Tuesday was another beautiful and warmer day for us in Florida.

We spent most of the day hanging out by the pool enjoying that sunshine!

We made breakfast for dinner that evening (do you all do that?) and knew it would finally be the PERFECT evening to watch the sunset on the pier without freezing to death or being blown away by the wind!

We headed there after dinner.

We were right – it was a gorgeous evening!!

So different than just a few nights before!!

Standing at the end of the pier to watch the sun go down is a favorite thing of mine!!

We knew those clouds would give the sky SO much color as the sun started to dip down!

Then the big ball of sunshine peeked out below the clouds right before it went completely below the horizon – make sure you look carefully at the last photo in these next ones!

Isn’t that so, so pretty?!!!

Wednesday was our last full day in our home away from home.

My hubby had made a BIG plan for us as our FINALE to our trip of a lifetime!!

He had booked us a boat ride – just the six of us and the captain and his son.

Not only was it super fun to just ride on the boat, but we got to watch dolphins swim, see some eagles and beautiful properties – and we got dropped off at a private beach called “the secret spot” to play and find shells!!

We got to stay there for almost two hours.

It was BEAUTIFUL.

UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL!!

And the shells were everywhere – I have never seen so many!!

You could not even walk barefoot by the shore line because all of the shells hurt your feet!

We couldn’t even choose there were SO many perfect shells!!

I took mostly video of the children looking for shells and also of what they found.

Tate found the shell of a crab in one piece and Lane found a sand dollar!!

Isn’t that sand dollar so neat?!

Can you see all the beautiful shells in his bucket?!

They had a blast on that beach.

The houses around the area where we were boating were beautiful, but ridiculous!

This first home sold for 35 million dollars.

I will never get that – but it is pretty to look at!

After our grand finale outing, we headed back to the pool to cool off and stay outside as long as we could!

We cleaned out the fridge for dinner and managed to fill all the bellies on a bunch of random stuff!

Blake and I had some errands to run after dinner, but we brought back ice cream for our last evening in Florida!

Thursday morning came.

We were all ready in different ways to get back home, but also not ready to leave the warm weather and sunshine.

We knew what the weather had been like and was going to be like upon our arrival back home – it was still winter!

We spent a little bit of time at the pool Thursday morning before heading in to shower and pack up.

One last photo of the pool and the palm trees with the sky in the background!

We got ready quickly and then took our luggage downstairs to be locked in the conference room since our flight was not until 9 p.m. (but we had to be out of our room by noon).

We headed out to fill the rest of the day with lunch, some window shopping, and some gift shopping for our favorite peeps back home!

Pretty soon we were out of ideas of what to do with ourselves, so we headed back to the hotel to change into warmer clothes and get our luggage.

We decided to just head to the airport, check-in, get through security, and then hang out sipping coffee and reading books until it was time for our flight.

Finally it was time to board and head home!!

We landed in Minneapolis after midnight.

It was SNOWING.

And somewhere around 15 degrees.

We weren’t in Florida anymore!!

Blake did a great job getting us home from the airport safely, only stopping one time to jog around the van in the cold air to make sure he would stay awake!!

I stayed awake the whole time too, don’t worry, as a good co-pilot would.

We arrived home at 4 a.m.!!

Blake, Chad and I slept till 7 a.m. and then had to get up and start the day – the guys needed to head to work, and I needed to get after laundry, grocery, and the three other million things I did that day!!

Life has been full speed ahead ever since I woke last Friday, but I am loving it.

Loving being back in our kitchen.

Loving teaching Math, and reading aloud to my trio.

Loving spending time with ALL of our crew, especially on Sunday for Easter!

Florida, you definitely were a trip of a lifetime!

Time will tell if we ever get to do anything like that again – but I am not taking these memories for granted!

Thank you, Blake, the most wonderful husband and father, for planning this trip and making it happen!!

It was BEYOND wonderful and I am so thankful we got to be there with the kids like we always talked about when we have been there in the past!

OK, Wisconsin – get the memo!!

And I hope you had a good Easter too!!