Trip to Florida

The first weekend of May, my sister and I went to Tampa, FL to visit our childhood friends Kim and Nikki. Here's a little background on our friendship. When I was 4 and Lisa was 2, we moved to Lansing. Shortly after we moved in, our next door neighbors house was built and Kim and Nikki moved in with their parents. Kim is my age and Nikki is a year younger than Lisa. The 4 of us were the best of friends growing up. We went to school together, played together, and had countless sleepovers. Kim and I joined band and played the clarinet together starting in 4th grade. We had a summer club where we did craft projects, wrote plays, played baseball and kick the can, and went on shopping trips and trips to Great America, Deer Forest, and summer camp. At the beginning of high school, Kim and Nikki moved away to AZ. This was before we had email so we wrote each other letters (on actual paper) and occassionally talked on the phone. They later moved back to Illinois, but not so close by. Kim went to college in Wisconsin and then Pharmacy school in Florida. Nikki went to college in Iowa and is now a nurse in Tennessee. They both came in for my wedding 2 years ago but we haven't seen each other since. For a while now we have been talking about getting together. This spring we finally did it and here are a few pictures from our trip.

SATURDAY - BUSCH GARDENS AND THE MELTING POT

a white tiger

one of my favorite pictures - a bald eagle - he was injured and couldn't fly away, but he was roaming freely around this garden area.

flamingos

baby elephants

a couple of birds - I think they are in love. hehe

a hippo swimming underwater

a very happy alligator

One of the craziest roller coasters at Busch Gardens - Shiek-Rah - we went on it and it was a lot of fun. You fall straight down at a 90 degree angle with your face/stomach heading directly towards the ground. It was a thrill!

Dinner at the Melting Pot - Kim and Nikki on the left, Julie and Lisa on the right. We enjoyed a scrumptious four course meal with a wonderful chocolate fondue dessert.

SUNDAY - SUNSET KEY / SARASOTA - PARASAILING AND BEACH DAY

Kim and Julie on the boat - getting ready to parasail

Lisa and Nikki on the boat waiting to parasail.

After we were done sailing around at 1,000 feet they gave us a few dips in the ocean.

Lisa and Nikki parasailing

Lisa and Nikki - 1,000 feet away - anyone have any scissors? just kidding.

Julie, Kim, Nikki, Lisa, and one of Kim's friends at the beach in Sarasota.
Beach Day was awesome. We were literally at the beach all day - in the ocean and laying out in the sun. Everyone had a great time.

Here is a sandollar that I found in the ocean.

Julie and Kim - enjoying the beach...

Lisa and Kim - enjoying the beach with a glass (cup) of wine....

MONDAY - POOL DAY

After an awesome breakfast, we went back to Kim's house and swam in the pool in her subdivision. Here is Nikki doing a little dance after tossing out the University of Tennessee hat.

Lisa, Kim, Nikki, Julie - here we all are - our last day together before we all head back home.

All in all, we had a wonderful time together and hope to make this an annual get together. While we may all live in 4 different states, we will always be friends and we look forward to staying in touch for years to come.