After a year of planning and saving, and because of some very wonderful friends, we took the plunge and boarded a plane for sunny Florida with the 3 boys during their fall break (and a couple extra days.) We haven't flown with Ian since we brought him home and Jeremy and Lucas have never flown, so we were a little anxious about the logistics of it all. Ian couldn't wait and made sure we marked off the days on his calendar each night for a month prior to leaving. The other 2 were pretty nervous but excited as well. We spent most of our time in the pool or on the beach but did take a dolphin tour where we didn't see any dolphins (apparently the first time for the captain to not see dolphins) but got to tour much of Estero Bay and saw lots of amazing birds!
The men on the boat
Lucas spent every possible minute, searching for shells
We rented a beach wheelchair for Ian so he could enjoy the beach like the rest of us! Jeremy enjoyed pushing him around and of course, Ian loved it!
Looking cool in their shades
More birds.....just oblige me my bird pictures, please!
Jeremy didn't get far from shore. ;-)
This picture is over exposed but Ian is sitting on the edge of the water, in the sand.
Ian loves any body of water!
While there, we made a road trip to Bradenton, to see our nephew play football which was a blast! Todd is Tom's youngest brother's (John) son and since Aunt Teena runs the spirit store, she outfitted us all in some pretty awesome ODA attire. I'm quite sure that Todd is the best player on his team (and quite possibly in the state of FL, says the non-biased aunt) but none of that means nearly as much......
as this!
Although they rarely see each other, Todd is amazing with the boys! (I've tried to adopt him but his parents won't hear of it.)
Although they rarely see each other, Todd is amazing with the boys! (I've tried to adopt him but his parents won't hear of it.)
He left his team after the game to come see the boys (and us) which meant the world to them and they are still talking about Cousin Todd!
We had a great 5 days and are so thankful for this opportunity, although it went way too quickly and we hated to leave!
One last shot from the pool area before leaving the beautiful condo.
