40 at 40 in Florida

I've gotten used to the fact that I'm 40-years old now, but for some of my friends, the idea of turning 40 is a little more fresh on their minds, since it only happened in the past few weeks, or just about to happen. We had been talking since last summer about a girl's getaway to celebrate this milestone, and finally decided on Florida. A huge thanks to Michelle and Teresa for all the time they spent online trying to find the best places and the best deals!!

Seriously, between Tara and I (and a few from Teresa and 2 from Michelle) we took over 800 pictures! It was hard to pick some favorites, but here are some of my "Top 40 at 40."

This is one of my favorites of the whole trip! Tara booked her own flight, so she didn't sit with us and was put in the very last row in the corner. This was her way of coping with a four-hour flight from Denver to Tampa. "Nobody puts baby in a corner!"

To borrow a line from Marcie, "How many people does it take to load a 12-passenger van?"

Yes, this was our sweet ride...don't be jealous!

We stayed in a 5-story condo/beach house in Clearwater, Florida. It was pretty sweet!!

This was the view from our rooftop, with the beach just across the park and another half-block away.

Food, food, and more food--this pizza rocked!

The one day it rained, we did what any reasonable group of females would do--went shopping! I think Michelle tried on every shoe in there, but this boot was one of her faves.

The updated version of the Pink Ladies with our matching jackets.

The Waffle House was about the only place we found open for dinner so late on our way home that night. Lots of food, and it was even pretty darn good. Especially the blueberry waffles...

Michelle, who made it into almost ever picture taken, posing at the entrance of Busch Gardens.

Can you see the alligator in the water with the turtle going for a free ride on its back?!

The roller coasters at Busch Gardens were the highest and fastest and scariest ones

I have ever been on.

Team 40, aka the Cougar Club, front l to r: Trish and Tara (neither will be 40 for a few years, but were still allowed to come!), Teresa, Marcie, me; back l to r: Jalynn, Michelle and Megyn (also not 40 until next year).

Beach time!!

Michelle sneaking into another picture at Crabby Bills.

Each of us turning 40 were sung to at Crabby Bills...except Michelle who was in the bathroom at the time and missed her best photo opportunity.

For all the calories we inhaled, we had to get rid of them somehow. I was cursing Megyn when I was packing my suitcase cuz it seemed like my tennis racquet took up half the room, but we had a great time many days playing tennis, running, or doing boot camp on the beach with Tara leading us.

Read the label of the above jar...because Michelle didn't and just dove in for a pepper. Although we all had a good laugh from it, her throat was instantly raw.

To pass the time while waiting for our delayed flight out of Denver back to Salt Lake, we pulled out the cards and got some good playing time in.

There were over 800 other pictures...enough said! Good times girls!!