We had such a good spring break. I barely looked at my phone and left my laptop at home (unheard of for me!) and it was lovely to feel so fully present with family in Florida. We spent five days in Sarasota visiting Ryan’s mom and Les and filled our days with everything you’d expect from a Florida vacation — pool time, sunshine, park playtime, a trip to the beach, an aquarium visit and more.
(If you’re planning a trip to Sarasota in the future and will have little ones with you, this blog post goes into much more detail with some of our favorite things to do with our kids when we visit: Sarasota with Kids.)
One major trip highlight this year was the Sarasota Bay Explorers Sea Life Encounter Cruise we booked through Mote Marine Aquarium.
The two-hour tour took us around Sarasota Bay and Roberts Bay and we loved observing marine life (we saw dolphins and a manatee) in the beautiful teal water and also enjoyed scoping out some of the gorgeous waterfront homes in the area. The boat tour puttered around a couple of small bird rookery islands (essentially bird nesting/breeding islands) where we lucked out with the timing of our springtime visit and saw several nesting native birds, including pelicans, herons and vibrant pink spoonbills.
Without a doubt the highlight of the boat tour occurred at the end when the marine biologist and an aquarium volunteer on board tossed a trawl net over the side of the boat and let in the bay for about five minutes. When they pulled it up, it was filled with seagrasses that were teaming with life — we’re talking small fish, two seahorses (so cool!), a couple of crabs (both spider crabs and a snow crab), tiny shrimp and more. It blew our animal-loving boys’ minds and I cannot tell you how badly Chase wanted to be the one in charge of sifting through the trawl net once they pulled it up out of the bay. Maybe one day!
We also loved spending time at Siesta Beach and were glad we made it a point to arrive at the beach at 8 a.m. on the Saturday before Easter because it was insanely popular. Perks of being a family of early birds, I guess.
The clear, calm water and sand bars were ideal for three young kids who love to swim and parents who feel a little unnerved by ocean swimming. Siesta Beach is very, very different from Jacksonville Beach where my parents live on the Atlantic coast where we insist our kids wear life jackets because rip currents are very real and the water is far from clear. It was lovely!
During our time in Sarasota, we were also able to celebrate Easter with Diane and Les again this year which was such a treat!
I have the best memories of Easters at Ryan’s mom’s house when we first started dating, as she would work with his grandmother to make the most amazing Easter brunch for a house full of people. His mom does Easter right and put together the sweetest Easter baskets for the boys that were a huge hit.
We also got the chance to head over to Ryan’s aunt’s house (his dad’s sister) and when I tell you their home is just the most welcoming, love-filled place, I mean it. We caught up with Ryan’s cousin Daniel (he was the best man in our wedding, Ryan’s college roommate and one of my closest friends in college as well) and it was wonderful to finally meet his baby boy!
This blog post from Daniel and Katie’s wedding includes some Orlando flashback pics of our apartments when we lived there. Memoriessss!
And now, after a very full and very fun spring break, our kids are all back in school and I’m catching my breath and catching up on work. I hope you all are having a great week so far and I really appreciate you stopping by the blog today! Enjoy your Wednesday, my friends!
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