The last couple years we have taken a cruise for Spring Break. This year we decided to do something a little different.

Matt’s uncle has a boat in St Petersburg, Florida that he lives on for about half the year. He’s retired, has a house here in NC, but hates the cold weather in the wintertime. So, he lives on his boat in FL during those cold months. Some of the family have taken turns going down to visit and stay on his boat – so we finally took our turn. And what an adventure it was! The kids had SO much fun, they said it was one of their favorite vacations and keep asking if we can go back.

Living on a boat was an adventure in itself. He doesn’t take the boat out, it stays parked at the marina in a slip. Below there are 3 bedrooms – Uncle Jeff has his own bedroom area, then we had two bedrooms and two bathrooms just for us. There was a living room, full kitchen, and my favorite spot was going up top to lounge and admire the views!

We were walking distance to SO MANY things. The St. Pete Pier was about a 10 minute walk away. Blake and I enjoyed walking there and getting ice cream (for him) and coffee (for me) at the end of the pier. There is a massive playground there as well. Also, a small beach area that the kids loved! Near the beach area was a pizza place, drink stand, and splash pad. So so much to do.

There was also a soccer stadium close to the marina, and Uncle Jeff got free tickets to a game. He took the kids one night and Matt and I were able to get out for a date night early on in the trip which was amazing! He spoiled the kids with hot dogs, popcorn, and ice cream – they had a blast!

We drove about an hour south to North Jetty Beach one afternoon. Gorgeous beach, beautiful blue water, and we found a bunch of shark teeth! We went for the shark teeth hunt, but the kids ended up wanting to play in the water the whole time so Matt and I were hunting the shark teeth.

On another day we drove out to Clearwater Beach. They were having their sandcastle festival – the theme was dinosaurs. It was so impressive! We really enjoyed that. While out at Clearwater, I found a groupon for a Dolphin tour so we went on that as well. We saw dolphins within 2 minutes of leaving the harbor – amazing! Clearwater was pretty busy and little overwhelming otherwise, so we didn’t spend any extra time there.

One evening toward the end of our trip, Uncle Jeff offered to hang out with the boys again so Matt and I could have one more date night. We walked to a restaurant right at the entrance to the pier, Fresco’s. We had been wanting to try it all week. We got a perfect seat outside right on the water. The food was delicious. Uncle Jeff took the boys for ice cream (those boys were spoiled by almost daily ice cream cones lol).

We flew Allegiant both ways. They do non-stop flights out of our nearby airport into St. Petersburg in the Spring. It was very affordable, although it is a budget airline with no frills, it’s still a great option when traveling with kids. A few tips when flying with Allegiant – there is no wifi onboard, so make sure to download shows/movies to tablets prior to leaving. Beverages/snacks are for purchase only so if you don’t want to spend the money, bring something onboard. The only free piece of luggage is the personal item that fits under your seat. There is a fee for a carry on that goes in the overhead bin, and of course checking a bag. It is MUCH cheaper to check than to carry on AND to pay in advance rather than at the airport. We checked 2 bags and each person had a backpack to fit under the seat. Otherwise, flying with Allegiant was a great experience for the great deal we got – just come prepared!

All in all, the kids were right – it was one of our best family vacations!

Traveling with my kids is something I love to do. I didn’t get to travel as a kid, so not only am I enjoying the experiences myself but I love watching my kids experience new things and make memories. We are not “rich” by any means, I’ve just learned some tricks and hacks along the way for making travel more affordable (especially cruises). If you’d like to see some of my travel hacks, tips, especially for traveling with kids – drop a comment for what you’d like to see and I can do a separate post!