Vacation to Florida

What a week! Two Fridays ago we left in the evening and headed for Atlanta. We stopped after a few hours and stayed at a hotel, then finished the trip on Saturday. We stayed in Atlanta Saturday afternoon and evening, spending time with our friends Jamie and Ale' Guthrie, their children Josh and Daniela, and Ale's brother Daniel. Saturday evening we went to a get together at their church and played soccer on the church's basketball court. Jamie and Ale' lead an ESL (English as a Second Language) ministry there and had fellowship for their students and their families. There were also crafts and food. We had a wonderful time with them, as it had been quite a while since we have been ablel to visit.

Ale' and Caleb Caleb and Daniela

On Sunday we left for Tampa and made it in by 5pm after a long drive. We stayed at Kristy's Aunt Nancy's and had a good time visiting with her family. We had dinner with them Sunday and Monday nights and stayed with them Sunday to Wednesday.
On Monday we went to the beach and greatly enjoyed napping on the beach (Kristy) and walking up and down it (Joel and Caleb)

Joel and Caleb enjoying the water

Caleb getting his toes dipped in the water... he liked it a few of the times, just not for this picture

On Tuesday we picked up Joel's Grandma and went to the famous La Trapicana in Ybor city for Cuban sandwiches and deviled crabs. mmmmmmmmmmm :)

Caleb's first trip to La Trapicana- proof with the menu... though we didn't need to look at it... what else would we get besides Cubans and deviled crabs????

with Great Grandma Vanderford in Ybor city

On Wednesday we headed towards Lake Panasoffkee and stopped by Land O'Lakes to visit Kristy's Aunt Rayleen and had lunch. We were able to see her in Maryland a few weeks ago- but it was great to visit again. We continued on to the farm on Wednesday and hung out. We had "Catfish Charlie's" with Aunt Dee and Aunt Barbara for lunch on Thursday- including gator, frog legs, catfish and hush puppies :)

Caleb with Papa John- Joel's Grannie's husband

Great Aunt Barbara and Caleb

Caleb and Joel on the tractor pretending to be farmers

On Friday we went fishing at the pond on the property. Just as we were leaving Joel cast one last time and caught a fish-- his first in quite a while ;) Caleb helped of course.


On Saturday we headed North, stopping in Jacksonville to have dinner with Aunt Sarah and her husband Dale. Aunt Sarah is who Joel's mom donated her kidney to. She is doing very well and Caleb, as you can see, enjoyed meeting them.

Caleb with Aunt Sarah and Dale

After dinner on Saturday we finished the drive back home-- getting in after 2am but decided that was better since Caleb was able to sleep the entire way back. We recovered on Sunday and Joel headed back to work Monday- Wednesday. On Thursday Caleb with take his first plane ride to Birmingham for Thanksgiving and we'll fly back Sunday-- the busiest travel day of the year! Pray for us that Caleb does well with the traveling!

Happy Thanksgiving!!