Family vacay 2015

We decided to take a beach vacation during my spring break before baby number two gets here and we are house bound for awhile.  We wanted to fly while M is still free to fly and we only have one child. I looked for cheap flights to Florida and found pretty inexpensive tickets to Tampa. I looked at the closest beaches to Tampa and saw that Clearwater was close. I had heard lots of good things about Clearwater so that's where we decided to go. I found a Marriott that had hotel suites which included a mini fridge, microwave, and wet bar. I thought that would be great but come to find out when you have a toddler you need a full kitchen to cook meals because eating out multiple times per day is not what a toddler wants to do. We learned lots of lessons while on this vacation about what we will do differently on our next trip with kids. That was lesson #1.

Airport- before the flight

 

Starting to get tired and over waiting...

  

The first flight to Atlanta was pretty rough. We had a middle and aisle seat and the poor guy next to us was probably thinking oh my word! He whined a lot and wanted to get up and walk around. I had never used my phone for entertainment but you better believe Rob and I both had our phones out searching for ways to pull up his favorite videos while on the plane. You can actually buy wifi when you are up in the air which Rob did but of course it didn't work. There was our first $10 down the drain. I ended up walking him up and down the aisle until he fell asleep and he slept the rest of the flight. We got to Atlanta and ate lunch. We figured out some songs and videos he could watch while our phones were on airplane mode so that made the second flight a little better. And by the way I brought lots of snacks, toys, and books on the plane but he didn't want any of that.

We got to the Tampa airport around 2:00 and rented a car. When I reserved the car online I also reserved a car seat. When I added it to my cart it didn't add any charges so I thought it was complimentary. Lesson #2- car seats are not free from rental car places. It was $75!!!! We could have just brought his and checked it. 

Clearwater was a 45 minute drive so we got to the hotel around 3:30. We checked in and put our bathing suits on to head to the pool. Lesson #3- if you can help it don't book a vacation during spring break or a busy time of year. The pool was so crowded with kids and teenagers throwing balls I was afraid M was going to get hit. And of course there were no chairs open for us to put our stuff on.

So we tried the baby pool and there was a couple grown men sitting in it throwing water at their kids which were way too big to be in the baby pool and it looked really dirty. We put M in for a couple minutes and he was over it. The neat part was there was a big sandy area with toys for kids to play with. He enjoyed that more than anything.

 

 

We weren't at the pool for long. We decided to get ready for dinner. There was a restaurant right next door that we could walk to so we decided to try that. We are early eaters (5:00) which is great for busy places so we got seated right away and even better on the patio with an ocean view. M loved looking at and pointing at the birds that were all over the patio. It was probably the best dinner experience we had with him. We brought out my phone briefly but the birds entertained him and I put it away. Rob and I didn't care for the food at this place but M loved his mac n cheese.

 The hotel had a parrot named Lisa that was out most of the day and M loved looking and pointing at her.

 

We were really worried about how he would sleep in a new place but he did great. We brought a sound machine and the black out curtains made it so dark! 

The next morning we decided to get up and go eat breakfast somewhere. This is when we realized just how crowded the beach part was. Our hotel was about a mile south of Clearwater which I didn't realize until we got there. Because when I booked the hotel it said "Marriott Clearwater Sand key". Sand key is the part that made it not really Clearwater Beach. Anyways we drove around for awhile starving with our blood sugar crashing rapidly by each second. We saw lots of places with lots of people waiting and no parking but we found a McDonalds! Woo hoo! It even had an outdoor patio and once again M loved looking at the birds. After this our plan was to find a drug store or grocery store to get some groceries. We found a Walgreens and of course everything was double the price but we got breakfast food and snacks for the week. 

Next we decided to head back so M could nap. Once he woke up we got ready for the beach. First we decided to eat lunch at our hotel which had a gorgeous view and wonderful patio. But once again the food was a disappointment and way overpriced. We knew vacation would be expensive but still a shock how expensive everything was.

The beach wasn't actually Clearwater Beach. It was Sand Key so it didn't have the white sand like everyone raved about. It was across the street from our hotel but our hotel offered transportation on a golf car which M loved! 

In the picture below you will notice he is wearing a hat. That lasted about 2.5 seconds. Thank goodness he has hair! And he is pointing to the phone because he wants to watch a show instead of enjoying the beautiful beach. Which is precisely why I never wanted to show him videos on my phone in the first place! 

 

And the water was freeeeezzziing!!! 

 

And he didn't like the sand or want to be put down. So we stayed for about an hour and decided to call it a day. By the way, the beach was also extremely crowded.

After M napped, we decided to try dinner at this place called Frenchy's.

My two favorite guys! 

 

 We got ready and drove down to the Clearwater part. It took forever but we found parking and had to walk a couple blocks to Frenchy's which was fine. We got there at a time we thought was early and there was already a wait. They told us 20 minutes so I walked M out to the sand to entertain him a bit, which was white and beautiful like everyone said. Sadly, this was the only time we saw Clearwater beach.

We waited for awhile but little M wasn't having that. He started to have a meltdown, screaming and crying. I checked with the hostess and we still had 4 tables ahead of us so we made the decision to leave. At this point Rob and I were very frustrated and being unfamiliar with the area, had no clue where to go. We walked for a bit and decided to go back to the hotel. On our way we ordered a pizza from the hotel and ate it in our room. At this point Rob and I are thinking well this vacation is going to be great! (in a sarcastic tone). Then we decided that we were on vacation and off work in a warm place and to just enjoy each other's company whether that was in the hotel room or not. The pizza was the best meal we had at this point.

