We just completed our annual trip to Boca Raton for Easter to visit with my in-laws and to enjoy some spring break time away.  I just love it.

First you all know I am such a warm weather loving person and that the beach IS my place of utter peace and harmony.  This is our one yearly getaway so we really all look forward to it and hate when it flies by all too quickly.  And really what was once a really tough travel trip has turned out to be doable now that I have two 7-year-old and one 5 year old…a big difference from two 3 year olds and one 2-year-old!!!

So obviously we spent tons and tons of time at the beach in Boca.  We pretty much had one all to ourselves…

The next best thing to the beach is the pool!

this kid has some rough life!

As much as the kids love the beach and the pool,  (and literally had to be dragged in by their fair-haired ears each day) they all insist that we visit some of their favorite spots while we are in Boca.

The first one is Gumbo Limbo Nature Center which is right down the road from us.  Kids learn about endangered plants and animals and get to see turtles and other sea creatures.  It is a huge property where we hike around and they love to climb to the top of a structure each year where we try to spot their grandparents home.

me out of breath!

I have photos of them as babies on these turtles!

I love it because we can still be outside while visiting Gumbo Limbo and you know I don’t want to step one foot out of that gorgeous Florida sunshine.  Similarly, we can be outside while visiting another spot, Sugar Sand Park. This is a vast park with many amenities.  We explore only a few, like the carousel…

They all meet the height restrictions this year which means they can go on adult free…happy news for someone like me who tends to get dizzy while standing still!

There is also a fabulous playground with structures the kids can climb through and areas where they can get can wet.  They love the playground and talk about it throughout the year.

As if all that isn’t enough, just a few steps away and we enter a FABULOUS children’s museum that’s as great as any we’ve been to…there are two large fully interactive rooms that the kids could literally be entertained in all day long.

Because this museum satiates our museum needs we’ve never visited but I’ve heard there’s the Boca Raton Children’s Museum as well.

As for eating, oh man, I ate way too much and went way too long without kick boxing!  A few of our favorites include Pizza Time.  You know as New Yorker’s we are very snobby about our pizza, but our visiting Boca tradition is to stop at Pizza Time right after we arrive because the pizza is that good.  There is something about the sauce and the thin crust that has us all loving it (and believe me we are all pizzaed out after eating it two weeks straight during Hurricane Sandy so that’s saying a lot!)

We tried Matteo’s for the first time which was a bit fancy for the kids but they did great.  And, my son has realized his newfound love for fried calamari which he has asked me to pack it for his lunch tomorrow (“Squidward tastes good mom!”)

We always go to Duffy’s because it’s very kid friendly and on Wednesdays kids eat free and they have a balloon guy roaming around.

My husband salivates all year for the place we go to the day after we arrive for lunch which is Baja Cafe.  It is the best Mexican food we eat anywhere and we wish we could find a place like this in NY.  Seriously I drool as I type!!!

On our last night my in-laws sent me and the hubs to dinner without kids to New York Prime.  I’m not a steak eater but my husband enjoyed his and my salmon was great….place was very expensive though…we would have been just as happy going out in flip-flops to Baja Cafe again .

Have you ever been to Boca Raton, Florida?  What have I left out?

Tags: beach, Boca Raton, Boca Raton Florida, Duffys, Easter, Florida, food, Gumbo Limbo, Matteos, nature, New York Prime, Outdoors, parenting, Photography, restaurants, spring break, Sugar Sand Park, travel, Travel and Tourism