Dunedin, Florida 2009

Ok, week two of our fabulous vacation was spent in Dunedin (Duh-knee-den), Florida. We had a fabulous time. We vacationed with Papaw Snooch, Grandma, Uncle Wes, Aunt Jessie, Lauren and Nate. Our condo was awesome. You can see in the first picture how each little house had four condos. We stayed in the bottom left condo and Papaw and Grandma stayed in the bottom right condo (our actual building is to the left of the yellow one in the picture). We could literally lay in bed and watch the sun rise, or see the ocean. We were standing near the edge of the water and saw dolphins swim up to the edge. They peaked out at us and turned to the side, as if to say hello. Andrew saw a manatee. We also caught starfish and giant conch shells. It was really a fantastic time. We were about a mile from a private beach (Honeymoon Island) and about 20 minutes from Clearwater Beach. Thanks Papaw Snooch and Grandma for such a wonderful vacation!

There are 55 pictures in this post, so you might need to grab a bag of popcorn, sit down and enjoy the ride:


This picture is from when we first arrived to Dunedin. Uncle Wes had caught a starfish and Finley was not too happy about touching it:
Here Papaw Snooch tries to coax her into touching it:
The beautiful view from our patio:
Lauren and Finley loved to play in the sand on Honeymoon Island. Andrew would build sandcastles and Finley would kicked them down. She truly thought this was the game!


Our little fish has NO fear of anything, including the ocean. She would literally dive into the water. She had many timeouts at the beach for running into the wild waters, without Momma or Daddy. She was knocked over many times by the waves, but she never cried. She did, however, put the water in timeout a time or two.



Andrew, the photographer in the family, captured many beautiful shots. I will let you go check them out on his website: www.andyrobe.blogspot.com
I am not a fan of birds, but they were everywhere:
We took some family shots outside of the Tampa Rays Stadium:




Ok, don't judge me for taking my two year old to Hooters for dinner. My dad LOVES the wings at Hooters and I have to admit the food is great! I've been going to Hooters for most of my life, therefore I have grown to ignore the girls in spandex and tanktops. I was happy to share in Andrew's first experience as well. Papaw thought it was necessary to buy all the kiddos t-shirts to celebrate their Hooters experience as well. Andrew did not get one.



Finley told us everyday at the beach when she needed a nap. She was such a trooper. After nap time she was ready to go:
Uncle Wesley thought it was a great idea to feed Doritos to the seagulls. This was not a good idea, as they did not leave us alone the rest of the day. I truly believe they even followed us home.
Night time was really fun. Papaw Snooch normally cooked a big meal and we sat around and played dice or made funny pictures on the Macbooks. Nathan, Finley and Wes playing behind the door:
Ring a Round the Rosie:
Here are some pictures I took of these goofballs taking pictures on our Macbook. I will have to post a few of these pictures in the future, but I think it would be too much tonight:


We went out one afternoon to have Gyros ("heros") from an authentic Greek restaurant.
And then Grandma, Wes, Jessie, Andrew (not pictured) and I went to a Rays game:
You can see who was in charge of the kids while we were out:
Our last day at the beach, we decided to try Clearwater. It was crazy crowded and we forgot to pack up a lot of our beach items, but we still had a blast. Here the kids are before we hit the beach:


Grandma Lorie can balance two toddlers, while managing to still look like a model! How does she do it?

Lunch time on the beach:



Papaw Snooch thought it was a great idea to lay out in the water. The kids thought it was a great idea to climb on Papaw Snooch and create quite a photo-op:






Finley was quite to hugger. She's going to be such a good, big sister!
Collecting shells (although her favorite part was throwing them back into the water- thus we have no collected shells with us today)
This little goober thought it would be awesome to lay out on beach like all the women she observed. The water kept coming in over her head, though, and she just would sit up and laugh and try again.

Here's a view from our bedroom:
Finley loves to dress up and make people laugh:

The Roberson family on our last night at the beach:
We had such a great two weeks in Florida. Between Disney and Dunedin we made so many wonderful memories. I'm so thankful to have two parents who were willing to put up with us and treat us to such a wonderful time! Love you Mom and Dad!