Madeira Beach Florida

A few weeks ago we loaded up and headed to Madeira Beach Florida for the week.  Leading up to the trip was a little crazy because we decided to sell our van and purchase a new one with no time to spare before having to pack up for our trip.  Luckily our "new ride" made the long ride super comfortable and we were very excited to reach the gulf coast.  

Unfortunately the Gulf coast was not as excited to see us and showed out with daily showers and storms.  Grandpa got up early with the kids on Sunday morning and got in some good beach time with them before some rain and storms hit.  

Luckily with most summer storms, they would let up and we would get in some good outside time.  

Sunday I noticed that I didn't have much energy and I just in general did not feel well.  I slept for three hours Sunday afternoon and by that evening I was running a fever.  Luckily Florida has Walgreen clinics that takes appointments and I was first in on Monday morning with a diagnosis of Step throat.  Kevin had strep the previous week but I never imagined that I would be the next target.  So needless to say I spent Monday in bed.  The kids however continued to have fun outside....

Tuesday we decided to take a beach break and head to the Clearwater Marina, otherwise know as the home of Winter and Hope (from the movie Dolphin Tail).  Chase got to hold one of Winter's prosthetic tails.

Henley enjoyed riding with Daddy for a little while and then enjoyed running around for as long as we let her.  

"HEY FISHY!"

Chase has such a fun fascination with science and things of the earth, he really enjoyed seeing everything.  

Leah is our cautious child who would not touch the sea urchin or sting rays where as Henley doesn't know any better and wanted to swim with the sting rays....

After being a little hesitant, Chase finally touched one of the sting rays and was very excited about it.  

We saw Winter and Hope (Winter did not have on a prosthesis), some sea turtles, and a dolphin show from a resident dolphin named Nicholas.

Oh and we saw "Rufus", the pelican from the movie Dolphin Tail (Or at least one like him).  

Once we had seen everything at the Marine site, they had another facility in downtown Clearwater that held most of the movie paraphernalia.  You could either take a ferry boat or a trolly ride over.  The boat only allowed about 30 people to ride at a time and left every hour.  The kids really wanted to take the boat but we just missed it so we hoped on the Trolly and headed over.  

It was quite a windy ride in the open Trolly car going 50 MPH down the road.  Henley was enjoying herself.  

For our kids the movie museum was just not that interesting and we were all getting pretty tired so we walked around for a few minutes and then made our way over to try to catch the boat back.  Unfortunately we were too far back in line and missed the boat again so the kids were bummed as we hoped on the trolly to head back.  When we got back to the other side there was only about a 20 minute wait for the boat to leave and there was no one in line so we decided to let the kids ride the boat.  Henley however was ready for a nap and done with all things other than that, so Kevin took her to the car and gave us curb side pick up at the boat ramp.  

The kids really did enjoy their boat ride and were able to see some dolphins out in the water.  It was a fun day at the Clearwater Marina.  Later that evening we took our annual trip to the Candy Kitchen...

I think everyone had a good time there!  We also were blessed this trip to be in Madeira beach at the same time as my Cousin Randy and his family.  My other cousin Brian and his family who live in Sarasota Fl popped up for a visit and we were able to get a picture of all the kids together.  These are almost all of my maternal grandmothers great grandchildren.  We are missing 3 or 4 I think.  (My mom is the oldest of 5 children).

The week was filled with lots of fun pool time, some beach time and some great time with family.

I neglected to get any pictures but Chase loved spending time with Uncle Nick and going out to the sandbar with him in the ocean.  Thursday and Friday were pretty rainy...

 Unfortunately my Dad went home with the souvenir of Strep Throat. They left a little early on Friday and drove all the way home and Saturday was confirmed to have Strep.  Luckily no one else came down with it but on Thursday we took both Nick and Leah to the Walgreens clinic because Nick had a sore throat and Leah had a fever but were both strep negative.  So even though it was a sickly, somewhat rainy trip, overall we still had a great time and if you ask the kids they had the time of their lives!