Vacation - Part II (Family & Friend in Florida)

So we only got to stay in Tennessee 2 nights and 1 beautiful day and then it was on the road again to Florida. We could have pushed it and made it all the way to St. Pete but instead decided to stop around 8:00 in Ocala where it quickly proceeded to pour down rain. Next morning it was still raining and pretty much rained off and on all the way over to the beach. We drove around in Tampa for a while looking at our old high school, first home in Tampa where Amber was born. Here's what is looks like now, much prettier than when we lived in it.

Then we drove by our last home we lived in, where Tyler and Scott were born and we all enjoyed our backyard pool!

We made a quick stop at the grocery store to stock up for the week and then it was over to the beach. We made it just in time for dinner and this sunset.


The next morning, more rain, but we were excited that H's brother Bo, wife Kim and kids plus H's sister Sharon and her boyfriend, Mike (who has also been our dear friend for over 30 years, but that's another story), were all coming over. We sat around the place chatting for a while waiting for the sun to come out.
Here's Bo and family

and Sharon and Mike

The sun came out around 11:00 and we headed across the street to the beach. Unfortunately I left my camera in the room but the beach was beautiful. The kids (and some of the adults) played in the water and the kids dug in the sugar sand. When we got too hot there we headed over to the pool and cooked some hotdogs and chicken on a stick and had a nice lunch (sorry, again no pictures as the camera was still in the room). We swam and chatted and then it was time for Bo to head home to Orlando as the kids were going to be starting their first day of school the next day. We were just so happy that they came and we got to see them all again.
Mike and Sharon stayed another couple hours just talking and then they had to head home too as they had work in the morning.

Howard took these pictures the next morning (Monday) after a night of rain and thunderstorms. The day started like this

but as the morning went on it became more like this. More rain.

Love the seaweed hair on this sand girl.



To say I was depressed by this point was an understatement, especially after we watched the weather report. More of the same, all day. Not our idea of fun as we didn't want to TRY to find things to do (which cost money) but we wanted to spend time at the beach and at the pool.
After some discussion we decided to head over to the St. Pete Beach Pier Aquarium and check it out. While it was something to do, sadly the aquarium wasn't much to write home about.


Really just some saltwater tanks in a couple rooms. Outside on the pier was just about as entertaining.
I saw this fellow as we were walking up.

He was sitting there so patiently and calm that I told H he should go stand next to him and let me take their picture together. Mr. Pelican was having no part in that funny business!

There was no hope of any sun (or a pretty sunset) this day. We managed to spend a couple hours hanging out at the pier and then headed back to the beach.

Outlook for Tuesday: Grim