Florida 2011

We headed down to Pensacola, Florida last week to visit my family and soak up some sunshine, which has been so elusive here in the Pacific Northwest this "summer." I refuse to describe the current weather (rainy and 60's) as even remotely summerish. Complaining aside, we had a great time in Florida. The weather was perfect (90's and sunny), we got to hang out with lots of family, and had a generally relaxing vacation, as relaxing as life can be with a 2 1/2 year old and 3 month old.

We stayed with my Dad, who has a great house on the water, lots of grown-up toys (all kinds of boats, paddle boards, a jet ski, kayaks), a sweet pool, and baby gear on-site so I don't have to pack the entire house to come visit. Both the boys did great traveling aside from a few break downs by each of them, which is totally to be expected.

We also got to spend time with my brother Matt, his wife, Mary, and their kids, Emma (almost 5) & Logan (3). Ollie loved all his cousin time and all three of them played really well together. We also got to hang out with some longtime family friends, the Elrites. My mom happened to be Pensacola at the same time, so were able to visit with my Grandma Krohn and my Aunt Chris and Uncle Tom too. Tom cooked us all a fabulous meal one night that we are all still dreaming about.

Without further adieu, here is the week in pictures....

Ollie really loved swimming, especially with his water wings and goggles.

It was a pretty sweet look for him.

He got so much more comfortable with the water,

letting his face get wet and even going under water a bit when he jumped in.

He would just doggy paddle around the whole pool with his "wings" on.

We got lots of family time in the pool since Henry was content

to just sleep in bouncy seat most of the time..

Pretty sure this isn't the "official" way to use a snorkel, but whatevs.

As previously mentioned, there was lots of napping in the shade by Mr. Henry.

Henry also took his first swim in Papa Joe's pool. Henry is so laid back, it was no big deal to him. It was so hot, it probably felt great. Ollie also had his first swim in this pool.

More sleeping.

Cousin time. Logan, Ollie, and Emma eating some gelato on Papa Joe's porch.

We were also able to celebrate the 4th of July, southern style. You can see the fireworks from my dad's house, so it was pretty sweet. Ollie stayed up and thought the fireworks for pretty cool for about 5 minutes, until they lost his interest.

Ollie did have a great time playing with his glow sticks (thanks Tammy),

which later became his "sword."

The ladies took the kiddos (don't know why this is underlining) to Pensacola Beach for the morning, while the fellas went golfing. It was so dang hot, with very little breeze, so you were sweating just standing there. It was pretty much unbearable unless you were in the water.

The kids didn't seem to mind though.

Henry got to sleep in Tammy's sweet little wagon with a canopy, but poor kid was so hot and sweaty I had to cool him down with cold water from the cooler.

We skipped the Blue Angels Show (too noisy for Henry) and went to the Naval Museum of Flight, which I highly recommend with kiddos. Ollie loved it. They have lots of things to climb on and even an indoor playground. Plus the air conditioning was positively arctic.

All in all, a fabulous trip was had by all and we made it home in one piece. Ollie loved spending time with his cousins and can't wait to see them again. Now we are planning a family ski trip to Big White after Christmas!