One thing my expectations are very high with regards to, is beaches.
We stayed in a cute little village called Safety Harbor. If it wasn't for the heat, and the cicadas and the humidity, it would be a perfectly adorable "small town" to live in. I could own a shop on main street and be perfectly content.
Safety Harbor is only 6 miles away from Clearwater, Florida. Clearwater is significant this year, because Clearwater beach was voted the "BEST BEACH" in the United States. So, obviously on our day dedicated to sunning ourselves and playing in the sand I wanted to go to the best beach.
But, because sometimes he dislikes crowds more than me and because it was Good Friday Ross decided to try and outsmart the "best" beach and head down the coast a little bit to another beach, Belleair beach. Same coast, same sand, same beach right?
WRONG! So, so wrong.
We parked. We paid for parking and we walked onto the sand. But, it wasn't sand, exactly. It was more like walking on millions and billions of crushed up, sharp sea shells that jabbed into our tender, winter feet like shards of glass.
But ,we soldiered on and that soldiering on lasted about 40 minutes until my pouting was significant enough to get us back to the "best" beach. The boys were doing their best to play in the water. Quinn was doing his best to dig a sand castle, but it wasn't what we had expected. Being spoiled by Huntington Beach and Crystal Cove, and Laguna and Dana Point....ruined me for rough sand and shells. I want what I want.
Snob.
We dusted off the sand, loaded into the mini van, and drove back up the coast to fight the crowds at Clearwater. We found a place to park and ended up on a small patch of perfect beach. No shells. White sand. Clear water shallow enough for the boys to wade out past their waists and still touch the bottom.
It was perfect! Picture perfect actually. The sand was white and soft as flour. It's like it was just melting. I could have played with it all day. There was also lots of good people watching, sunburn getting, and sand to be buried in.
We were all happy and relaxed and having a great time.
Later in the evening, once we were all cleaned up, we headed to a MLB game, The Tampa Bay Rays against the Boston Red Sox. Tampa plays in a dome, and none of us had ever been to a fully enclosed dome before. It was dated, and old, and and felt a little like we were in a spaceship hotel, but it was fun. Bonus for Ross and Wyatt - unlimited refills on Diet Cokes and popcorn! I lost count of how many times we filled up that dump cup. The game was a snooze fest. The corridors of the stadium felt like a hotel and to get to our seats, we rode elevators, though we did find a ramp to walk out on when the game was over.
We aren't really baseball fans, but we had a good time. Unlimited popcorn and cokes for the win.
As a side note - we try hard to keep our kids fairly coke/caffeine free. But, there are two exceptions: 1) when you are with grandma and mom and dad don't know and
2) on vacation. Funny enough (ha, ha), Wyatt drank so much diet coke on our spring break trip that I'm surprised he didn't turn a shade of amber. Man, that kid is a guzzler.
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