"Official" Day 1 in the FLA

I'm fixing to hit the hay in just a few minutes, but I wanted to give an update on the trip so far. I didn't get a chance to compose anything yesterday, so I'll give a summary in a nutshell:

On Friday, we ended up leaving our house by 6:30 am. I drove to Atlanta, where we stopped for gas, lunch and bathrooms. Then, Justin took over and drove and drove and drove some more. Finally, just after 8pm, we arrived at Jerry and Linda's condo in Sarasota. So, that was 950 miles in 13.5 hours...I'd say that's pretty stellar!

After we arrived, we had some cedar plank grilled salmon for dinner and visited with Jerry, Linda, Jason, Julie and the kids before turning in for a night of well-deserved sleep.

So, this morning, we were awakened to a combo of the kids banging on walls/doors, sand cranes squawking and coffee-maker alarms going off. At least it was after 8am. Then, after eating a protein-filled breakfast and showering, we decided to head to Siesta Key beach with Jason, Julie and the nieces and nephew.

For a few hours we frolicked in the small waves and watched the girls (+ some random kid) work on a sand castle moat. Through some stroke of luck and minor skill, I was able to catch a few minnow-sized fish in a little net so that the kids could watch them swim in their moat and dig a path to help them escape back into the ocean.

By the time all of us were sand-covered and hungry for lunch, we headed back to the condo for grilled cheese and deli sandwiches. Finally, around 2pm, Jason, Julie and family left to begin their long trek home. It got really quiet around the house when they left. But don't get me wrong, it was great getting to spend close to a day with everyone. Those kids have such unique personalities, and I pretty much constantly laugh at their little antics.

Around 4pm, Justin and I and his parents went for a drive into downtown Sarasota to check out the lay of the land. Then, we crossed over the bay and drove through the other various islands such as St. Armands circle, Longboat Cove and Anna Maria Island. At Anna Maria, we stopped at a restaurant called the Beachhouse and had frozen beverages and a few appetizers. Then, just in the nick of time, we left to head back to the mainland just as rain was moving in.

Before heading to dinner, we briefly stopped over at Total Wines (the spot I was talking about a few days ago) and browsed around. However, we are planning on going back tomorrow once I've had time to compose a more specific list, rather than just randomly wandering around. Just across the street was Stonewood, where we grabbed some dinner. Justin and I both had steak, and of course some wine with dinner.

After returning to Jerry and Linda's we launched ourselves into a competitive game of Wizards, and finally Day One drew to a close. More fun in the sun to come tomorrow!