What a busy start to our vacation season! Karl, Hailey and I arrived in Florida on Thanksgiving day ... after a two plane flight with a lay over in Atlanta (first class all the way :)) We arrived in sunny Florida. Thanksgiving day was spent with Nonni, Papa, Aunt Fern and Uncle Peter in St Pete ... Uncle Peter gave Hails some piano lessons, she was in awe at his skills (he's a professional musician :)) and we ventured down to the beach with Aunt Fern after dinner ... it was a little chilly!
Friday morning brought Black Friday and my birthday :) After a little bit of early morning shopping we headed off to the happiest place on earth to see the Mouse! It was a ZOO ... even busier than when we went at 4th of July!!! Hailey, however, was completely content riding the carousel over and over again ... later that evening we met with Nonni and Papa at Epcot for dinner!
Saturday morning I took Hailey to an Urgent Care ... Friday I had noticed a few little red bumps on her, perhaps she had an allergy to the Penicillin she was on for strep? Perhaps it was nothing? Well Saturday morning I was sure it wasn't nothing as she was COVERED from head to toe. Urgent Care (aka Doc in a box) was about a useful at diagnosing as I was ... Hand Foot and Mouth? Atypical Chicken Pox? Allergy to meds? Whatever it was it would go away in time and all I could do was offer Benedryl, Calamine and Tylenol for fever ... Thanks buddy!
Needless to say she remained in good spirits ... little Dot!
Come Sunday morning her low grade fever was gone and she was tired of being on house arrest. Her spots had begun to fade so we ventured down the road a few blocks and enjoyed Sunday brunch at the Grotto ...
Sunday evening Karl headed back to Nashville to return to work while Hailey and I stayed to enjoy another week of Florida sunshine. Monday we laid low, hanging out at home and taking the doggies to the park, Hailey loves to walk the Yorkies, however she did take a few nose dives when first learning how to control them ... This particular action shot ended in a scraped knee, elbow and forehead ...
Tuesday we headed up to Gainesville to spend two nights with the Allan clan; Hailey loved seeing her Great Auntie Linda, Great Uncle Jamie and cousins Lewis and Anthony!
We also visited John at Shiloh Sport Horses where I used to ride ... so nice to see them all again! Hailey kept calling the horses "cow" because of their markings, too cute! She ran up and down the barn singing "E, I, E, I, O"
We returned to Tampa Thursday morning and relaxed Thursday and Friday. Come Saturday we were all getting a little tired of the apartment so Nonni, Hailey and I ventured to the Lowry Park Zoo, voted #1 zoo by Parents Magazine! It was AWESOME, by far the most interactive zoo I have ever been to! Thanks to two days of rain (which stopped literally as we pulled into the zoo) the place was empty and the animals were all running around full of energy! We even got in for free thanks to my membership to Nashville zoo ... yippee for zoo partnerships :)
Hailey even brought home a critter ... the "Gigers" are her favorite!
This evening we will go see the Santa parade in downtown Ybor and then Sunday morning we head back to the cold! I must admit we are a little home sick and can't wait to see Dada, Jersey, Molly and Sophie and continue on our holiday adventures ... next up Gatlinburg, TN!
