A gem in Tampa Bay.

In honor of the Royal Birth, I had a tea time yesterday afternoon.  This was promising.  But it still tasted like tea.  Bummer.

I'm glad I went into work yesterday with a good attitude regarding work because I wasn't ready for it.  Stressful.

But there was a light at the end of a dark Monday tunnel. 

Monday afternoon.

We have been wanting to bring Luke to the Ft. De Soto dog beach for a while and it was on my summer bucket list.  We packed a picnic, threw on our swim suits, and headed that way as soon as I got home.  Matt starts a big tour in two weeks so it's been fun having these mini-getaways sprinkled in everyday life this month.  Also on the summer bucket list was camping at this beach park but that has been shelved until Fall as it was a nice beach day but I can't imagine it being a nice beach "night" with air you can swim in. 

Dinner while watching waves under the shade.

We were minding our own business when this cutie couldn't handle being unattended to.  He looks sad but in all of his dog beach fun, he swallowed too much salt water and threw up. 

Ft. De Soto is about 45 minutes from our house and traffic was practically non-exsistant yesterday which was a sweet serendipity.  It costs $5.50 in tolls and park fee and you have access to the most beautiful park and beaches.  There is a small dog beach which is where the party is at.  Dog parks make me nervous because my little Luke is a target for mean dogs but the dogs we've met at the park are all the nice ones and Luke just plays in the waves with his new buds.  He met a brave little Westie last night that followed him for awhile down the beach as we walked.  They were hilarious.   We spent a good part of our time on the sandbar about a hundred feet from shore just swimming and lounging in the water. 

There is a pretty large dog park next to the beach where you can rinse off the salt water from your pup.  We went for a short walk to dry his fur off some.  It was the most perfect day.

For dinner on the beach, I packed stuff for wraps.  I made some kale dip two nights ago using a bunch (an actual bunch, not just a lot) two cups of beans (a mix of cooked black eyed peas and garbanzo beans).  I brought some of our BBQ sauce, alfalfa sprouts, hemp seeds, and other raw vegetables to wrap up after spreading the "hummus" on the wrap.  I've never tried hemp seeds but they were good sprinkled on top of the bean dip.  Perfect picnic food. 

And some truth, courtesy of Honest Tea.