Fun in the Sun! Easter Weekend 2016

Hello again! I did not intend on taking so long away from my blog, but I was on vacation and got sick. Yuck. All of my plans went out the window. 

The day before Good Friday, we packed up and headed south to Florida. Anders helped us pack. Of course we can'tforget  Mickey! He was afraid I was leaving him (when I went out to the van), so that's why his cheeks are tear-soaked. 

When Dave got off of work, we hit the road! We borrowed our niece Loretta for the week so we'd have some help. Dave and I both agreed that's the way to travel. She was awesome, helping out with everything! 

The sun set as we were driving through the hills of Tennessee. It was gorgeous! 

We stayed in a hotel just south of Atlanta and by 7am, we were on the road again. 

Yay!! We made it to Grandma and Grandpa's! We hit a huge traffic jam outside of Gainesville, some weather north of Tampa, and more traffic in a couple other spots. That made for a LONG trip, so we were so so happy to be there! 

Julie and Rueben were still there so we got to spend the evening with them! So great to see them! I wanted a picture of the three boys with Julie and Rueben. Aiden was preoccupied elsewhere and apparently it was way too scary for Anders. I tried! 

We went for ice cream in town and had those two photobomb Anders's picture so I could get a better picture than the one from earlier. 

We love palm trees, warm evenings and ice cream! 

On Saturday, we woke up early and headed to Fort Myers Beach. We were actually up before the sun and saw it rise on our way there. I tried my best to get a picture of these two once we were there. 

We walked a mile to get breakfast from Heavenly Biscuits (yumm!!). 

Then we made our way back to the beach! 

It was so quiet there since it was so early. The boys loved playing in the sand and surf! 

Anders wore his life jacket all day even though he only went in the water a couple times. He refused to take it off and that was fine with me. 

Dave & I got lunch outside in the Times Square area. Nothing like open air eating in view of palm trees, sand, and the beach! 

We came back and Anders had fallen asleep. Facedown in the sand. Sleeping. Yeah. 

I think Loretta loved her first day at the beach! 

Happy boy after his nap! 

For twenty minutes or so, Anders would run from the water up to Grandma and give her five. 

Then Loretta. He went back and forth probably ten times. 

We were so lucky to get to spend so much quality time with grandma and grandpa! We went to the beach with them several times and spent lots of time at home together too. Thank you, mom and dad! 

Before we went home, we went to The Olde Fish House Marina in Matlacha for dinner. 

Dinner with one of my flower girls. (Can't believe she's so old!) 

Aiden wasn't feeling well so his pluggie came out. Besides that, I LOVE this picture!! 

Anders was kind of crazy so we took turns looking at different things around the restaurant with him. 

Wesley and Aiden discovered some fish in the water. So cool! 

Such a great view at dinner! 

Ready to leave and go back to Grandma and Grandpa's! 

The next morning, the kids woke up and found their Easter baskets. 

Anders was a little excited!  Haha :) 

Aiden doesn't really care for candy so he wasn't quite as excited. 

Later that morning people came over and we called in to church and had a potluck Easter dinner. I planned on taking tons of pictures that afternoon but I got sick. I spent the day under several blankets trying to stay warm and sleeping. It turned out to be strep throat, so it took several days to start feeling better. 

Check back later this week for more photo overload posts from our week in Florida!