Daycation

After a relaxing Sunday morning and a yummy breakfast, my family and I headed to church and enjoyed an uplifting service before heading out to see manatees at Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center.

Manatee Viewing Center

With Mom and Dad

Mom and Sister in the Mangroves

The viewing center was located in Apollo Beach near the Big Bend Power Station.

Big Bend Power Station

The manatees gather near the power station during the colder months because the waters are warm due to discharge from the station. There were literally hundreds of manatees in the canal.

Lots o' Manatees

Sea Cows

Mama and Baby Manatee

The manatees were so neat! We were really surprised how many people came out to see them. The viewing center was slammed!

Lunch

After a family fun day with the manatees, we headed over to Kojack’s, a BBQ restaurant in South Tampa.

Kojak's

I love hole-in-the-wall restaurants that serve the best food… Kojak’s is that kinda place!

I ordered the quarter chicken with cole slaw and baked beans.

BBQ Chicken Plate

It was moist and delicious. My mom also gave me a couple nubbles off her rib plate, which was also delicious.

My family and I joked that today felt like a daycation. It felt nice to get out and do a touristy activity together and enjoy quality, local food!

Baked Hot Cocoa & Belgian Waffles

I think we found the location for our rehearsal dinner!

Last night Ryan and I met up with Robin at 400 Beach Seafood and Tap House, a restaurant within walking distance of our wedding ceremony site.

400 Beach Seafood & Tap House

Robin took us through lots of different options and made it pretty clear that we could build a menu and plan our event in whatever way we want. Gotta love that kind of flexibility!

Dinner

We came home ready for dinner!

Everyone was in the mood for pizza, so we ordered two large pizzas, one cheese and one veggie, from Pizza Hut.

Veggie Pizza

Cheese Pizza

I had several slices of each. I really like hopping back and forth between the two different pizzas… the ooey gooey cheesy goodness and the yummy veggies. Great combination!

After dinner, I made baked hot cocoa using a mix my sister gave to my dad for Christmas.

Hot Cocoa Mug Cake Mix

The hot chocolate cake was really easy to make and tasted like molten chocolate cake.

Of course we had to enjoy it with ice cream.

Mug Cake

Dessert

Yummy!

Breakfast

Yesterday after making banana walnut stuffed French toast, my family started talking about how nice weekend breakfasts truly are. I love taking extra time to create breakfast comfort food on a sleepy weekend morning.

Today we opted for homemade Belgian waffles.

Belgian Waffle

A Belgian waffle just isn’t a Belgian waffle without syrup and whipped cream.

Doctored Up

What a fantastic start to a Sunday morning!

We’re about to head out to church before going to see manatees today. Sounds like a fun Sunday to me! 😀