chili's. We were there from 5:30pm to almost 10pm just having a great time catching up with each other. Thanks Heidi and Annie for taking time out of your day to get together. Tricia we missed you!
We had a pool at the house my parents were renting but it was not heated. This didn't matter to Luke he loved playing in the water on the steps.
We went to Disney World on the Saturday of our vacation. It was a cool day, probably around 60 degrees or so, but the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The lines were very long due to Presidents Day weekend. We found the best way to get through the long lines was to get the fast passes for the rides.
Luke was totally overwhelmed from everything there, but he loved every moment. I think it was hard for him to soak everything in. It was so nice that Luke and Allison were able to get on all the kids rides.
My parents came with us for the day and they were a huge help with the kids. We took Luke and Allison on the Pooh Bear ride, the Peter Pan Adventure ride, the Country Bear show, the 3D Disney movie, Dumbo ride and so many more. The best was watching Allison watch the 3D movie with her 3D glasses on. She was always trying to reach for the characters that appeared to be floating in the air. Luke loved the fire works that Disney put on at 9pm. He was amazed by them and still talks about it here at home.

Here is Bruce and Allison waiting in the line for the Adventure's of Pooh ride. Our entire family was in the line waiting. The best thing to keep the kids happy in the long lines was snacks. I am so glad I brought lots of them with us in the diaper bag. It really made for happy kiddies.

We also went to Sarasota Jungle for a morning. It was another cool day and a lot of the animals were not outside due to the cold. That was a little dissappointing. Luke loved the playground they had. There was a wooden train in the park and he loved playing on it and going down the slide. There was a huge American flag in Sarasota Jungle and we took this picture of the kids in front of it seeing that they are American. Yes, for all of you that don't know Luke and Allison were born in Michigan. So they have dual citizenship.
This is Luke, Allison and I getting ready to go to Disney World. Bruce had just got the tickets for us to go in.
Here is our family including my Mom (Dad was taking the picture) on Main street when you first walk into the Magic Kingdom.
Here is Grandpa Thomson (my Dad) and Luke getting ready to fly in Dumbo. Luke was on cloud nine with this ride. He cried when we had to get off. We waited in line for 45 minutes for this ride and it lasted 2 minutes. Crazy eh?
We went to Siesta Key Beach 2 times when we were in Florida. It was only about 10 minutes from where we were staying. Here is Luke watching a wave hitting his foot. Luke loved making sand castles, running in and out of the ocean and chasing the seagulls all over the place. It was fun to watch Luke enjoy the beach.

This is our family in the plane taking off for Florida. Allison had a rough trip there. She cried a lot and all the people on our flight knew we were there. Bruce came home a few days before the kids and I due to having to go to work. So......... I had the great pleasure of traveling with Luke and Allison on my own on the plane ride home. It was challenging (especially with Allison sitting on my knee the entire trip) and having to look after Luke in the seat next to me and then having a another passenger beside me. I was glad when the flight was over.
Here are Bruce and Luke at the beach. We went to the beach after a storm went through and all the seaweed came up on the beach. Luke looks so big and strong in his Ironman suit. My 2 handsome Gailitis men. I love them both!
Luke was in the middle of making a sandcastle here, I just thought it was a cute shot of my son on the beach.
Here is my Allison on the beach. She walked and crawled all over it. She had sand every where on her body. She was not so key on the ocean but she loved the sand. I put sun block on her but I missed just under her 2 eyes, so for 4-5 days after this picture was taken she had little red raccoon eyes. She never complained but she looked very funny.
Allison loves DUCKS! She quacks like them all the time at home. She was thrilled to see and hear them at Sarasota Jungle. There were also flaminigos in this same area but she could have cared less about them. She just wanted to see the ducks with Daddy. Luke loved the flaminigos.