Girls Trip 2016

Our girls trip this year was epic! We flew into Tampa Florida and went to Treasure Island, a little island right off the coast. It was beautiful! We stayed right on the beach and really loved all our time together! It was Nora's first girls trip and she did awesome! It was a long day of flying and she was a champ!

 The weather wasn't super warm, but warm enough for us to be on the beach and enjoy the sunshine and beautiful scenery! The water was such a beautiful color. One day we all took a little ferry out to Shell Key- a tiny island that is a nature preserve and it was literally COVERED in seashells! Nora especially loved collecting shells- every time she saw one she liked she did a little dance, picked it up and said "yike it!" (like it!) I loved just walking on the beach and chatting with my cousins.

 It was so fun to be able to spend time with my cousins! I love them all dearly! One night we got together in one hotel room and watched "It Takes Two"- an Olsen twins movie that we LOVED when we were little. We laughed and laughed at how ridiculous it was and paused and rewatched the scene that we were SURE had El in it back in the day (spoiler alert- it's not really her- but we sure thought so 20 years ago). We also had a surprise bridal shower for Halie one night where everyone brought their favorite thing to gift to her and Nate.

 The whole gang- 28 of us in all now! Every female that is a descendant of Bob and Georgia White was there! (Including all the girls who have married in to the family)

 Traditional "Hot Babes Quartet" picture. I love these girls so much and loved spending a few days totally uninterrupted with them!

 Our crew is getting so big now! It used to just be the three of us on this trip, suddenly there are six Smith girls going!

The flights home were very eventful and stressful- but we all made it home! A big storm made for late flights and missed connections- but we luckily made it home only two hours later than planned (after a lot of stress, maybe a few tears, and a super nice man letting us go in front of him in the forever long customer service line while trying to rebook!) Heidi takes the cake for an unexpected 30 hour layover in a city she wasn't even supposed to make a stop in and several cancelled flights later she finally just bought a one-way ticket with a different airline! Totally worth it though- I absolutely loved this time with my mom, sisters, aunts and cousins!

And my boys did just fine without me while I was gone. Hudson was a little sad initially that he didn't get to go on the trip, but Chase was all excitement that mom was going away. He even told me before I left, "You know what is great about when you go on the girls trip? Dad doesn't even make us use placemats at dinner!" Ben did a bunch of fun activities with them, including the trampoline park, dinner out at Pizza Pie Cafe, a steak dinner at my parents with my dad and Will, and bike riding. I even came home to a completely clean house and all the laundry done!