Nana & Papa's Visit

This post is a little belated due to the fact that I lost my camera cord a few days ago and couldn't upload any photos -- whoops. My parents flew back to Kansas City on Tuesday morning. We had the best time with them! My mom was in Tampa for 2 weeks and my dad for 1 week. The plan was to drive to Shalimar (near Pensacola) last Thursday to visit my sister Bethany and her family for several days; however, about two hours into the drive my sister called to let us know that my niece had a fever. They have been fighting the stomach flu and then an ear infection in their house for a few weeks now, so we made the difficult decision to turn the car around and drive back to Tampa. Such a bummer! My parents, sister and I had been looking forward to having all of the kids together. Bethany hasn't seen Abigail since she was 2 weeks old! 

Since we were back home and hadn't planned on needing groceries, we ended up eating our way through Tampa the last few days of their visit. No complaints from me! We recently found this new Smoke Shack food truck near our house that serves the most amazing barbecue. I always get the Carolina Pulled Pork sandwich (topped with cole slaw, yum) and truffle mac & cheese. Robert loves the brisket and recently found out about these crazy "parfaits" that you can order. He decided on the brisket over mac & cheese over baked beans parfait. It's over a pound of food. Abby approved!

Since we weren't able to spend any time at the beach with Bethany's family, I drove my mom and dad out to Clearwater Beach on Saturday night. We left right after Abby went to sleep and almost missed seeing the sunset due to the insane crowds that were at the beach that night. Traffic and parking were crazy, but fortunately we made it in time.

Can you smell the ocean air?

No visit to Tampa is complete without a trip to Datz, so we went there on Monday night. Abby does a great job at restaurants and this was our first time at Datz since she has been eating finger foods. I ordered the new "Kentucky colonel bowl" because the house-baked cheddar biscuit with local honey was calling my name. Abby loved her first tastes of biscuit (I know, no honey for babies!) and cheesy mashed potatoes. 

We took home one slice of peanut butter chocolate cake and one slice of red velvet. Look at those towering desserts! Yum.

After having family in town for 2 weeks, the house has felt empty and a little lonely the past few days. Thanks for coming to visit, Mom and Dad! Thanks, also, for watching Abby so that Robert and I could have two great date nights together for Josie's wedding and our anniversary. We miss you and are already counting down the days to Christmas when we get to see you again.