My parents came down to visit a couple weeks ago.  It just so happened to be one of the coldest weekends we’d see in a long time.  How bout that?  Our plans to hang out at the pool were scratched.  The hostess in me found back-up activities.  It was the first day of the Strawberry Festival in Plant City.  I’d never been, so we headed there to check it out.  CW is not a huge fan of it haha (prob because he grew up in Tampa, but I love me a corn dog).  I think every single carnival ride and fried food concession stand in the entire state of Florida was there.  They get some pretty big names performing there every year…this year some of the concerts were Hunter Hayes, Blake Shelton, etc.

My Dad and I.  Reminded us of the state fair.  I bet the teenagers are in heaven at night with all of the rides.

Strawberries….surprisingly, fried food totally dominated the strawberries.

Getting donuts and hot chocolate.

and of course Strawberry Shortcake.  Delish.

How cute are the P’s?

On the way back to Tampa we just had to stop at the Hard Rock Casino.  I knew my Dad was going to LOVE it.

He hit the slot machines, while my Mom and I hit the bar.  It’s a pretty cool hotel and casino.

We hurried home and rushed out again to try to make it to the beach in time for sunset.  We were meeting my childhood friend, Tris, and her family there (we had just re-connected after losing touch in college.  How small is the world that they live in Clearwater).  CW and my favorite place on the beach to watch the sunset is the Sandpearl Resort.  It’s gorg.  Tris lives right near there, so it worked out perfect.

It was crazy windy out!  We all trekked up to the top of a dune for some photos.  My parents rock.

Had to put the Hawkeye hat on…

Still a pretty sky, even with the chilly weather.

Chillin at the fire pit.

Gotta love white sand beaches…

We had the greatest night full of laughs and memories from when Tris and I were little.  It was a perfect night.  Of course we had to take them to Frenchy’s for their famous grouper sandwiches.

I was excited to make a casserole for breakfast (casseroles are a lot of food for just two people usually).  I used tator tots instead of hash browns.  Added some ham, cheese, eggs, mmm…breakfast of champions.

That day we were meeting my friend Rocio at Tampa Bay Downs.  CW and I love going there.  His grandfather was really big into horses, so it’s a tad nostalgic for him.

Here they are…hoping to get lucky…

I chose the horses who would win based on their “socks”.  The names were hysterical.  We were dying over my mom’s comments on “One Shady Woman” (use your imagination). We met a guy from the burbs of Chicago, who gave us all lessons on how to bet.  There’s a lot to know.  Win, Place, Show, Trifecta, it’s a whole new language.  This was going to come in very handy for my parents, since my brother and his family just moved right near Arlington Park in Chicago.  They’re going to be experts.

There were eleven races, about half an hour apart (notice the socks)?

Action shot…

Um, hello…yes, of course we’ll have hotdogs and beer….

Ro and I agreed we’re going to go more often.  You can sit inside and watch the other races going on across the country.  There’s a poker room, a grandstand area that’s shaded, picnic tables outside, benches and areas to stand right against the rails, a place to watch the “winners” and you can get a look at the horses before each race.

Check out my photo-taking skills!  You have to be quick.

Everybody was a winner by the time the day was over.  Super fun.

I made a big dinner and we decided it was a movie night.  We watched Life of Pi.  Dessert was an apple/oatmeal crock pot thing with ice cream.  Yep, I was a chef that weekend.

Sunday meant church with the fam and then we met Jeff, Ellen and all of the kids for brunch.  Olivia went right to my mom.  So cute =)

We get up to Chicago and Iowa a lot more than my parents get down here, so it was great to show them some of our favorite spots.

At least they didn’t go back with sunburns haha….