Home Sweet Home...

We're baaaacckk....exhausted but tan. Oh, and with that annoying respiratory infection I always seem to catch on planes. Achhoo.

Never fear, I bring pretties for you....

First we stayed in Orlando, at Downtown Disney (although we didn't do Disney this trip to FL.) Some of what we DID do...

Face Painting at Universal Studios...




And the beyond amazing animals of Seaworld...












The really incredible Shamu! (I was as excited as the kids!)



For the last few days of our week we stayed on St. Pete's Beach at the Don Cesar...It's a beautiful art deco hotel. Here's a snapshot at sunset last night:



another shot of St. Pete, from Crabby Bill's Crab Shack (Where I stuffed myself on yummy crabcakes! and Lu sadly lost her stuffed dolphin souvenier from Seaworld.)



We ferried over to Shell Key for the day, where you're smack in the midst of sealife. We snorkeled over hundreds of live sand dollars...



While snorkeling, a school of dozens of stingrays swam by, as well as a 7+ foot manatee! How cool is that?! It's a beautiful shelling beach too, and we gathered up more shells than we could bring home. Sand dollars by the BUCKET! Unfortunately, we had them safely packed in a hard plastic case and wrapped in towels in a suitcase for the flight home. THAT bag was one that was randomly searched by the TSA. They crushed all but 8 sand dollars. Why they would do that is beyond me. :(

Finally, I'll leave you with the gorgeous gulf coast sunset....Wow.