We spent an unprecedented Labor Day Weekend in St. Pete Beach with the best blend of both the Betancourts and the Kearneys, since part of the reason for our visit was celebrating Matt and Tommie’s soon-to-arrive baby boy with a beautiful baby shower. We were at first not all all worried about Hurricane Dorian, then we were really worried, then we went back to not being worried again. It was quite the yo-yo but worked out in our favor in the end. Matt and Tommie were the very best hosts and it was great spending real quality time with so many members of the family.

We boarded the plane and set off for the Sunshine State…with Holly, Lee, Raul, and Roman on our flight:

Prior to us leaving, Suelen gifted this little lady with a very special GIANT lollipop that she thoroughly enjoyed on the plane:

When we landed, we all met up at Matt ans Tommie’s house–all the Betancourts and a few early arrivals on the Kearney side. Mom and Tommie put together a delicious dinner and Matt gave his famous house tour. We watched a gorgeous Florida sunset and enjoyed a few of Matt’s crafted cocktails.

Lee, Raul, and Roman were also staying with Matt and Tommie, which I love, because so many great little moments happen when you are all in the same quarters–sleepy morning breakfasts, bath time, reading bedtime stories. It was so great seeing all the little kids play together.

Especially when Roman took a liking to Lindsey’s cage!

Bright and early Friday morning, here is Preston providing Caroline a private reading of Pete the Cat:

And then gifting Caroline his Crocs (and showing her how to put them on):

A large group of us set out on Friday morning for the Sandbar–we rented a pontoon boat and had an absolutely fantastic day. It was a “rare unicorn” sort of day with a perfect blend of family, gorgeous weather, and fun water activities.

Here are some of the key players of the day:

Here is out esteemed Boating Captain:

With her trusty co-captains Caroline, Preston, and Roman:

Caroline felt compelled to serve as cartographer:

We wasted no time pouring the bubbly!

And making an emergency potty-break:

Followed by getting Vivi swim-ready…which basically should be an Olympic sport, based on level of difficulty:

We dropped anchor at the Sandbar and pulled out the best floats!

Roman had a fantastic time! Just look at that tongue…

Vivi was pleased as could be, as long as she was eating, drinking milk, or sleeping!

The cherry on top of a perfect day was all the dolphins we spotted on the way back to the dock. Everyone got to see quite a show–except for Caroline, who always seemed to look at the dolphin activity area just a few seconds after they disappeared back into the water.

Friday night, the lovely Kearney ladies arrived! We had another delicious feast at Matt and Tommie’s and celebrated being together. We also tracked the hurricane and went to bed hoping for the best!

Saturday morning, we woke up ready to celebrate our favorite mama-to-be and were delighted by this news–the storm had turned!

The kind gentlemen took the kiddos out to do adventures while us ladies (plus Matt the Bartender and Josh the Chef) prepped for the baby shower. The party was a huge success and we all went out for a delicious dinner afterwards, on the water.

There was some kiddie wrangling post-eating:

And one of the only pictures of me and Mike with just Vivi:

After dinner, we all headed to the beach to soak in the gorgeous sunset:

The next day, we relaxed at the Betancourt Resort, mainly playing in the pool:

We spent Kiddie Nap Time performing physical challenges like diving over floatie toys with perfect form and running over all of the floatie toys to get to the other side of the pool–Raul did an amazing job on this!

We bid farewell to Lee, Raul, and Roman, then headed out to a delicious dinner. Afterwards, we enjoyed watching these cousins being cousins.

We topped off our amazing visit with another sunset viewing party on the beach:

Thank you for a wonderful long weekend, St. Pete! We’ll be back!