Friday Favorites:: Boca Grande Edition

Today I'm linking up with Andrea to share some Friday Favorites. I thought a lot about what to share, and I decided to focus on one place that might just be my new favorite Florida beach. 

We had a full day in Florida after our cruise, so we took advantage of the hot day and went to the beach. This was my first time at Boca Grande, what has become my mom and dad's favorite beach. I can see why they love it so much! 

I mean, look at the path that takes you to the beach! I was in love from the first moment. 

After six days without our two little guys, I had my camera out a LOT to capture these great smiles. Aiden loved the beach too. 

Anders played and played all day. He liked the sand, the shells, and the water. 

These two were the big boys all week while we were gone. I heard they played great together. 

Reunited! We have a picture of the four of us at Fort Myers Beach last winter framed in our living room. We might replace that with this one. My little family. :) 

Here's our whole crew and our set-up. 

Heidi said Anders had been nervous of the water last week when they were there. Not this time! 

Shandi! I think every one year old girl needs a bathing suit with a tutu. :) The hot pink, the polka dots, the little falling out pigtails... I love it all! 

I took the boys back to the path to try to get some decent photos of them. Not the easiest task, but #mamatried ;) 

Here's his genuine smile. I can't believe how big this little guy is getting. Every.Single.Day. 

Anders, too. Is it possible he's still one? It feels like he's been part of our lives for much much longer. 

What a fantastic day! I can't wait to go back in a few weeks. 

If you haven't already read it, check out my post from earlier this week about all of our road trips and some tips I have for traveling with kids. 

Carnival Breeze Cruise Day 3

Our third day of the cruise was our first port day in Falmouth, Jamaica. I'd never been to Falmouth; previous cruises had stopped in Ocho Rios. Dave and I woke up early again and went up front to watch us dock at the pier. 

The sun was hot for another day in the beautiful Caribbean!

Gary, Joanne, Dave, and I watched while the first passengers left the ship. 

We met up with Anna and Kristine and went ashore. 

The port in Falmouth is much nicer than what I remember in Ocho Rios. We didn't plan a shore excursion and only planned on walking around the port and doing some shopping. It was nicer than we expected! 

Joanne found this hand carved elephant for one of her kids. 

We found a large hand carved cedar spoon at this little shop, and asked if they could make it deeper. We envisioned a great sauna dipper for our non-existent sauna. This guy obliged and here he is, carving out the spoon to make it deeper.

Such a fun day! Hot & sunny, just what you hope for when you're on vacation in the Caribbean. Dave got to carry the spoon around. Several people asked about it... "Are you really going to eat with that?!!" 

Anna, Kristine, me, & Joanne with our (huge!) ship in the background. 

We got back on the ship and I got tacos from the Blue Iguana Cantina upstairs on the Lido deck. I had tacos almost everyday for lunch - YUM!! They made the tortillas fresh in front of you, you picked your meat, and there was a toppings bar full of fresh ingredients for you to add to the meat. Lots of options for dairy-free me! 

Others ate burgers from Guy's Burgers.  This is what cruising is all about! 

It was pretty quiet on the ship since we were still in Falmouth for several more hours, so we decided to take advantage and check out the water slides. 

I love this picture of Dave coming out of the slide. It was fast and pretty easy to get turned around by the time you hit the bottom! 

Karen shot out of there so fast, I almost missed getting a picture. 

Here's a couple photos of Jamaica from the top of the water slide. We were above the 15th deck up here. 

Carnival has an adults-only section called Serenity on the front of the ship. After the water slides, we were looking for a shady spot to read and spend the afternoon. 

We lucked out on Serenity and found this little cabana with a great view off the front of the ship. We spent several hours in here and it was perfect. In the shade with a little breeze, a good book and something cold to drink. I even fell asleep for awhile. :) 

Walking down from Serenity, that water was so pretty and we were so high up. Here's a little perspective on it. 

Later, we went to the back of the ship to swim and watch us leave the port. 

The sun began to set just as we were leaving Jamaica. 

The lighting in the dining room was pretty red so I don't have many pictures there. Here's one. We had a table for all ten of us. Sometimes we didn't see each other all day, but we had this hour and a half every night to visit and enjoy a good meal together. 

Walking around the ship, we listened to this string trio in the atrium for awhile. 

We ended the day upstairs on deck 10 on the back, watching the moon light up the sea behind us. 

I planned on doing at least two days per post, but I could only narrow it down to these pictures. We'll see how the next couple days go. Haha :) I took a lot of pictures after those first two days when I only had a few. 

Vacation Recap Part 1: Florida, Cruise Days 1 & 2

On Monday evening, we arrived home after being gone for 11 days. It wasn't long enough! Haha :) I don't know if vacation is ever long enough. I have hundreds of photos, so I'm breaking my recaps up into three or four posts. You've already seen some of the photos from the drive down there here, so I'll start with our arrival in Florida. 

After driving until midnight Friday night, waking up at 6 to get back on the road on Saturday morning, we were thrilled to turn the corner and see this place! My mom and dad bought their Florida retirement home two years ago. 

Aiden and Anders wasted no time getting busy playing on the floor. :) 

We got the stroller out and went for a walk around the neighborhood. 

What a gorgeous day! 

Later that evening, we watched the sunset through the trees. 

We finished the evening at a little Italian place in town. 

On Sunday, we woke up and said bye-bye to our two little guys and left to the port. 

My dad gave us a ride but I don't have any pictures... I was not good at taking pictures the first couple days, but I more than made up for it the rest of the time. 

On Sunday once we got on the Carnival Breeze for six glorious days, we walked around, discovering everything. Here's the Lido Marketplace where we ate breakfast every day. 

The Burger spot on the Lido Deck. 

On Monday, we woke up early to watch the sunrise. The last two cruises I went on, I wanted to see the sunrise. Last time we went, we had Aiden with us so we didn't get up early. The time before, I was pregnant with Aiden and pretty tired so we never set the alarm for the sunrise. 

It was pretty and worth getting up for! 

We stayed up and had a long busy day doing nothing but relaxing! 

Sitting on deck 11 in the back, watching the sea go by. Life is good! 

Dinner was great and it was our first elegant night. I don't remember what Anna was eating here. 

Looks like Karen had the same thing. 

All dressed up and no kids with us! It took awhile to get used to that. 

We ended the night out on the back, visiting and eating pizza until way too late. 

It was perfect!