February 16-19: Venice

My dad and stepmom live in Venice, Florida. So after our Disney days were over, we headed to their place for a visit. Our days in Venice were much calmer and less busy than the Disney days, which was a good thing!
Venice is on the Gulf Coast, so we got to spend an afternoon at the beach. It was kind of cloudy that day, really the only cloudy day of our whole trip. But it was still warm, and the sun did peek through the clouds a few times.

Audrey wasn't too fond of the beach on our trip last year. I was hoping that the beach would be a better experience for her this year. And it was! Last year, she did not like the sand, and she did not want it to touch her. This year, she had no problem covering herself in sand! She loved it.

At some point before we left for Florida, Audrey got the idea in her head that she wanted to make an angel in the sand. Like a snow angel. I really didn't think she would actually want to do it once we got to the beach, but I was wrong. She plopped right down in the sand and made her angel.

The gated community where my dad lives has a new, resort style pool. It is really nice, and we enjoyed swimming one afternoon.

This was Isla's first time in a swimming pool. She loved it. I guess it is just like a big bathtub to her. She had a lot of fun splashing and kicking her feet.

The last few times that Audrey has been swimming, she has been a bit nervous about the water. We really need to get her enrolled in swimming lessons. She really enjoyed this pool, because it has a really shallow part where she could walk by herself. She could crawl around in the water, and she kept saying, "look at me! I'm swimming!" Not quite, but at least she was being brave and playing in the water by herself without someone holding her hand.