I mentioned in the previous post that our dear, dear friends from Nashville, the McLaughlins, were in town this weekend. We had so much fun and we're so thankful that they took the time to visit us with all that they have going on (Nat is 7 months preggers with baby brother McLaughlin!) Y'all know how I feel about Nat (and Mare and the Jennifers...they're more like family than friends), so it was just good to be near her and her family for a few days!
The last time the McLaughlins were here in Tampa was August 2007 and the last time that the kids played together was Halloween of that same year. A lot has changed since then (enter Maxito!), so it was a ton of fun seeing our older kiddos get to know each other!
On Friday, we went to the aquarium. Gussy's still a little bit afraid of the aquarium (two times ago, a big cruise ship honked it's horn while we were splashing in the fountains and he has not forgotten how much it scared him!). He didn't venture far away from me or Scott the entire time. Ford was just like Catalina the first time she went there...could barely focus on one fish for wanting to run to the next tank and see what it had in store for him! Max, by nature, is hard to keep up with, so he and Ford kept us on our toes!!
That night, we went to our favorite local pizza place. You'll notice in these pictures that Catalina took a little spill on the playground at school that day, but she was very brave about the whole thing. It could have been much worse (as you will see a few paragraphs down).
Eating their salads like good, little boys and girls!
We had a lazy Saturday morning, while Louie and his brother-in-law, Adam, worked on a project in one of our bathrooms. Look at this next picture...two sweet brothers in matching jammies! This never, ever happens (them sharing my lap without fighting about it), so the moment needed to be preserved for posterity!
Scott took lots of really beautiful, arty pictures of the kids that morning, but I'm going to save those for next time because it's impossible for me to pick my favorite ones right now. So, after lounging around, we packed up our things and headed over to Indian Rocks Beach for the night. Louie and Adam were still working, so Louie joined us later.
We had an early dinner at a cute restaurant called Guppy's. Delish!
After dinner, we hit the beach for a little while. Catalina and Ford had so much fun splashing around in the waves. Again, Scott took lots of beautiful pictures, and I'm saving my very faves for next posting.
What could be better than ice cream sandwiches on the beach at sunset?! (Btw, our condo is the one in the background between Max and Gus in the first picture below...we stayed there earlier this spring for a weekend)
Cati and Ford got right back to business...splashing in the water, trying to get their clothes as wet as possible!
Okay, I've got to stop there. I'll fill you in on the rest of the weekend, including an unfortunate ER visit for sweet Ford and his incredible parents, later! Just so you don't worry, Ford is fine now, just a few staples in his head. He was amazing through the whole thing, as were Nat and Scott. More later. Love!
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