Visiting with Amy and Don in Tampa!

Amy and Donald are in Tampa and we love visiting family! We took the 2 hour drive with traffic from Orlando to see them!

This slide was closed last year for wind but it’s up today! The kids were excited!

And I can go too!

Race ya!

Making pirate necklaces. 

The girls chilling by the pool. 

And Don treated the kids to ice cream.

They’ve got an amazing room with a view!

For dinner, just like last year, we went to the delicious 1200 Chophouse. They have limited seating and they open at 5pm. If you're not part of the first dinner seating, you're waiting 90 minutes for the first group to be done before you get to eat. We made sure to arrive 30 minutes before 5, and were the 2nd party in line. 

It's a little chilly inside. Alli sat in Amy's lap the whole time. The hostess brought a fresh napkin over to drape across Alli's shoulders. 

Starting with the house salad. Not bad for those who eat salad. 

The bruschetta is normally my favorite, but the table didn’t like the raw onions in it.

Ooh. Truffle fries with Gouda fondue.

This boy ate them up! 

The girls ordered filets and were both raving about them.

But this is the real prize. The 3lb tomahawk. 

We were the 2nd party to be seated and we ordered it right away. Why?

Turns out they only have 3! As soon as we ordered, before taking the rest of the table’s order, our server excused himself and ran to the kitchen to tell them he needed two of them! The fourth party to be seated ordered the last one!

Mmm. Cooked rare. 

Personally I think it could have been seasoned a little more heavily. That’s a lot of meat. But it was a good quality cut and had a good crust.

And it's all for me. 

Yum! T even had a little extra from her steak that was a little too rare for her that I got to eat too.

With very full bellies, we made our way back to the hotel and to the beach, just in time for sunset. 

Seeing that sun set over the water is something I miss from California. 

Thanks Uncle Don for invite us out here!

And thank you too Aunt Amy! 

Ian showing off a shell he found that still has both sides connected. 

Even after the sun set, the view was magnificent. 

A walk sounds like the perfect thing to work off some of this dinner. It's about 0.75 miles to the Twistee Treat because of course we need dessert. 

But what to get. 

Thanks for treating us!

Ian got a hand scooped Superman ice cream and asked for it to be dipped in chocolate. That's normally reserved for soft-serve cones, but they accommodated him. 

Alli asked for a strawberry ice cream cone. 

Is it good Alli? 

Alli - There's two kinds of strawberry ice cream. A good one and a bad one. This one is not so good. 

Well, that's brutally honest. Everyone else who tried a bite thought it tasted just fine and suggested she try something more standard next time. 

Because Donald thought the kids needed a little more sugar in their lives, they stopped by another ice cream shop of the way home and let them pick two candies each. 

Oh boy. We're going to have to save that. 

Alli has become a little shutterbug and wants to take photos of everything. She's borrowing my phone instead of using her ipad for the night shots. 

Good eye Alli. 

Taking a picture of Ian with one of his favorite animals. 

Thanks for everything Amy and Donald! We had a great time coming to visit you!