Sam's First Vacation at Fort Myers Beach

It's hard to believe that yesterday morning we were looking out at the Gulf of Mexico and palm trees and sunshine, and then just a few hours later we were welcomed back home to a "lovely wintery mix". What happened to Spring!


We had a wonderful trip to Florida to visit Peter's parents. It involved so many firsts for Sam - his first plane ride, his first swimming experience, his first attempt at eating sand at the beach and dipping his toes into the water, his first time at the zoo....and each of these firsts was so much fun for Peter and I (and Grandpa and Grandma!) to witness. Hopefully you will enjoy these pictures of our little guy on our trip!

Sam loved to crawl out onto the lanai to look at the pool and the Gulf of Mexico

Sam was mistaken for a girl a couple of times in this hat, but we were just so glad that he finally stopped pulling it off his head every time we put it on!
He really enjoyed the roomy carseat Grandpa and Grandma had for him to use. He can't wait for us to install his new bigboy carseat in our car back here at home now.
On Friday we enjoyed Sam's first boat ride. He did remarkably well considering he had to wear what looked like a pretty uncomfortable life jacket. He really seemed to like when the breeze would pick up and blow at his face and hair.

Saturday was our first attempt at the beach. It was pretty windy, but Sam didn't seem to mind.

He especially liked to lick the saltwater off of his lips.




Grandpa and Grandma also had a whole basket of toys for him to play with, and he definitely seemed to prefer these (especially the blocks) over the toys from home that we brought for him.

He got to try lots of new foods down there and like pretty much everything. He did start to refuse to eat green beans, which before he really liked, so he must realize there are things that taste much, much better, like this tasty apple core he enjoyed nibbling on.

On Monday we took a little trip to the Naples Zoo. We couldn't really tell if Sam was even looking at the animals as we pointed to them, but he was his usual smiley self, so he definitely had a good time.

He loves, loves, loves the swimming pool. After a few days of swimming, he would get excited and start flapping his arms just when he saw the pool because he just couldn't wait to get in and splash around in his shaded palm tree frog.

Our last day involved another day at the beach, and this day was much less windy and absolutely beautiful. Sam, well, he just liked to put a lot of sand in his mouth.

The weather was beautiful while we were there, and we had such a great time relaxing, enjoying the sunshine and warm temperatures, and catching up with Peter's parents. We can't wait to visit again next year. Thank you Gary and Peach for a great vacation!!!