Perfect Imperfection: Christmas in Florida (Part 1)

2.05.2021

Christmas in Florida (Part 1)

It had been about 5 years probably since we were last in Florida for Christmas. This seemed like the perfect year to head down to spend the holidays at my home. Bartow will always be home. Or, more accurately, Lyle Parkway will always be home to me.

This year Daniel was taking some extra time off around the holidays and with Covid going on, we hadn't traveled much or been able to see my parents as often as we usually do. Carver really wanted to be there for his birthday, so early on December 20th we packed up and headed south.

The kids did SO WELL on the drive down. One of our best road trips yet. We got down to FL quickly with essentially no traffic and only two short stops.

On our first full day in Bartow we celebrated Carver's birthday! He loved being at Grandmama and Granddaddy's house for his special day. We had the bedroom birthday balloons, presents, some swimming, a take-out steak dinner and then birthday cake! All in all, it was a very good day.

It has been hard to visit FL and not do our usual activities, like Legoland, the zoo, etc. This year we have been able to do a few new things that we felt like were safe despite Covid stuff.

We went to the Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. We didn't get to see any alligators, but we did see a lot of fun birds and some turtles. And we were outside and away from screens so it was a success for sure :)

The boys mostly like to hang around at home while we are in Florida. They like to swim in the pool, ride the go-carts, visit and feed the cows and goats, hang out in the attic and see Bella and Blu. So a large part of our week in Bartow was spent doing those things, which was fine by me!