We surprised the girls with a 3AM wake up to go to Florida!  The reason why we chose to keep it a secret to them is that we have all been taking turns being sick since September and were worried that the trip may not actually happen.  We already had to cancel my 7 year old’s birthday party with family, Thanksgiving, and numerous playdates this Fall.  I joked that I just needed no puking or fever to get us to Florida.  Well, I jinxed myself because, although we got to Florida fever and vomit free, I can’t say the same about when we were in Florida.

The girls did an amazing job on the plane!  I got so many great tips for traveling with a toddler.  I have seen this same question come up on the mom groups, so I will also be working on a post about all the great tips I received.

The girls wanted to go in the pool as soon as we got there, but that’s where the vomit part of our trip happened.  They weren’t in the pool for even 5 minutes before my 3 year old choked on pool water and started to throw up on my husband and then continued to throw up next to the pool.  She rallied though and after a quick rinse off we were off to the beach.

My littlest just started walking, so this was her first time walking on the beach.  She loved standing in the water and playing in the sand.

Without realizing it, I had reserved us a 2 bedroom suite.  Well, this was one of the best mistakes!  We could spread out and have our own space.  We could watch the sunset from the living room and, after the girls went to sleep, my husband and I could actually relax a little bit together (although the first day, I did fall asleep at 7:30 after putting the girls to bed 🙂 ).  I am not sure we can ever go back to a regular hotel room.  Goodbye to the days of sitting on the bathroom floor sharing headphones watching a Netflix show on the iPad after the girls fell asleep.  But seriously, the suite gave us so much more room, and we were also able to get groceries, so we didn’t have to eat out as much.  It was a game-changer.

The last day in Florida was 60 degrees, which was considered “chilly” for Floridians.  But, we still asked to sit outside at the restaurant we went to.  The waiter serving us was wearing a winter jacket, while we were sun bathing 🙂

My 7 year old started to not feel great when we were on the trip.  We kept asking her if she was feeling okay, but she kept saying she was just a little cold.  She powered through and had a blast, but when I finally got a thermometer she had a fever.  I don’t know how kids power through a fever and still play in the sand.  I would be miserable and not get out of bed 🙂
So, even though we had vomiting and fever, the trip was still a huge success.

I planned the trip using the suggestions from my friend’s blog Travel and Write Today.  All her recommendations were spot on and lead to a great trip.  We stayed at Trade Winds Resort.  Our two favorite meals on the resort were gluten-free shrimp and grits at The Rumfish Grill and gluten-free honey BBQ wings at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s.  The day it was cold, we ventured off the resort and walked along John’s Pass Boardwalk.   To get more info about all these great recommendations, check out Travel and Write Today’s blog post. https://travelandwritetoday.com/2019/10/06/travel-today-st-pete-beach-fl/