Home, Sweet Home

We've been back from our trip for a couple of days now and we're settling back into our routine.  While we absolutely love visiting with family and changing up the scenery a little bit, vacations are certainly exhausting with 18 month old twins.  I was surprised at how much I craved the comfort of my own bed and the familiarity of my stove, couch, and the toys strewn throughout the house.

Florida was gorgeous.  We spent every afternoon at either the pool or the beach and Eli and Jude have made leaps and bounds in their swimming skills.  Eli loves to put his face in the water, blows bubbles, and enjoys spending his time climbing up and down the pool stairs.  Jude is not as fond of putting his face in the water but is great at kicking his legs and can climb out of the pool from the side.  They both love to splash and play and can hold their breath like champs.  I look forward to seeing their skills increase over the next few weeks/months/years.  If genetics have anything to do with it, we'll surely have superior swimmers.  : )

I would also like to point out that the food in Sarasota is delicious.  We met up with family at our favorite seafood restaurant - The Crab and Fin - on the first day and the food was amazing the entire trip!  We discovered a new pizza place on the circle called Venezia that is better than any pizza outside of New York or Chicago (Travis and I disagree on the best pizza... but that could fill up a post on its own) and we ate tasty macarons from Le Macaron a couple of times.  And of course, we ate at Kilwin's a few times and brought home three slices of fudge for our continued enjoyment.

We also spent a good part of our time at the Mote Aquarium and the G. Wiz Science Museum.  On our first visit to G. Wiz, the woman selling us our tickets told us about the membership program.  They are affiliated with the Association of Science Technology Centers and the membership carries over to science and children's museums all over the country.  Here in Austin, we'll get into the Austin Children's Museum for free and there are several other museums within day-trip range.  Needless to say, we bought the membership and it has already paid for itself.  Probably the best purchase of the entire trip, if not year!  Eli and Jude were fascinated by the sharks at the aquarium, the hands-on exhibits at G. Wiz, and there was a science demonstration one day with fire that had them awestruck.  This is probably my favorite age yet (aside from baby snuggles, which I miss and crave!) because they're so engaged and it's obvious that they learn new things with every day.

I will close out this post with some more photos of the trip!