We arrived in Florida Monday afternoon. The trip went well and seemed to go by quickly. We didn't leave until almost three Sunday afternoon and made it just past Jacksonville to a hotel by midnight. The kids watched a movie on Eric's laptop but we mostly listened to Taliesin by Stephen Lawhead.
After such a long drive the adreneline kicks in as soon as we go over the bridge to Lido Key. Here's a pic from the car of Sarasota Bay. It's not the best shot but going over that bridge brings a feeling of being transported into paradise.
After driving down John Ringling Blvd. and going around St. Armand's Circle we head down the road that runs along the gulf to the condo.
Here's the kids playing games. They've been playing everything from checkers, chess, Clue, Jenga and today we all played the CSI game Eric found at the thrift store (eric and I always visit local thrift stores when we travel).
A view from the pool deck looking south at Siesta Key.
The view looking north.
Turn a 180 and there's the pool - and the kids.
The condo up on the fourth floor. We get a great view of the water - I'll try to post a pic of that too.
After getting here Eric took the kids to the beach and I did the usual immediate trip to the grocery store. If I don't go right away I won't want to go at all. Then we went up to the circle for pizza. While walking around Eric saw Dick Vitale eatting dinner with his wife at the Columbia. He went over with the boys to say hello. I had no idea who he was and if you don't either he is an ESPN sports announcer.
So the past few days we've been going to the beach, pool, shelling, long walks and just enjoying being on vacation. Yesterday, Rachel, Sarah and I went up to the circle for our traditional lunch at the Columbia. Rachel and and both had the 1905 salad and black bean soup - it's soooo good. Sarah just had chicken tenders - I guess black beans at home once a week is enough for her.
St. Armand's Circle is such a pretty place - very tropical with palms and hibiscus and lots of other foliage all over. There are a number of restaurants that all have outside eatting and there are lots of other upscale stores to window shop. John Ringling (yes the circus guy) was very influential in the development of this area and designing "the circle". He was also really into art and statues. On his estate down the road on Sarasota Bay he even had his own art museum. Thus the statues all around the circle. These are the only ones Rachel wanted to take a picture of - the rest were nudes.
Yesterday afternoon we stayed at the beach until sunset.
Hopefully I'll post more pics soon. My goal was to post everyday but posting for me is like a chore and well...I'm on vacation.
On the last day Matthew wanted to "design a golf course". He drew his design in the sand, went over the plans with me and we got to work. He wanted it to be a combination of a sand castle and and real golf hole, so we dug the hole and he put the castle mounds and walls together while I worked on the "out of bounds" wall. This hole was also a par three. Below is a picture of Matthew playing his hole and a video of Ryan getting his par on Matthew's first golf course design. (By the way, the water isn't out of bounds and no strokes were assesed if the waves moved the ball!) 
