The Shroyer Family: The Salt Life

Not sure how you and your family take a break from reality, but here in the Shroyer household, we head to the beach. The beach that we love so much is Lido Beach in Sarasota, FL and our utmost favorite place to be while there is Suntide Island Beach Club. My husband, has grown up there and has many memories. I experienced the condo for the 1st time back when I was 15 years old when we were dating and fell in love with it then, as well. Now that we have 2 boys, they too love it, so we have made it our home away from home for a week in June each year and have loved every minute we are there. It's comfortable, it's relaxing, it's fun, and the beach is just a few footsteps away, so how can you go wrong! LOL!! Like previous years, we LOVE our road trips & couldn't wait to get on the road!

The boys love this rest area

Our little travelers doing what they do

This year, we decided to continue our tradition with adding a little bit of fun before the relaxation and since we're not a big Disney family, the search began on what we could do. After a few weeks of collaborating ideas, I found Busch Gardens in Tampa and our little group loved that idea. So, the trip was planned, tickets were bought, and we were excited to get there. As with any trip, you can never plan the weather and unfortunately, this part of our trip didn't work out too well. As we were pulling into the parking lot, the rain began. We were pumped though and continued our trek to the entrance. Well, after walking around and enjoying the animals, sights, ice cream...the rain continued and it was HOT! Our whole goal was getting the kids to the kiddie area and enjoying the water fun for the day, but that couldn't happen w/ the rain & everything closed. We tried our best to utilize the place, so we could get our moneys worth, but it just wasn't working. Now, don't get me wrong, we enjoyed it and it was fun; however, we weren't able to ride 1 single ride. So, for those of you that know my husband and brother-in-law that just wasn't going to fly and off they went. Where you might ask.....to the park gods, LOL! I have to say though that little walk they took ended up with us getting 4 free passes, 16 upgraded rides, and free parking for our next visit. YAY!!! That was exciting and gave us enough gumption to give up for the day. We were exhausted and just wanted to relax, so after 4 hours at the park, off we went to the hotel knowing that next year, we get to experience it all over again for FREE!!!

of course!!!

the tram provided us w/ our own "Jurassic Journey" to the entrance

our little group

♥my guys♥

Flamingos

Hi Mom!

Ethan had a friend during lunch

can't be in FL w/o seeing the gators!

so intrigued

Time to go

on the way to the hotel & Brenton spotted one of his favorites....Raymond James Stadium

this little guy conquered his fear of elevators, YAY Colin!

We had a great week! I loved it and getting away with my family is so worth it. We met new people, experienced new things, had heat like no other, the gulf water was beautiful, white sand between our toes, enough Vitamin D to last another year, family time, conversations that will last a lifetime, memories to look back on, and a ride home that was memorable. Memories...that's what it's all about, right! ☺