Our First Getaway

a dolphin named Nicholas and his trainer

Matt with the Tampa Bay behind him (I think)

me at Clearwater Beach

This past week, Matt had a conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. Several months ago, he asked me if I'd like to come down and meet him after the conference. I thought it sounded like fun as long as I could actually leave Abbie for a few days (and Sophie too, but it's easier to leave her since she's older). A few days before the trip Abbie got an ear infection and my mom who was supposed to keep the kids was having back trouble. I wasn't sure if I'd get to go for sure or not. Well, it all worked out and I got to fly down and meet Matt. We left the kids with my parents and they did great. Plus, we missed the freezing cold temperatures in Nashville. However, right after I came to Florida they had a cold front too so we actually only walked on the beach the 1st day. The highs were mostly in the low 60's or upper 50's though, must better than highs in the teens! We stayed right on the beach for a couple of nights but it just wasn't warm enough for us to do much in the water. The view was beautiful though!

I was happy when I flew into Tampa and saw palm trees and live oak trees with Spanish moss hanging down. I miss that about from when we lived in Charleston!! We had a nice relaxing trip (quiet too without the kids). We did some shopping, walked on the pier and various other places, just enjoyed being lazy, visited friends, and more. One of the fun things we did was to visit the Clearwater Aquarium where they take in injured sea turtles and dolphins and try to rehabilitate them to send them back to their natural habitat. However, they have many turtles, otters, and dolphins that can't go back to living on their own. We got to see a great dolphin show and saw the famous dolphin, Winter, who was rescued from a crab trap that severed the back part of her tail. She actually has a prosthesis that she wears sometimes and they are trying to retrain her to swim like other dolphins (she swims sideways like a fish).

Matt got a kick out of all the Winter paraphenalia for sale in the gift shop at the aquarium which featured a plush dolphin doll without a tail just like Winter.

We also ate at the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa, which we thoroughly enjoyed the last time we visited the Clearwater/St. Pete area, and had a wonderful meal! They also had a special show with some flamenco dancers which was something different for us.

One thing that was kind of funny about our trip is that Sophie kept thinking that we were going to Disney World without her because to her, Florida is synomyous with the beach and Disney World. We assured her several times that we would be taking her to see Disney World another time and we were not going without her!!! Overall, we had a nice trip. I didn't know how I would do without the kids but I did just fine. =) I think it was great for me to get a little 3 day break.