Florida: Siesta Key Monday thru Wednesday

 We got off the ship early Monday morning. We took a Uber to the location of our rental car. We drove through alligator alley on the way from the East coast to the West coast. We didn't think we would see any but we ended up seeing a lot! There was a small canal running parallel with the freeway and there were alligators lining it for miles. It was so cool! Of course there was a fence between that and the canal. 

We arrived at La Siesta condos right after lunch. The kids wasted no time and headed to the beach and pool with cousins. Marshall and I went grocery shopping to stock up for the week. Then we got back in time to enjoy the beach for a little while and the sunset. 

It wasn't hot there but warm enough and we were also happy there was no red tide. 

Katie made dinner the first night. We had a good time gathering together and eating and hanging out.

We all went to Olaf's after for dessert and to the Beach Bazaar to shop for souvenirs.

We were really missing Grandpa, Grandma and Betsy!!! We FaceTimed them and that helped. 

Uncle Coby continues to tease everyone. Luckily James can handle it. We played games back at the condos after. It was a lot of fun and then around 11:00 we called it a night.

One of the reasons we like this vacation is that everyone can wake up whenever they want and do whatever they want. I got up and went running. I made my kids do an hour of school and then they could do what they wanted. They all bounced back and forth between the pool and beach. I got to the beach before lunch and set up our spot.

Tag came with me. 

Another great part is that everyone gets along. There's no drama. Everyone is having a good time. It's magical!

The sunset was beautiful but then about a half hour there was a beautiful glow and the colors were amazing!

We hosted dinner and I made walking tacos. Everyone came over and we enjoyed dinner and then after ice cream everyone came back for games. 

Tuesday night we went to Abels. It was just as good and fun to have different flavors to choose from.

These are a little out of order but all from Tuesday.

Wednesday was another beach day and also souvenir shopping at Splash. I headed over to the beach with the younger kids after shopping.

We all got Pina colada from the snack bar. Mmmm!

Ali made some impressive sand sculptures! Tag loves turtles so we wanted a picture with Ali's turtle.

It was warm and sunny. We were so blessed to have nice weather!

Another picture of the beautiful glow about a half hour after the sunset.

Pizza night! I love thin crust pizza and Pie Pizza was very good!

We got ice cream that night at Olaf's I guess I didn't take any pictures.