Sarasota Thursday

 On our last full day in Sarasota we drove out to Lido key to visit Save Our Seabirds, a bird rescue and sanctuary that Gavin loved. We saw some pretty cool mansions on the way there. Then we went to St Armands Circle where we spent a few hours at Arcade Monsters, a pay once play all you want arcade. Luckily they also had a nice outdoor deck on their 2nd floor where I hung out after I'd had enough gaming. While we were there we took a break to eat expensive burnt pizza next door. After the arcade Amelia and I picked out tumblers at Tervis, we all rested awhile, then the kids and I headed to the pool. 

Sarasota Wednesday

Before our vacation Jake discovered that the headquarters of the Wowcube, a new video game system, is in Sarasota. He emailed the company and arranged for us to visit while we were in town. On Wednesday morning we met with Max, the company CEO. It was super cool. He showed us how the Wowcube works, took one apart for us, and let us play several prototypes. He was very nice and even offered to send us a Wowcube free in a couple months when his first shipment comes in. He also gave us a bunch of keychains which excited the kids. After that we visited the Sarasota Art Museum (free for military!). We then ate lunch at Culver's and took a rest. Then we headed out to Turtle Beach, my favorite of the trip. We watched storms in the distance and saw a waterspout, much to Gavin's delight. 

Sarasota Tuesday

 Tuesday Morning we headed to Bradenton. We took a little walk on the riverwalk and then went to the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature (free for military!). It was better than I was expecting and we all really enjoyed it. Afterwards we ate lunch and orange swirl ice cream at Mixon Fruit Farm. Jake and I also taste tested several types of fruit flavored wines. I liked several of them but Jake said they all tasted "like licking the floor" (after using pledge to clean it). After a rest we headed out to Siesta Key Beach, named best beach in the nation a few times in recent years. We could see why. This was Jake's favorite beach on our trip. The water was warm, clear, shallow, with no waves and the beach was flat with white powdery sand and few shells. It reminded me of Destin on a perfect day. After some time in the water Amelia cut her foot on something but managed to recover and play in the sand after that.