Last week I had to be in Florida for my annual facilitator conference with work, so we decided to make a little vacation out of it. The conference was at the
Don Cesar in St. Pete Beach and when we planned this a couple of months ago, we were thinking/hoping/expecting warm, sunny Florida weather. Well, as it turns out the weather was actually nicer at home, but nonetheless we still had a good time! We stayed at the sister property just up the street from the Don and had a wonderful 1 br ocean front suite. It worked out perfectly w/ the kids!
Jackson was so excited about flying. He was just amazed seeing all the action out on the tarmac -- planes coming and going, the little carts driving around with the luggage. I'm sure his imagination was really going wild!
Our flight was right at Kate's naptime. When we finally got settled on the plane she was soooooo sleepy.
It may have been 9 in the morning, but that didn't stop Sean from getting St. Patrick's Day off to a festive start! Southwest was offering a free beer in celebration of the Irish, so of course Sean didn't pass that up!
And apparently Kate wanted to celebrate a little, too! What is it w/ our kids and cans?? It was actually a can that Jackson first crawled to get to! She wanted to get a hold of this can so bad!
My parents have a good friend, Donnie, who lives in Indian Rocks Beach, a few beaches over from St. Pete, and they had been talking about taking a trip down to visit him for over a year. When I told them we were all going down for my conference they decided to make a trip out of it, too! They drove down, so it worked out that we were able to send some of our stuff with them. A
nd holy moly when you travel with kids you have end up with a lot of stuff!!! They just met us at the rental car place with the car seats and we were all set to go!
Donnie has a tropical plant rental business so his backyard is literally like a jungle, filled with all sorts of palms and other fun plants. This picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice. He also has an adorable little dachshund, Newman. I had never seen one this color before. I believe he called it a double dapple. He was cute and very playful! Jackson loved chasing him all around!
Donnie's house is on the second row, right off the beach and has the perfect beachy Florida feel to it. He and his son paint these horseshoe crab shells together. And I was very impressed with his vinyl collection.
Even though the weather was a little dreary for the first part of our trip, Jackson had a ball playing in the giant sandbox!
Spending a few days at the beach is always refreshing, no matter the weather.
They had this wonderful play area set up in the Tampa airport! It was the perfect spot to wait (and play) before we hopped on the plane to head home!
It was a busy few days for all of us. Being away from home and out of your routine can be a little tough on little ones, but they both did absolutely wonderful! Even when they were pooped...
Jackson is all about singing 'Happy Birthday' until everyone around him starts singing. Then he just gets all serious and mesmerized. See...
He seemed to be a little confused all day about the whole birthday thing. You know, kind of like, 'Where's my present?' Well, his Aunt Amy didn't want him to feel too left out, so she lit a candle for him to blow out, too. 
A little unsure, Emma?
Not for long! She knows what to do!!
'Mmmm, that's a good cupcake my Mommy made me!'
An extra sweet kiss for her Daddy!
Saturday night the cake decorating tradition carried on with a 3D Elmo!! Amy already had the baking done, so all that was left was the fun part -- decorating!! The cake pan is designed to make a bear, so just before decorating Amy did a little carving on him to make him look less like a bear and more like Elmo. She was making me really nervous with the knife. All I could think was one little slip and Elmo's head was just going to fall off. The night before the party. That would totally be our luck!! But as it turns out, luck was on our side. Well, except for the failed first attempt at blue icing for the cupcakes. All that took was a quick trip over to HT for another 2lb bag of confectioner's sugar and the problem was solved. But other than that, Elmo was really easy and we were both very satisfied with him! Here he is all carved out with his Butterfinger arm in place...
Frosting the little guy was actually pretty easy. Since there were two of us we just took turns and the hand cramps were avoided. 
It was so fun to watch him come together! He's already looking like a furry monster!!
Once his eyes were in place, it was easy to see who it was!
And there he is! A mere 3 hours after we really got started, with several breaks along the way, he was all done! I was completely prepared for our usual late night cake decorating party, but Elmo must have thought we needed a good night's sleep b/c he was very cooperative!
Sunday morning, as soon as Kate got up, Jackson wanted to hold her. He was sitting on the couch watching his cartoons and he just sat there with her for the longest time. Such a sweet big brother!
Later in the morning, I had a little photo shoot w/ Kate. This was one of my favorites...
Kate really bonded with Pop-Pop over the weekend. I loved hearing him sing 'I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do' to her. That's definitely a moment to treasure!
Love this picture!
Elmo is ready for the PARTY!
The birthday girl taking a couple of calls before the party begins.
Is this birthday tutu not the most adorable outfit EVER?!
It's Dorothy! Elmo's goldfish!
A classic Pridgen family picture, with Ryley all glammed up! Remember the snazzy silver number she had on last year?
Emma is always such the daredevil! Just trying to see how close she can get to the candle!
That's my girl right there! Face first into the cupcake!
How old are you, Emma?
LOVE the birthday hat!
More birthday cupcakes for Jackson! What a lucky little boy!!
A kiss for Mom-Mom. {heart}
Time for presents! This is the card that Jackson colored for Emma. He had been working on it for a while, when I told him I thought it looked good. He said, "I not done yet." Then finally, after several different markers and whole lotta coloring, he handed it me and said, "All done!"
Lovin' on Elmo! Such a pretty 2 year old big girl!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMMA!
** After the party, Elmo was discovered like this. No one has accepted responsibility and the incident remains under investigation. 
We saw some amazing sunsets over the Gulf every night!
Our little boy is growing up so fast! Already 'tall enough' for rides!!
I don't know what it was, but they apparently thought we were going to feed them, b/c when we knelt down to look at them, they all swam right over to us!
This little zebra was only 4 days old. It's kind of hard to see him in the picture, but he laying down there by him Mommy.
Jackson saw this train and just had to go for a ride! He loved it!
