Clearwater Beach, Fl - day 7 - last day

Our last day at the beach. We decided not to go anywhere but the beach!
All morning we spent there.

Clearwater Beach, Fl - day 6 - Beach

Yes, beach every day, can't skip it! But Emily wasn't too happy that day - there was no waves, at all! So she couldn't ride her board, no matter how hard she tried. So it was time for just swimming and building a sand castle and water sliding! There was a giant water slide right on the beach so we went there. Ashley couldn't go, she was too short, but Emily went few times and loved it!

Clearwater Beach, Fl - day 4 - Fort De Soto Park

This was a great place to visit!
If you interested in history of this park there is a great article on their county's main page. A lot of interesting facts and details about it -  Fort De Soto Historic Guide

Brief history if you didn't want to read from the link above. 

The park is made up of 5 island anchored by the main island, Mullet Key where the fort and main beaches are located. 

This park has few different sections and areas to visit. You can even do camping there. We explored 3 area - East beach, Fort and North Beach.

East Beach is a great area to come with small kids. Water is very calm and clean. Beach is the least
crowded and there is an incredible view of the Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay.

Clearwater Beach, Fl - day 4 - Beach

Finally we got a sunny morning! No more clouds or rain.
Nice view from our balcony

Clearwater Beach, Fl - day 3 - pier 60

Continuation to the previous post.

After the museum weather cleared up and we decided to check out the main pier in Clearwater Beach.  Parking there was a nightmare! We drove around the parking lot for 15 minutes trying to find a spot to park.
The Pier 60 was a nice area. Very specious and pretty. But I wouldn't come here to swim... Very crowded beach area.
There is a playground right on the beach, but also very crowded. There is no room for parents to sit, you have to watch your kids at all times because its open on all sides.

Clearwater Beach, Fl - day 3 - Dunedin Fine Art Center

In the morning we woke up to see a very bad storm outside. High wind, heavy rain and not even a little clearing in the sky. It was a little disappointing, but nothing we can do.
We let the kids play for half a day and after lunch took them to the museum - Dunedin Fine Art Center. This is like a hidden treasure there.  Not many people, very inexpensive (we only paid $6 for all of us) and there are a lot of stuff for kids to do, especially  in a rainy day.

Clearwater Beach, Fl - day 2

Day 2 started early. All kids woke up around 8 am and were ready to go to the beach. Weather was still not so good. Not raining, but very cloudy and windy. Eventually it did rain.
In the morning the beach was all empty, just some occasional runners would pass by.
Waves were huge and we couldn't really swim, but kids still had fun jumping over them.
                                         

                                        

Clearwater Beach, Fl - day 1

We are back home now! One week went way faster then I expected, but then time always fly on vacations.
We rented 2 bedroom condo with a friend. I had my mom and 3 kids and she had her 3 kids. We stayed about 20 mins south of Clearwater beach - on the Treasure Island. Later I will write a little more detailed review of the island and the area together. Condo complex was - The Palms, will post more about it too. Right now about our first day.
Drive from Atlanta to Treasure Island is 7 hours according to google maps, but with 3 kids you can easily add 2 more hours. Even we only stopped 3 times, it still took additional 2.5 hours. Jeremy is still nursing often so it was hard to plan our days.
That day we left home early. Woke up at 4 and left at 5 am. We prefer to leave around that time or even earlier for any road trips. Yes it is harder on the parents, but much easier with the kids. All 3 of mine slept all the way till Florida boarder, which was 4 hours away. We stopped at the Welcome center, used bathrooms, walked around, I fed Jeremy and we had a small picnic breakfast. I packed everything with us.