We had an absolutely amazing time on vacation! We left Friday evening and drove until around 3am. We found a hotel right outside of Nashville. We got a few hours of sleep before we got up, ate breakfast and were on our way to Chattanooga to visit family. Our Chattanooga visit was great. It was so nice to see family you don't get to see all to often. Plus we got to meet baby cousin Nellie for the very first time. Claire loved her and she loved Claire! After our visit, it was back in the car for another 11 hours of driving. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel, it was very tasty plus it was nice to get out of the car for an hour. After dinner in Georgia we knew we had another 6 hours left. After a few gas and potty stops we finally arrived in Marco Island, Florida at 2:00am. We had a little bump in the road when we got to the condo but within a couple minutes everything was fine. Of course we were all ready for bed except Claire. She was ready to party. She was sleeping for the last few hours and now wanted to play. Eric and I let her sleep in bed with us because we were too tired to get everything set up. It took her a good 1/2 to finally get to sleep! The next few days were very relaxing. We hit the beach every morning and got home around 2ish. The water was so comfortable, even my little "water whore (Claire)" loved the water SO much. The weather was HOT and humid but it was the perfect weather for the beach! On the 4th day we took a beach break because everyone was a little red so we had a morning pool and shopping in Naples day. It was super hot that day, our car read 101 degrees. Needless to say, we shopped rather quickly. The 5th day we all rent a boat for 4 1/2 hours and took it all around the Everglades. We saw dolphins and manatees. We found a great little island, with a fantastic little white beach. There was a bit of a current so the adults "swam" with the current back to our boat - it was so much fun! Claire again loved the sand and the water. Finding shells was her favorite past time of the whole trip. The 5th day was the only bad weather day. Tropical storm Bonnie was making her to us so the day was full of clouds and light rain. Luckily through it all we got a good 2 hours at the beach before a steady rain hit the island. At that point we went back to the condo, ate some lunch, got ready and headed to do a little shopping at a few local beach stores. Now everyday Claire was walking more and more but this was the day we started calling her, "our little walker". We got into the beach store and immediately she wanted down so we put her down and off Claire went. To our surprise she walked the whole time at the store. She walked from rack to rack checking out all the items at her level. It looked as if she was speed shopping for something particular. It was so cute. It was a very proud momma moment. The drive home went well. We took a different way home, instead of traveling through Georgia we went through Alabama. Which by the way, is super cute. Everyone has a great southern accent! We spent the night in Birmingham. We decided to stop of in Nashville but forgot all about the flooding that happened last May. All the tourist areas were closed. We really wanted to get Claire out of the car for awhile, so we made our way into Kentucky to Cave City. We decided to do a cave tour. It was fun and the perfect amount of time outside the car. Once we got to Indy we ate at a Cheeseburger in Paradise - Delicious. If you never ate at you, I highly recommend it. The burgers were great! It was the perfect way to end our long but very fun family vacation!!
Here are a few vacation pictures! Enjoy!
Getting to meet cousin Nellie for the very first time!
First morning in Florida!
Headed to the Beach!
Playing in the sand with Daddy!
The Bug and I at Dinner.
Beach day #2 - water time with mommy!
She loved everything about the beach!
A little ice cream!
She found the moon!
Our family on the boat!
Playing in the water with daddy.
Walking the beach with daddy!
The fam!
Eric, Claire, and I at sunset on the beach!
Love him
In a cave in Kentucky!
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