Florida 2008

Florida Trip

November 2008

I was able to visit my friend, Judy, in Sarasota, Florida along with my good friends, Vicki, Laurette and Heather. All of us had lived in Louisville, KY at the same time. With job changes and transfers only one of the group still lives in Louisville and the rest of us live all over the place. I came from Phoenix, Vicki came from Louisville, Laurette came from Dallas, Judy lives in Florida and Heather came from Budapest, Hungary. Heather came all the way from Europe for the weekend. We hadn't all been together for a few years. We had such a blast. I seriously haven't laughed that hard in years! The weather was beautiful too. It was just what I needed - to get away and have a great time with some girlfriends. It's amazing how many magazines you can read flying across country without kids! Matt was a wonderful, supportive husband to take care the kids and get them where they needed to be. He even took all 5 of them to the Fall Festival at school!

Here we all are a few minutes after I got to Judy's house. I was the last to arrive. Judy had left her husband's car at the airport in Tampa and somehow GPS got me all the way to her house in Sarasota without getting lost.

Heather, me and Laurette

Of course I had to go running while in Florida. Judy lives on a golf course with ponds all over the place. Judy said alligators live in those ponds. She's seen them from time to time. So, I was a little nervous to find one while out running. I ran in the middle of the street to be as far away as possible-just in case one decided to venture out to the street!

Laurette and I taking over the kitchen.

Vicki and I on the way to the beach

Heather, Vicki and I at Siesta Key Beach

Laurette, Heather, Vicki and I

Ryan, Heather's 5 month old son, was our little mascot for the weekend. He is the BEST baby. She said he was great on the long flight from Europe and he hardly made a peep the whole time we were there. He makes me ALMOST want to have another baby!

Being in Florida, the average age at the beach was about 75 years old!! Lots of leather-looking ,wrinkly skinned people in bikinis and speedos were around us. This guy was sitting right by us flaunting his great physique!

Too much excitement for Ryan!

Vicki and I ready for a night out on the town.

Judy's husband, Jerry, was in CA so we had to take most of our group pictures with the camera's timer! This is before our night on the town!

While in Florida, you have to go out for Cuban food! Especially when your husband is part Cuban, like mine. We went to a well know Cuban restaurant in a super cool area called St. Armand's Circle.

The weather was perfect to eat outside.

On Saturday, we went shopping and had to have lunch at Jersey Mike's -Heather's favorite from when we lived in Louisville. Then we went to the beach once again.

Vicki, Heather, Judy and I in the hot tub.

The girls!

All of us right before we left for the airport. We all got the same Nike pullovers at the Nike outlet the day before. They were such a great deal and totally cute and comfy. We look like total dorks !

We were crammed in the back of the Escalade on the way to the airport. We were all leaving at about the same time. Even Judy, was flying out to CA. So with 5 women, one baby and all the luggage-we barely fit!

I'm so glad Vicki pinned us all down and made us commit to this girls weekend. It was so much fun. We stayed up late talking and laughing each night. I was so tired after the weekend and we pretty much ATE EVERYTHING, but it was worth it! We already have made plans to do it again in 15 months. I'm already looking forward to it!