Vacation in Flroida

So Tyler and I took our last trip this past week as a couple without any children, and while some may call it a "babymoon" to us it was just vacation, at least that's what we thought.

We went to sunny Naples, Florida as we have for the past 4 years now, and we had such a great time! Usually, when we make the trip we plan several outtings like snorkeling in the Keys or a sunset dinner cruise or visitng one of Florida's many theme parks to ride as many roller coasters as we can, but this year most of those types of adventures were just not going to be possible since I'm pregnant and it's extremely hot in Florida at this time of the year. In addition to all of this, we've been working like crazy getting the baby room ready, finishing up the school year for me, and just trying to keep up with the pace of life, so when people asked me if I was excited about our trip, I knew the answer that they wanted to hear was, "Yes! I can't wait!" but truthfully, I was a little uncertain of how this trip was going to go. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that this trip was just as wonderful as the others. In fact it might have been more special for us, because we were able to be alone and catch up on life that had flown past way too fast in the past few months. We left Florida feeling much more connected and closer as a couple which is always helpful when you're getting ready to have a baby together. It was an excellent trip and while we didn't go do any crazy things like ride roller coasters or snorkel in the Keys, we talked, we laughed, we ate (alot), and we just enjoyed being a couple, which was more meaningful to me than anything else.

OK, so I guess you could call it a "babymoon" after all...

So without further ado, here are some highlights from our trip:

Most nights we went out to the shore to watch the sunset. I think this might have been our favorite time in Naples. Some nights we walked the shore line, others we sat on a bench and just watched the sun go down, and one night we went to the pier to get some incredible pictures.

I'm 30 weeks pregnant here.

A couple of nights we went out to the pier to watch the sunset. We saw all kinds of things like dolphins, pelicans, seaturtles, crazy fishermen catching sting rays, and of course beautiful sunsets!

The condo we stayed in that's owned by Tyler's grandparents. We're so grateful that they allow us to stay here each year. It's such a beautiful place!!

Our falcon friend that kept watch over us from the top corner of the condo each day.

Notice there is no one on the beach, this was the norm almost every day we were there, so it felt like we had a private beach all to ourselves. It was wonderful!!

Of course we saw dolphins!! But new this year for us was seeing a sea turtle while visiting the pier! It was so amazing!! Tyler said his favorite part of coming to Florida aside from time together was just being reminded of how awesome our Creator is and enjoying seeing God's creation all around us.

There are so many beautiful houses in Naples. This happens to be my favorite! It's so wimsical!!

One day we visited Naples Zoo and another day we went to a Nature Perserve to see alligators, but we only saw one alligator at the swamp, so going to the zoo made up for not seeing many animals while we were in the swamp.

Yes, the bird was eating a telephone book. It was his breakfast! We also got to see lots of monkeys as we rode the boat that took us around the islands they had set up for each group of monkeys. I thought this was such a unique feature of the zoo!

This was our bench to watch the sunset most evenings.