To be honest, Florida seems like a different world than Rochester, NY. The sun is definitely brighter (not just hotter), the sky is a different shade of beautiful blue, the trees are greener and the clouds? Well, I could stare at them all day. They are gorgeous and billowy and tall. They bring the most beautiful sunsets.

But boy is it ever unbearably hot at times. My Rochester blood isn’t used to it feeling like it’s one hundred degrees out. It’s uncomfortable anywhere outside until you find a building with air conditioning, and then it’s uncomfortable anywhere inside because nearly every establishment blasts their air conditioning so high that I need a sweatshirt to stay warm. There’s rarely a happy medium! The evenings are perfect–when the late afternoon clouds roll through and the breeze picks up and the temperature drops to a chilly 82 degrees.  I could handle that year round for sure.

These images are from our first few days in Florida. We spent some time at the beach and on a Dolphin Explorer journey which was a bit of an educational trip as well. We learned a lot of things about creatures not native to New York, and spent some time oohing and ahhing over the dolphins that we spotted.  The trip included shelling on a small island which the kids all loved–it was full of crabs, sea stars, sand dollars and every kind of shell you could ever think of, including these gigantic iridescent clam shells that were bigger than my foot.

Our trip down to Florida also brought Sawyer’s first beach excursion. He loved it–everything about it. And it was humorous to watch his little toddler waddle teetering toward the Gulf and losing his balance as he hit a wave.  The boy just likes to wander and explore. And the beach scene was perfect for that. He was as happy as a clam 🙂