The next morning we thought that eating breakfast in our room would work but M wasn't really eating without a high chair so Rob and I ate and then we decided to go down and try breakfast at our over priced hotel restaurant. Who goes to a restaurant to order a 15 month old eggs and sausage? We do! Lol 

The view was amazing!

M ate a lot better in a high chair. Then we decided to swim for a little bit before his first nap. 

Of course he enjoyed the sand area the best! 

While he napped I enjoyed a Virgin piña coloda. Yummy! 

 

On this day I "turned" 22 weeks so here is a bump pic-hehe. I got this swim suit from Land's End. Its not maternity and its actually called a swim dress. I wanted something to cover my legs and it worked great! 

 

When he got up from his nap we ate lunch in the room and decided to try the aquarium. When we got there the line was sooooo long to buy tickets so we decided to be spontaneous and drive to the zoo instead. It was about 45 minutes away but we thought why not? We weren't planning on this but it ended up being the best part of our trip! 

Reading in the car on the way there. He just melts my heart!

 

The zoo tickets were $30 a piece which is super expensive considering we have the best zoo in the nation and I think zoo tickets might be $15 a piece in Columbus. But once again vacations are expensive. 

 

Pointing at the phone

 

He found this little deck area and didn't want to get out. He had a blast walking around and it wasn't crowded at all!

 

They had a really great children's area with lots of fun FREE rides! Woo hoo! 

Carousel ride

 

Train ride

 

Tiger

 

Giraffes

 

Worn out from the zoo 

I love how he crosses his feet anytime he sits. 

 

That night we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant...again! It was just the most convenient place to go. 

The next day we did our routine- breakfast, pool, nap, lunch, beach. But what was different on this day was M was not acting himself at all. He was acting so cranky at the beach and would not let me put him down. It was extremely hot. We left the beach after 15 minutes and went to the pool for a bit. When we got back to the hotel room I realized he was burning up. I thought maybe he was sun burned even though he wasn't red and we weren't in the sun for very long. He took a long nap and woke up pretty cranky. We gave him Motrin and put lotion on him thinking it was a sun burn not realizing he had a fever.

I made a smart decision and asked a co worker, who goes to Clearwater often, where to eat. She recommended a place called Rumba. It was not on the beach so there was plenty of parking and no wait. It was the best meal by far! I ordered my favorite, coconut shrimp. But little M was still not himself and acted miserable at dinner. We kept thinking sunburn and over tired. Not having a thermometer we didn't check his temperature. This is lesson #4- pack a thermometer! 

Rumba 

The next day he woke up still hot and you would think we would just go out and buy a thermometer but we didn't. We drove to Walgreens to pick up more lotion and he fell asleep immediately which is not like him unless it's his nap time. So we decided to drive around for a bit and let him sleep. It was pretty comical that we traveled all that way to drive around. When we got back to the hotel he went back to sleep which once again is not like him. I was still in denial that he was sick. We got up and ate lunch at the hotel. He perked up a little bit because we had given him more Motrin and he ate a little bit of Mac n cheese but still wasn't himself. He loved the birds! 

Pointing at birds 

Pointing at the phone 

We knew he didn't feel well and it was scorching hot so we decided to try the aquarium again and this time we realized we could buy tickets online. This was a HUGE mistake! It was so humid and hot and ridiculously crowded at the aquarium and M was just miserable. This aquarium has the Dolphins from the movie Dolphin Tale so that's why it was so crowded. I thought maybe it would be all indoors and air conditioned. Boy was I wrong. The only part that had air was the bottom floor where there was a very small tank with a couple sharks. Also the only 2 minutes that was enjoyable. 

  

The dolphin area was so crowded you couldn't see them which was a disappoint. So we left after 30 minutes and there went another $40 down the drain. 

And of course he fell asleep right when we started driving. Poor guy. :( 

 

Even though we knew something wasn't right with our little man we decided to try one last dinner since it was our last night. The concierge told us about a local place off the main beach called Guppy's. Lesson #5- ask the concierge on day 1 where to eat, not on the last day. 

It was delicious food but terrible service and took forever. Rob and I kept taking turns walking M around since he was so fussy. 

I had wanted a picture of all three of us all week and there never seemed to be a good time. So our last chance was after we got back from dinner on our last night. M had fallen asleep in the car so he was super grumpy. This is our attempt at taking a family photo- total fail! But great memories! The lady at the front desk gave us this little dolphin to cheer M up but it didn't work. 

The next day we had a 5:30 AM flight so we needed to get up at 3:00 AM. At about 12:30 AM, M woke up burning up and crying so I knew then he for sure had a fever and I gave him more Motrin. The flight went great because it was so early and M was so sick he slept most of both flights. We got home around 9:00 AM which was wonderful to have all day to unpack and do laundry. So my advice book an early flight home! 

I know I have shared every last detail about this trip. I wasn't planning on it but going through and looking at the pictures made me relive every last minute. And I know that most of what I said was negative. Even though M was sick most of our trip and we didn't even know it, the trip was still so much fun and we made so many memories. I am so grateful to have been able to take this trip and we learned so much! 

Here's one last picture from our balcony! Who wouldn't love looking at this every day?!