Ft. Myers Fun + Turning 8!

It's no secret that we waited with eager anticipation for nearly a year until we could return to Ft. Myers. It really is one of our family's most favorite places on earth. The kids had an awesome last day of school...

And then we jet-setted down to Florida! (Thankfully, we had zero travel hiccups this year!) We now have a smart schedule where we land around lunchtime and hit a Mexican place that only the locals frequent. Yum!

Here's a shot of Brie and me celebrating the end of our pescatarian month and digging back into meat. Ha!

Then pooooool time!

And the beeeeach! 

And all those seaside and southern things that we can't find in Cincy! Like the soft shell crab sandwich...

Slurpees by the gator...

And sunsets from our porch (they're the BEST)!!

But we also did fun new things, like getting to spend time with Gammy and Granddaddy Rob who overlapped with us for two days. Awesome! 

We tried a delicious new outdoor spot with them for dinner...

And introduced them to Golf Safari! 

Granddaddy Rob and Gammy even found an old friend from their recent trip to Africa! 😂

You may recall that there's a great spot on the bay where we had our Thanksgiving dinner back in 2016...and we've been back many times. We were sure to have dinner there with Gammy and Granddaddy Rob and it was fantastic again. 

Sebastian totally remembered that last year in Florida, we celebrated his birthday at this very restaurant. And...since it was June and only a week or two early, he asked if he would get a special treat...he did! 

They had key lime pie...one of his favorites!

It went fast!

This was the same restaurant where Tony and went out for our 10th wedding anniversary ten years ago, so we snapped a pic in the same booth. Here's our before and two afters, complete with three little people!💛

Then we surprised Sebastian with more celebrating back at the condo. 

We should all be so thrilled to celebrate our birthdays every year. 💚

And like I said before, we ate yummy things all week. From pecan buns and banana bread pudding...

To Southern comfort favorites...

With the prettiest view!

We thought we might try a couple of new activities that week, but in the end, the kids were thrilled to swim, beach it and soak up the sunshine.

OK, there were two things that were new to our week. The kids love to play hide and seek in the condo. When no one could find Sebastian and Brie, we were shocked to find out that BOTH of them fit in this piece of furniture. Ha!

And we discovered a fabulous new Asian restaurant! 

The sushi, sashimi and Thai curry were all excellent.

As were the dessert donuts!!

One last spectacular sunset! Good bye to Florida for now!

And hello to Blossom!! We missed her so much while we were gone and this was her smile when she came home from boarding.😁

Back home, Sebastian's month of birthday celebration continued with brunch out...

And ice cream cake in! 

He received some special Squishmallows...

And a super cool light saber! It's tough to beat turning 8!!

And then we drove Brie and Samuel to their first sleepaway camp!! 

You gotta love summer vacation! More on camp soon!