Tour de Florida: Part One

This past week all four of us hopped on a plane and headed to Florida for Philip's cousin Casey's wedding and a little R&R with family and friends. We had a wonderful trip over all and were blessed to spend time with lots of people we love that we are not able to see often enough.


The first part of the trip was spent with Philip's extended family in St. Pete Beach (for the wedding) and Tampa (at his Uncle Keith and Aunt Tonia's house). Philip has a wonderful family that I am blessed to be a part of! We arrived Friday afternoon and headed straight to our hotel for a family nap :). Levi and Joel hardly slept at all during all the travel, so they were both super tired. Levi woke up after about a 2 hour nap, and since Philip and Joel were still asleep he and I headed down to check out the beach and hotel. The beach was beautiful and the hotel, The Post Card Inn, was retro surfing themed, very fun and well done.

Our room: it had lots of neat retro detail, Levi loved it :)

these two love to nap together!

my sweet Levi checking out the beach

noticing lots of little shells in the sand

When returned Joel was still sleeping, but it was time to get ready to the rehearsal dinner. Once Philip, Levi and I were all dressed and ready we woke up Joel and got him freshened up too. The rehearsal dinner was a blast! Tonia did a great job with the decor and Keith cooked up a delicious crab and shrimp boil with all the fixings. They had a very well stoked candy bar (much to Philip and Levi's delight!) and some fun sodas to go with dinner as well as really cute beachy decor. It was nice to spend the evening meeting some of Heather's (the bride) family as well as spend some time chatting with Philip's cousins, Aunts and Uncles. The last time we saw Heather was during our  Boyer family reunion in 2006 when she was just there as a close family friend. We noticed that she had a crush on Casey, and it was fun to see them again in love and ready to get married!

out cold!

Papa and Levi

soon to be Mr. & Mrs.

sweet time with my Joely Poly

The next day we woke up bright and early, and headed out to the beach as quickly as we could. Levi and Joel had a blast looking for sea shells, digging in the sand and floating in the calm gulf waters. Philip found a crazy/creepy creature in a pretty shell and we spent a good 30 minutes watching it move and poke it's eyes and claw out. We played for about 3 hours before heading to the beach side bar for a very yummy lunch. After lunch the boys were energized, so we spent another hour on the beach before heading up to our rooms for naps. They both slept for 3 hours! During their nap I worked out in the gym on the bike and treadmill with a view of the ocean. Pretty nice! When everyone was up it was time to get ready all dressed up and head down to the beach for the wedding.

buried in the sand

those eyes and claw...creepy!

my boys checking out the crazy mollusk

Boyers on the beach

popcorn shrimp, fries and orange creme soda..a vacation treat!

trying out Momma's shades during lunch

little splasher

wild man on the sand :)

Levi & Joel took turns floating in our little blow up boat

The wedding was wonderful! The ceremony was sweet and fun with lots of special touches. Keith officiated the wedding; how special to have your Dad run your ceremony when you marry the girl of your dreams! All the details during the ceremony and reception were so pretty and personal. We had a great time visiting, eating, dancing and enjoying being out doors under the palm trees and twinkling lights! Levi and Joel were wild men/dancing fools on the dance floor and wore themselves out spinning, bouncing and wiggling to the music. They were a hit! The bride was beautiful, the groom handsome and they seemed so relaxed and happy. I know they will do great things together and cannot wait to see what all God has in store for their family.

the new Boyer family after the ceremony...beautiful!

dancing (bouncing) machine!

action shot of our tiny dancers

Levi's sweaty exhausted self cracks me up

about to crash after baths

The next morning we woke up bright and early again and headed down to the beach side cafe for breakfast, which was again so yummy! We spent another couple hours on the beach, rinsed off in the pool for about 30 minutes and then headed to our rooms to shower, pack up and head out. We grabbed lunch on the way at a hole in the wall (and I mean HOLE in the wall...kinda yucky) Cuban restaurant and then made our way to Tampa to stay a couple of days with Keith and Tonia. They were wonderful hosts and we enjoyed lots of yummy food, time with family, fun in the pool, a dinner date with out the kids (Yipee!) and rest. Papa and Nana Dee stayed an extra night as well and as always we enjoyed our time with them too. It was such a treat to spend time with that part of the Boyer family and Levi LOVED his Great Aunt Tonia :). We wish we could have stayed longer or could see them more often!

Date night! Thanks for the babysitting Keith and Tonia!

Nana Dee helping Joel squirt Levi & Aunt Tonia

so excited!

Aunt Tonia the Terrific!

or should I say Awesome Aunt Tonia...

or #1 Aunt...

goggle obsessed

hours of squirting fun!

We stayed in Tampa two nights and then headed to Orlando...post to come :)