Tampa

This past weekend Danny, myself, and Ashlyn headed to Port Richey (just north of Tampa) to visit his grandma and other family. We had a really good time visiting with family that we hadn't seen in a while. The trip down and back went really well. Ashlyn hardly slept on the way down but I was able to keep her entertained and happy. We drove down on Friday afternoon after I had my massage (a present from danny for my last birthday, which is in June. So, that tells you how long it took me to get it. That experience is a whole other story :) ). Once we got there we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and headed to his grandmas to say hi. We visited a little then went to eat with some of the family. Danny's parents and two of his brothers also went down. So, lots of family there. Danny's grandma, Aunt Nina, Uncle Serge, Cousins- Michelle, Julie, and Stephen (Nina's kids) all live in the area. Also got to see his second cousins- Jacob-12, Azaela-4, and Alexis-18 mths. All so cute. Unfortunately we missed seeing his cousin Stephen and his family, but was able to see everyone else.

Saturday was more visiting. Danny wanted to take Ashlyn to the Tampa Aquarium to see the penguins. But, when we finally got down there, it was only open for another hour. So, we decided not to go since it was around $20 per person and wasn't worth it for an hour. We would have made it sooner, but our little cat nap baby decided to take TWO- 2-hour naps (and those were only that long cause we had to wake her up both times to go somewhere). I guess the trip the day before wore her out. After we ate in Tampa in area called Channelside (Stumps restaurant), we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a dip in the pool. The water was the perfect temp. It was great.

Sunday we headed to the zoo (see post below) then headed to Danny's grandmas for some more family time and a nice dinner. Thanks Grandma Olga for the dinner. It was delicious.

Monday, one last chance for a visit and then we stopped at Serge's demonstration in Largo. He is affiliated with a group that was protesting the war. It wasn't a protest with picket signs, etc. It was more suttle. They setup a spot in a park where they laid out a set of boots for each FL soldier killed in Iraq. They then laid various "civilian" shoes in the middle to represent the Iraqi civilians killed. Very thought provoking scene. I thought it was a well done way of protesting the war while also commemorating those who had died and those who were still fighting without being negative toward the soldiers.

After that, we headed home. Though we really enjoyed the weekend, we also are happy to be home. Hopefully we can do better at visiting his and mine family more often. Most of our immediate family is here in Jax, but the cousins, aunts, and uncles are all over. So, we will do our best.

Here are some pics of the family.