Florida Friday, Part One: April 15
In the middle of the night (early Friday morning), Jane woke up with severe pain in her ears. We think this was due to the change in pressure from the flights the day before. Some pain reliever, some cuddle with dad, and she slept well after that. Anna never even woke up to her screams.
A view of the Gulf Coast beach from the balcony of our room on the 16th floor of the Hyatt, Friday morning:
Morning view of Clearwater Bay:
We went out to the skyway on the 16th floor for the company breakfast. Orange juice, eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit -- everything was good.
The group seemed glad to see that we did actually make it to Clearwater even though we missed the dessert reception last night.
View of the Gulf from 16th floor Hyatt:
Jane took dad's phone and snapped some photos while we were having breakfast ...
Oliver and Anna (by Jane):
Jane's selfie:
The girls went to the beach with Jennifer and Oliver while we finished breakfast and had a brief company meeting.
Bev then led us in a fun scavenger hunt where we had a list of items to capture with a smartphone and text to her, each worth specific points based on difficulty.
Here we are, finding a sign that included "spa" ...10 points!
A tough one on the list: tracked down the last 2 digits of the year in which The Great Gatsby was published ...
We, Team Fours, took last place. But we were number 1 in effort.
Around 11:30 a.m. I caught up with the girls on the beach. We went back to the room and had snacks and a shower.
Time to head out to the Clearwater Beach Marine Aquarium. But first we visited the hotel concierge. He scored us discounted tickets to the aquarium.
The girls enjoyed learning what a concierge was, and after hearing he knew "most everything about the area" they decided to challenge him:
"How many miles to the aquarium?" they asked.
"About 1.3 miles," he responded without hesitation.
They were somewhat impressed.
"Okay, so how many shells are on the beach?" the girls asked.
(Silence.)
