tampa bae

 I left Taylor on her way to work on Monday morning which was extremely bittersweet but I know we have a lifetime of memories still to make! I navigated the streets of new york, trains and the airport by myself much to my surprise. That said, I did have to go through security twice as I left my full water bottle in my bag. I even had to be escorted back round! Following that whole palaver I accidentally left my empty water bottle on the table after repacking my bag such a fail. 

Anyway, I successfully landed in Tampa just 15/20 minutes before Andrew was due to land. I collected my bags and waited by an aquarium (classic Florida) for him to get in. We picked up the bags and the rental car and went straight to Olive Garden. When we arrived at Andrew’s Grandmother’s house she was so pleased to see him (as was Sugar) and we stayed up way past midnight talking and catching up!

The next few days included trips to Lowes, Publix, Target, Michaels and JoAnna as well as the mall. We also managed to squeeze in a trip to watch the rays! They ended up losing but we did watch them score a home run which was pretty exciting!

We also took my first trip to Busch Gardens which was so much fun. We rode every rollercoaster in the park and got to see a lot of the animals. We plan on visiting a few more times before we leave. See below for theme park boyfriend activated!

We’ve also visited the air force base here which is way bigger and way nicer than lakenheath. And I like lakenheath… it’s a snippet of america in england!

We also found ourselves in shootersworld. No words. 

Add to that all the great food places I’ve tried for the first time including olive garden, cracker barrel, texas roadhouse and other local places where i had a mac n cheese grilled cheese, homemade ice cream and the best eggs benedict!

Today we spent the day at North Redington beach where Mary Anne is a member of a condo complex. We had access to seating on the beach, showers, a pool and a hot tub. We spent a few hours playing and swimming in the sea before hitting the pool where Andrew turned into part merman part child! This complex is where he learnt to swim and visited every year growing up. I swear he spent so much time under water! We later walked along the whole shoreline until the rain started to really come down hard so we went back and sat in the hot tub. We were already wet so why not! We hung out some more in the pool and the sea before packing up and heading home via an amish ice cream shop!