Florida Trip Day 9 - The Gulf of Mexico

For ten years I've wanted to meet my friend Heather's family and I wanted her to meet mine. She and I have worked very closely together and have had many opportunities for what we call "biz-cations" but our families have never met. It is pretty uncommon for two peoples professional careers to run so closely connected but ours have and I'm so glad and lucky they do. She is the person who keeps me sane at work, who allows me to vent, who's brain I can pick and who I can laugh with.  I always told myself that when we finally take the boys to Florida, we are going to see Heather! Well, that trip had finally come!  After we left Orlando, we headed to Wesley Chapel.  I was so excited and the boys couldn't wait to meet and play with Max. We stayed at Heather's house and spent hours visiting, and trying to not talk about work.  I love Heather because she is up for anything and loves a good adventure. I have so many memories of her and I venturing out in new cities, trying new things, even after ten plus hour work days at job fairs.  We played to do some very touristy Florida activities while we were there. Unfortunately, it rained on Saturday so our dolphin cruise was cancelled so we went to a different bay, found a different dolphin cruise, and had a blast.

They took us to a little town, right on the coast, called Tarpon Springs. The town is run by Greeks and Italians that are all somehow related. They had gift shops with the corniest trinkets and a bakery with the best pastries. We took a 90 minute cruise to see dolphins and we docked on a little island so we could collect shells and swim in the Gulf of Mexico.  If it was a beautiful sunny day, I'm sure we would've gone swimming but I did manage to put my toes in the water. I't turned out to be one of my favorite parts of our trip.

After our boat ride we walked through town and had dinner at a place called Hella's.  It was traditional greek food and I was so proud of us all for trying new food. The boys had a Shirley Temple and Ricky and I tried saganaki. We also tried a Greek potato salad which isn't like anything we've had before but it was delicious. After a trip to the bakery to take home baklava, cupcakes, creme horns, cannolis, and headed back to Heather's house. The boys were exhausted and made it to bed much earlier than the night before but only after we visited for a while and they played with the hamsters.

These should be all over the country, not just in Orlando. 

Yes, this camera was actually for sell in a gift shop in Tarpon Springs. I never thought I would see a film camera again outside of a museum. 

Max and Lincoln quickly became buddies. 

Logan on the boat ride. 

Logan and Heather

Ricky's job was to capture pictures for us. 

The boys had a grand ol' time standing up while the boat was moving because that was pretty cool. 

This precious boy loves boats, water and the beach. 

The thumbs up sign is now in almost every picture he takes. 

We saw dolphins playing in the ocean but I wasn't so quick to snap the picture in time. 

This is the little island we docked on. 

This precious boy stayed fairly close to mom and loved finding shells. 

Family picture with the Gulf of Mexico

Schneider family picture: Heather, Anthony, Max and Marley

The water was so clear it doesn't even really show up in my picture but my toes are in the water. 

Besties

Gulf of Mexico

Rick was able to capture some beautiful shots of the wildlife and scenery. 

Adorable beach boy

I don't often get pictures with my honey but wanted one since it was a first time to the Gulf for both of us. 

Logan washing his hands in the water. 

This was the party group.  

Lincoln and Logan at Hellas.

Our server making the saganaki (fried cheese)

Logan was being silly because he felt like his Shirley Temple was "so fancy".

Tarpon Springs is known for its sea sponge businesses. There are boats with teams that still go out and dive for sponges to sell. These are examples of the sponge.

We laughed so hard after seeing our car. This is how we found the car after a couple hours of being parked under a lamp where birds also frequented. It was so nasty. It was everywhere. Even a pan handler laughed and told us we needed a car wash as we were heading home. 

Yum! Yum! Yum!