Finn's 1st Birthday and Cedar Key

 I am sure that most of you are aware that Finn's birthday was actually almost 2 months ago...  what can I say?  Who would have thought that having an extremely active toddler would keep a person busy? I do have some other excuses though if anyone is interested. I got a new iphone around Christmas and for some reason my 10 year old macbook hates it and won't let me transfer photos between the two, so I had to text the pictures in batches of 9 to myself and then save them all to the laptop, then transfer them to the blog.  It has seriously taken me 5 days to do just that. Another reason is that the weather has been so fantastic here for several months.  like abnormally nice and temperate for Florida, so Finn and I have spent most of our time outside since Christmas. Also, Covid.  I had my shots, and really didn't have much for side effects but my arm was damn sore for several days each time, so typing wasn't easy. so there, I'm excused right?  I swear, I plan on blogging more!

On to the topic at hand.  My teeny tiny little baby turned one! the last year has flown, I think partly due to the craziness of Covid, but also a parental haze.  Despite the current world climate, I still wanted to make it a special day that we could all remember and that someday he could look back on and see how much fun he had.  It didn't matter if it was just the three of us, I was going to make it special.  We were lucky enough that Toby and Joanne were able to come down for a couple weeks; it was nice to be able to have some family.  Jason and Jackson also came, along with a pop in from Nancy and Tricia across the street. A small group, but we didn't want to push our luck and risk getting everyone sick. 

Here are some pictures from the day: 

 

 

Our last monthly picture!  

 

 

 

We got some amazing treats made for the big day from a friend, The Sweet Ivy.

She did such an amazing job for the shark/surfer theme.  If you are in the Tampa area, check out her facebook page, she does amazing work and is very reasonably priced !  She did a cake, cupcakes and cookies and I added in some ocean themed snacks... Goldfish and Swedish Fish.

 

 

 

 

 

The setup the night before.  We were so excited for Finn to get to see all his new gifts. 

 

 

And somebody was also very excited to open everything and get to play for a few hours in his jammies before the party started. 

 

 CAKE TIME! 

For anyone interested, you can still watch the Facebook live video, back on Feb 27 on my facebook page.

 

 

 He was a little unsure at first, but was loving it by the end.  This was the first time he had ever had cake, or even any kind of sweets so I am sure he was in heaven!

 

Some family photos. 

 

 

 more playtime! 

 

 

 Nancy and Tricia

 

 

After cake, we played a little more and had some lunch. 

 

 

 

Then it was pool party time! 

 We didn't actually intend to get in the pool, but the guys had to prove their manliness. The girls and Finn stayed and played where it was nice and warm. 

 

 

  

 

  

After all that excitement, somebody was getting tired, but we still had to play with some more of his awesome new toys.

The next day...

 

 

 bright and early, we got up, played some more and then we headed out to our destination for the next 3 days, Cedar Key.  Cedar Key is about 3 hours north of us and a small quiet fishing town.  We got a cute little AirBnB just a few feet off the water and planned for some relaxing and exploring.

 

 

 

On our way there, we stopped at Rosewood.  If you are unfamiliar with the story, or haven't seen the movie, here is some info on the  tragedy.

The home is all that remains from the original town and is privately owned, but there is a lovely memorial on the side of the road.   

 

Cedar Key

 

The view of the "touristy" part of Cedar Key from the side our Airbnb was on.  It was about a 10 minute walk to get over there. 

 

 

 The town is very eclectic and artsy and cute.  Murals everywhere, bright colors, art galleries etc.  Totally my style.

 

We had this cute porch swing at out place, Finn loved it.  We all did. 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 Sunset our first night.  Beautiful!

 

Finn and Lollie having some cuddle time. 

 

 

 

We were up early for a coffee at the local coffee shop and then headed over to Cemetery Point park.  Yes it is in a cemetery but it also has a beautiful boardwalk and trails right on the water.  I'd get buried here.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Day 2 start to the day.  That outfit lasted about 4 minutes.

 

 

 

We stopped for a quick lunch, this place had the best clam chowder ever! 

We then went out with all of us to the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge. it is 53000 acres and 30 miles of coastline.  It has beautiful views and a nice boardwalk as well as a Shell Mound built from about 3500 years ago to 1000 years ago by the Native Americans of the Archaic period.  The Shell Mound is 5 acres and is made up of oyster and whelk shells along with fish, deer and household debris.  They were used for settlement bases, since it was so swampy, as well as for burial grounds.  A really cool place to visit. 

 

 

 

 

Finn's first bite of gator!  He actually really liked it.  I must say it was the best gator I've had.  

 

 

Cedar Key had so many cats, I was in heaven.  Just at our Airbnb we had about 5 that would make appearances, some less feral than others. and they were all over town everywhere we went.  The town has a great group of volunteers that run a fantastic TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) program. So all of the resident cats have been fixed and have their ears tipped so that everyone knows.  They keep the rodent population at virtually zero so everyone is a fan. 

 

 The morning of our last day, Josh, Finn and I got up early and went down to a nearby beach to look for some shells.  I didn't find much, lots of oysters and some live King's crown Conches.  But Finn had fun playing in the sand with daddy!

 

 

 

Some local art installations 

One of the nicest little community gardens that I have ever seen.  Most of the local restaurants also use it.

Right before we were about to leave we got to see the clam boats coming in.  Literally filled to the brim with clams.  And I have to say the Cedar Key Clams are delicious!

We had such an amazing time celebrating Finn's birthday, and having a little getaway as well.  I hope this has given everyone a (very late) little glimpse in to this special time!