I am very fortunate to have parents that always take us along on vacation. My parents recently bought a home in Port Charlotte, Florida, a home we hope to one day live in while we look for a house of our own. They closed on it days before vacation, so we were able to stay there before renters moved in! We spent a lot of time on the beach, exploring Port Charlotte, Venice, and Nokomis. We even traveled to Sarasota, which is about an hour away, where Jordan will hopefully work someday.
My mom rode with us on the 15 hour drive. We stopped in South Carolina on Friday night, and it was a disaster. We didn't have the pack and play since my dad took it down separately and she did not do well in the hotel room. She was up until 3am. So we were all pretty exhausted when we got on the road again 5 hours later. But, we made it to Port Charlotte and took the girls immediately to a small local beach along the harbor. Evie and Catherine dove right in, but Emmy was not impressed.
On Sunday we got up early and headed to Stump Pass Beach. The girls enjoyed the sand and playing with their new fishing poles, and I enjoyed Mother's Day on the beach.
My dad had to give Emmy her own pole after she carried her sisters' around all day. She really enjoyed waving it around and pretending to cast.
We found a really cool park one morning before we headed to Fort Myers for a trip to the Shell Factory.
The Shell Factory was pretty cool, but not as cool as the research I had done on it suggested. Oh well. They had a cute little zoo with a parrot that played peekaboo and lots of opportunities to feed the fish and other wildlife.
This was a fun day. We headed back to the harbor beach and had a blast looking at all the wildlife in the water. Tons of shellfish and crabs. And I sliced my toe open on a shell, so that was awesome. Jordan and I spent all morning making sand castles and sand pies with the girls. It rained that afternoon, but we visited a fishermen's market. Emmy had a blast splashing in the puddles.
Venice was also a lot of fun. Emiliana finally warmed up to the water and we saw a stingray! It came super close to the shore and I got some awesome video of it swimming along the coast. Very exciting!
We closed out our Port Charlotte segment of vacation with a trip to the splash pad. Jordan and the girls invented a game using a triangular net and some toy boats. Then we visited Nokomis, one of my favorite beaches, and soaked in a little more sun before traveling the next morning to Atlanta.
It was a wonderful trip, and made us dream of the day when we live down there. Someday, Hannah. Someday.
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