We went to Florida.

Last week, Don and I jetted off to Florida for a fabulous week long vacation!!!  I have SO many pictures and not a lot of time, so this post is going to be "caption" style.

Day #1 - Saturday:  Clearwater Beach.  

My first taste of lots-o-sun in 2 years.  Silly indoor jobs.

Two thumbs up for sure!

Reading on the beach.

Day #2 - Sunday:  Beach-walking and sunset-seeing.

An afternoon walk along the beach.

The scenic lookout point on our drive.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

More walks along the beach.  I love warm nights!!

Day #3 - Monday:  Busch Gardens.

Picture with the tiki man.

Welcome to Busch Gardens!

My sunglasses flew right off my face during our first ride.  Eeks.

Busch Gardens is a mix between an African safari, a zoo, and an Amusement Park.  Picture "Lion King" with roller coasters.  Great idea.

The Rhino.

Some Zebras.

A very large ostrich.

My favorite elephant!

Day #4 - Tuesday:  Fort De Soto Park.

You can think of Fort De Soto Park as "untouched" Florida.  It is home to some of the most pristine and natural beaches in America.  

So pretty.

Look at where I am!! Woohoo!

Don't worry, I've just parted the palm trees that were in my way.

This is Florida just as the explorers saw it.  There were lizards everywhere.

Just eating some fried alligator.  No big deal.

Day #5 - Wednesday:  4th of July!!!

Dinner on the water.

We got to watch the fireworks on the beach!  They couldn't have been better.  We were right underneath them, and they lasted over 2 hours!

Fireworks!!

Day #6 - Thursday:  Tennis and home.

We played tennis multiple days on our trip, but we played one last time the day we left.

Concentrating hard...

We found a delightfully tasty Amish Ice Cream shop near our hotel.  An *ice cream* a day keeps the doctor away.  Yep.

(Don is an exception.  Fact:  If Don stayed away from me whenever I ate ice cream, I would never see him.)

Just before our flight, we stopped at the Salvador Dali Museum in downtown Tampa.  Check out the surrealist staircase.

I took a picture of the building because *as it turns out* Dali is nutcase, and 80% of his artwork is more than mildly inappropriate to share on a public blog.  Oops.

Dali museum and all, we had the most fantastic time in Florida, and it was the perfect vacation.

Sunny Florida, I will miss you dearly.  Until next time!!!!!

Promo

What is going on!?  Is this real?!

I got promoted to Home Manager!!!!!  Woot!!! I don't think I  told everybody yet, but it is now official.  I started on Monday after we got back from Florida.  And...you guessed it...I love every minute of it!!  I love my job!!

I have way more responsibility now, which means it is way more stressful (Yep, I definitely came home from work at {12:45 AM} last night crying because I was so overwhelmed.  Eeks...)  I guess I have to amend my previous statement to:

 "I love every minute of it -- ish".

Nonetheless, gooooooo Anthro!  Without sounding too cheesy, I have to acknowledge that I have been guided and helped by my fellow Anthro friends all along the way.  I'm grateful they have given me this chance.  It's a pretty amazing deal.  (None of them actually read my blog...meh).

And finally, since I did mention Florida, I promise to have our vacation pictures up soon!  It's been a whirlwind since we got back, and I'm thinking Sunday might have to be a blogging day.