First Beach Day of the Summer

Going to the beach with Emma reminds me that the best things in life are the most simple. She had a great time chasing the seagulls, touching the water, playing with the sand. She was too excited to nap or eat her lunch. I will take her more often. The only reason with don't do it is because we like to take a tent and it requires at least 4 people to put it together.  If we don't take a tent, we can't last in the heat and the sun.

We saw a family yesterday that had it all figured out. They used a wagon to carry the child and everything else that they needed. Their tent was a foldable one that was easy to assemble and they had a small umbrella to put near the water where the kid was making sand castles. We have a lot to learn and since we live less than an hour away from the beach I'm sure that we will learn fast. I took a few pictures of Emma yesterday that I love. Here are some of my favorites:

Rainy Day in Pass-a-Grille

When one of my best friends, Ana, was visiting from DC in February we had plans to go to the beach as much as possible. She had not seen the sun since November and we've had plenty of sunshine this winter. It never rains in February but apparently it does if you make plans. We still went to the beach hoping that it would be nice and clear there. We drove towards the south end of St. Pete Beach, an area called Pass-a-Grille. When we got there it was foggy and "cold". We ate the sandwiches and snacks that we took, Emma unsuccessfully chased a few seagulls, took a nap, and we came back to Tampa. We stopped at the Westin Hotel at Rocky Point where it was sunny. We had a coffee and went home again. Emma wanted to get in the water but it was not a good day for that. I can't wait for the weather to get better and for her to enjoy the beach.

        

                      

                      

Saturday at the Curtis Hixon Park

Every time that someone from out of town is visiting, I take them to Curtis Hixon Park in downtown Tampa. This is one of the newest places in Tampa and one of my favorite parks in the City. It's modern and beautiful. University of Tampa, a must see in Tampa, can be seeing on the other side of the river. My dear friend Ana was in town visiting me and Emma for a weekend in February. We had plans to go to the beach but the forecast said it was raining and it was indeed raining in the morning. We moved our beach day for Sunday and spent Saturday in Tampa. Emma loves nature so this was the perfect opportunity to do something fun for her and at the same time show my friend around. The forecast was wrong and we had a sunny and warm afternoon. We miss you Ana. Thank you for the pictures of me and Emma. I LOVE them! Come back soon!

UT in the background

Mom, no more pictures please! 

Winter in Florida

February and March are my favorite (weather) months in Tampa. It is sunny, warm and it doesn't rain. We have been lucky and our winter has been warm compared to the rest of the Country with their record low temperatures. This explains why it is impossible for Floridians to find an affordable hotel room to spend a weekend at the beach right now. I started my search when Valentines day was near and I wanted to get away for a few nights. I tried different weekends and I couldn't find anything for less that $250 to $300 per night for a room that I could easily get for $99 in the summer. I gave up on my weekend plans but I decided that we could still enjoy the beach like tourist and headed to the famous Don Cesar Hotel in St. Pete Beach. Our plan was to eat lunch and have drinks by the pool with a few friends. The pool was full of snowbirds who didn't mind the windy afternoon and the cold water. After a few mojitos and lunch, we walked towards the beach. It was a perfect Saturday afternoon with sunny skies and in the low 70s. Emma enjoyed every minute at the beach walking by the shore and crawling around chasing seagulls. We have been going for 3 weekends in a row to the beach.  The next time we go to the Don Cesar, I plan to make a stop at the spa while Emma and Andre spend time at the beach. 

**General info for those driving to the Don Cesar for the day: The hotel has 2 other restaurants where they will validate parking. The pool's restaurant/bar does not validate it. Self Parking is $15 and Valet is $25. Drinks were $12 each and most of the lunch items were about $15 each at the pool. Everything we ate was great.  

Back to Busch Gardens with Emma

Every time I write a post about theme parks, I feel like I'm working on their marketing team. I just really like them and now that Emma likes Elmo, there is no better place for us to go. Unfortunately, I don't think that we will be going there in a while. I broke my tibia at the gym last week. I'm using crutches and this will be the case for at least 2 to 3 months. I'm very upset about the whole situation. We were going to Colombia tomorrow for 10 days and we decided to cancel the trip. It could be possible to go but I know that the best is to take care of this injury. 

Lory's Landing

Looking at the Flamingos

Snack time

The sunday before I got hurt, we went to Busch Gardens for less than 3 hours. It was enough time to catch the last Sesame Street show, ride the carrousel, look for Elmo and also see the birds at Lory Landing. Emma was very lucky because the park was almost empty and no kids were in line to meet Elmo. He played with her for a few minutes, she grabbed his nose and was not scared at all. She also had the chance to see Abby Cadabby and also grab her nose.

A Very Furry Christmas

Sesame Street Safari Area

Elmo's Trek House

At the Carrousel

We ended up buying more souvenir pictures

Emma & Elmo

Abby Cadabby

Her face after touching Abby's nose is why we keep going back

Safari of Fun Days with Elmo and Emma

I have posted a few pictures of previews visits to Busch Gardens before. I'm a big fan of having at least one annual pass for theme parks in Florida. We currently have the Busch Gardens and Sea World Pass. Emma's first trip to Busch Gardens was last month. She has been there twice since then. This time, we explored a new area of the park: the kids zone!! I never spent too much time here since my nephew was "too old" for Sesame Street when it opened a few years ago and my other nephew lives in California. Now that I care about activities with kids, our annual pass is great! We have more friends that also have the pass and they have kids that are about Emma's age. I was surprised to see how much Emma enjoyed the live show. We show her videos of Elmo a few times, but it was the sweetest thing to see her clapping and smiling to the Sesame Street characters sing and dance. I wish the show was a bit longer. They only sing 3 songs and then they go to the picture areas. We ended up buying 2 picture frames with the (overpriced but totally worth) pictures of her first day at Busch Gardens. Most of the attractions are for toddlers so I know that we will keep going back many weekends.