Family comes to visit....

The summer months always bring family visitors....it's so much fun. I've been bringing my niece and nephew to FL with me since they were in car seats....now they are 13 and 16..where did the time go??? So, on Saturday afternoon the rolled into town for am 8 day stay. Sister Kellay and husband Larry were glad to not have a schedule for a week. They go to the beach...go fishing...enjoy some local eateries and just take it easy. I try not to make any plans for them allowing them to just be.....my only exception to this is I'd bought a Groupon for the kids to try Paddle Boarding, so on Sunday morning we had to be on Siesta Key at Turtle Beach by 10a....

First they had to be measured for paddle length....Chad was ready to go....

Then there was some simple instruction......

And off they went...........first on your knees to get the feel and some balance....

Then you stand up and go!!!

Chad had done this a few yrs ago at Boy Scout camp, but Ashley caught on quickly...

 Almost crashed into each other.....but alas, no one fell......

Time to go explore a beach your could only get to by paddle board or boat....too cool.

They came back about 1.5hrs later, thristy, tired, sun burnt...but said they loved it.

We were allowed to take the boards over to the beach side, we had been across the street in a cove area, and play in the waves. Kelley and Larry were set up and Larry got to try them out. Seems Daddy was pretty good too. Kelley and I chose to watch from the beach. Denny joined us and we all just kinda chilled. A bit later we were able to watch "fly boarding"....pretty darn fascinating....would require terrific balance but looked really fun. 

A fun day was had by all, but alas the afternoon showers drove us home. 

After a few evening snacks we played games....it was the guys vs. the girls.

Uncle Denny just loves charades!!!

What is he trying to get them to guess????

I'm so sory I didn't get a picture of Chad's "fountain".....we got a few laughs on that one!!

This week also happened to be Savor Sarasota. This is 2 weeks in June where local restaurants have prix fix menus for lunch and dinner with fixed prices..lunch $15/ dinner $29. We wanted to try out a few new ones and we'd be out of town most of the next week so we'd made a few reservations. We went to Mozaic and Made. Both places we'd not been to before and both very good. We went with Wayne and Caroline, friends from church and really enjoyed our evenings. Kelley and family just kinda did their own thing and we saw them at the house later in the evening. 

One afternoon we met them at Casey Key to hopefully see the manatees. Ashley had been able to play with them and had seen as many as 12 at one time....COOL!!!!

When we got there I had to follow them down the ICW to see them. It was sooooo neat. Then after about an hour a few came back over by the beach....we'd never seen so many before...it was much fun to watch them.

After watching for a while it was time for dinner...we settled on Casey Key Fish House...this guy was there to greet us.....

Sometimes it's like living in a zoo....love it!!!

We had a wonderful week of fun....games, homemade peach ice cream (2 times..YUM), bike rides, beaching, grilling and pooling....a really nice relaxed week.

Hope you guys had a good time...see ya next summer!!

We've been trying to keep up with our new little twins....thanks Deb for the picture update....

Gwyn and Vivi you are just adorable......looking forward to watching you grow.