Party of Five on Vacation

As I've mentioned before, the five of us don't really get a lot of leisure time together. Between that and the fact that we skipped Florida last summer in favor of the Outer Banks, we were all really looking forward to our June vacation - and it did not disappoint!

Almost everything about the week was terrific, but the fact that all three kids really took to the beach this year was most likely the highlight. Presented with an iffy forecast, we just took it day by day and opted to take advantage of good weather pockets - of which there were far more than we originally feared. On our first trip to the beach, I introduced the three boogie boards I had optimistically picked up at Costco. I had envisioned Tim using the third, but it turns out Laura was a huge fan and perhaps the most proficient at it.

Water park fun

Throughout the week, we did all of our favorite things (in addition to several beach visits). We hit the Tampa water park on Monday, as the weather looked the most promising. This was Laura's first visit, and only my second, and all five of us had a grand time. Clare, Danny and Tim braved a couple of the more "intense" looking slides, but for the most part we all enjoyed a variety of rides.

In addition to the usual draws, Clare and I finally satisfied our yen to try parasailing. It was way more calm and relaxing than we anticipated. The views were gorgeous, and it was surprising how quiet it was so high up. Ultimately we decided that we were very glad we tried it, but probably don't need to do it again.

One other new (to us) outing was to head to St. Armand's Key for dinner, and then a stroll along Lido Beach at sunset. We had a gorgeous evening, had a stranger quickly take the "pyramid scheme" family photo at the top, and felt very, very blessed. We are family.