Birthdays and Beach Time!

Charlotte's birthdays are always exciting, and her 3rd was no exception. We had a little pre-birthday celebration at the Dancing Donut, a fun donut shop in Broad Ripple. We loved testing out yummy donuts like Maple-Bacon, the John Dough, and the Jelly Rippa. The decor was super quirky too. We'll definitely be back! Charlotte had requested a few princess dresses, Elsa's, Cinderella's, Aurora's, and Ariel's mermaid suit in particular :) She was thrilled when she opened her gifts to find the dresses and hooks for a dress up station in the kids' room! As for her actual birthday, we were able to fly down to my parents' house in FL for a visit. To our surprise, Charlotte had some adorable mermaid cupcakes and gifts waiting for her when we arrived at their house from the airport! She loved them and it was fun to see her so excited!

Throughout the week, we spent lots of time on the boat, at the pool, beach, parks, and even a special trip to Busch Gardens! I remembered going to Busch Gardens when my sister and I were little, but it's been at least 20 years since. Boy, did we have a blast there! Our day was packed with splashing around in the kids area, high swinging ropes mazes, meeting Sesame Street characters, riding rides, and loads more fun in between. Needless to say, we were all completely whooped by the time we got home :)

Matt and I even got to head out early one morning for a kayaking date! The trip was quite an adventure, in that we were accompanied by a handful of crocodiles! Yes, crocodiles! Huge ones! We can't go anywhere without coming back with a story! 

We had more close encounters with marine life when we went out for a boating trip! We spent a while dolphin watching and fishing, then mom and I hit the beach with the kiddos while the boys kept at it. The kids loved collecting shells and playing in the water. While in the shallows, we got up close and personal with three manatees who loved having their bellies rubbed and scratching their heads on our anchor rope! It was awesome!

The visit was a blast and we couldn't have asked for a better way to relax before ramping up for a super busy summer. We're so thankful for the time we got to spend with my parents and look forward to them visiting our neck of the woods soon!