Cam and I went to Florida last week! We took a red-eye! We survived! We went to the beach! We ate key lime pie! It was fantastic. The trip that is. But the pie was, too.
^^photo credit: alli^^
My dearest friend Alli had a baby in February, so I'd been planning to make a trip to Minneapolis to meet lil Charlie, but she and her parents were kind enough to invite me to their place in Fort Myers instead. I love Minneapolis, but who could say no to some Florida sunshine? Frontier is kind enough to have a direct flight from DIA to Southwest Florida International Airport at the worst times imaginable, and I'll do anything for Alli and also not to have a connection, so I signed us up. It was fun to travel with just Cameron, and I must admit I was much less nervous for this first flight of his than I was when I took Willa on hers at around the same age! Of course I missed the other half of our family, but I was happy to have a few days of just girls + babies.
^^11:55pm at DIA. i put him to bed at 7pm so he could sleep until we left for the airport at 9:30. he then took another snooze in my arms at the gate around 10:30, but woke up excited to hear we had a 30 minute delay. as he smiled and squirmed around on the floor at our gate, several people looked on. i decided to tell myself that they were marveling at his cuteness rather than judging me for putting my baby on the dirty floor. but when you have 4 hours ahead of you on a plane with a lap infant, you gotta rest your arms while you can!^^
^^arrived! happy to meet his new best bud charlie.^^
^^on our first morning, we hit up a farmers' market. florida style: in a parking lot at a mall. i did, however, get a smoothie that hit the spot like nothing else. what is it about fruit juice in hot weather? so good.^^
^^aquatic facilities + cam's first swim!^^
^^dudes in hanna andersson pjs enjoying some back time with orange toys.^^
^^indoor/outdoor living is the best.^^
^^even bigger aquatic facilities + another dip.^^
^^we made a trip to barefoot beach. i was in heaven. cam was unsure about the water. but he did enjoy a long nap to the sound of the waves.^^
^^i can never get enough of tropical vegetation. or rodes key lime pie. we bought it on my last night there, so i of course ate 4 pieces.^^
^^cam figured he should test out the carpet at southwest florida airport too. you can see on his face that he was a bit bummed about going home though. or maybe that's because it was 6am. i was happily drinking a $6 starbucks latte to energize myself for the flight home.^^