Tampa Recap

We flew down to Tampa for a few days last week to visit Aunt Ginger. If you follow me on Facebook, then you read one of my updates on "We have been sitting on our plane since 2:30-our plane is now delayed until 4 cause of weather in Atl. And, we're flying with Emma in a row of 3 with her Benadryl having the OPPOSITE effect it is intended to.....
Good times."

All I'm going to say about that is 1. Fly first class if at all possible, and 2. Give your kid a medicine that will actually make them tired INSTEAD of hyper.

Moving on. The first full day we were in Tampa, we went to Tarpon Springs, a cool little Greek community. Well of course we had to eat. Here is Miss Thing "ordering" her lunch. Lookin' like a little devil in the process. We dined on some incredible appetizers (hummus and fresh pita, along with spanakopita) and main dishes ( gyros, Greek salad, and souvlaki).

Emma decided she needed a ride on a sea turtle.

We walked to Hella's Bakery and ingested some more dessert delicacies (Greek coffee, baklava, and baklava cheesecake). Emma decided/learned how to make the Bride of Chucky face, or
"Chuckina" as we like to call it.

Emma and her great aunt Ginger.


The fam posing-totally Griswold BTW. And, I'll give a War Eagle that to
Uncle Erik face-love those colors!

Emma is finding her inner soul child with this sequined cap.

PS-she is SOOOO anti hairbows, ponytails, and hats right now. Is this normal?? Has anyone else had this issue with their kid? I swear, if she isn't in a dress, girlfriend could pass for a boyfriend since she won't let me "do" her hair.



The next day we went to Rick's on the River in Tampa and put down some grouper. Here is the youngster atop her daddy's shoulders. She loves this (and so does he.........)

Mommy and her girl.

After lunch, we went to Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. Which was totally rad. They have a water fountain splash park thingy and we got Emma wet before and after our visit since it was at least 112 degrees. I may have lost 3 pounds that day. And then found it that night at dinner.

Cooling off. (I totally would have worn my bathing suit and partied with her IF I didn't think it may be a tad inapprope for an adult to be frolicking in the kiddie fountain.)

Dude, I got to feed the giraffes. I am so in love with giraffes. They rock. But, I did feel kind of guilty, cause you know everyone wants to feed them and they probably have a horrible diet with all those snackles.

Awesome, beautiful elephant. They had a little Savannah to frolic on.

Finally some cool shelter. We went into the manatee rescue center. It was so sad-the manatees had all these really deep cuts and issues from getting hurt in FL waters.

On most days, we partied in Aunt Gin's pool-she has a pool with one of those screen house things. Rad. Here is Emma doing her version of senior pictures. This is her "serious" pose.

And, show me funny.

Screened in porch thingy-which had pineapples growing in it. I totally forgot to take a picture, but it was so super cool. Click here if you want to see exactly what it looks like.

And, Emma took lots of baths in Aunt Gin's deep tub.

This was a bubble bath after our exhausting day at the zoo.

The End.

We had such a good time. Thanks for having us Aunt Ginger! We will have to go back for more, but I promise you, we will either fly first class or we will buy Emma her own seat. Or I will fly separately. :D