Florida Adventures

A couple months ago Peter realized if he took a few days off of work around Christmas time, he would have about 17 consecutive days off. Realizing this he decided we needed to go on a vacation. He came to me with the idea of going to New York, Florida or Hawaii. I said no to New York in the winter (we don't have the gear to handle bitter cold). I was up for Florida or Hawaii but was leaning toward Florida since Peter's brother lives there. He said he was thinking the same thing...so we bought tickets and planned our adventure. This is how it all turned out:

On Wednesday the 28th we ventured to LAX to catch a 8am flight to Orlando. Connor did surprisingly well for a 5 hour flight and managed to sleep during the last hour or so. Sean and Amy and their kids Kirk-4 and Heidi-18mos picked us up at the airport. Our first stop was to a hotel in Orlando to drop off our gear (we were so glad we packed light as there wasn't much room in the van). Then we went to Downtown Disney and ate dinner at the T-Rex Cafe. It was really fun! Every 30 minutes or so there would be a meteor shower in the room we were in. Connor hated it the first two times, but the last two times he enjoyed it. While waiting 1 1/2 hours for a table we wandered around Downtown Disney. We went in the Lego store, Ghiradelli store, World of Disney and a toy shop to name a few. The place was so super crowded it was crazy. There were wall to wall people everywhere you went. Outside the T-Rex cafe was a little dino dig place with bones covered in gravel. This was the perfect place for Kirk.

Touching a wooly mammoth is so fun.

After dinner we wandered a little bit and then headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted and it was only like 10pm-though it was 7pm our time, but we went to sleep just fine. Mind you we were up at 3:30am to drive 2+ hours to LAX to catch the only direct flight we could find...so yes we were tired.

Thursday morning we left and drove to Ocala where we went to Silver Springs Park. We went on two glass bottom boats (the third was closed for repairs), watched a reptile show, waited an hour in line for pizza (the place was not terribly busy, but only two people were working), we saw several types of alligators and crocodiles, rode the carousel twice, went to the petting zoo area, amongst other things. We really enjoyed our time there, so much that the park closed before we could go see the bears (bummer). We left the park, went out to dinner and then back to the hotel in Ocala.

Watching the Albino Alligators

Alligator Dundee-this guy was in a pool with several full sized alligators and he had bare feet.

Connor loved the glass bottom boat rides and the bubble snow

Riding the carousel was pretty fun with cousins and so was petting the pigs.

Friday morning we drove to St. Augustine. On the way we stopped at Blue Springs to watch the manatee. Then we went to a fort and watched them shoot off the cannon, listened to a really good speech given by a volunteer, and explored the fort. At one point while this guy is giving his speech he said something about pirates and as if right on que Heidi says, Yay! really loudly. Everyone laughed. The guy says, no these are not the good pirates. It was still quite funny. After the fort we went to a Pirate Museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside so I took a picture of the outside as we left. Inside the museum was some super cool stuff. Peter says, "Best Pirate Museum Ever!" After the museum we walked around the town and all the little shops. Afterward we headed to a seafood restaurant that ended up being really busy as well. We would've had to wait 1 1/2 hours to be seated. So instead we ordered our food to go and ate it in the car. Not terribly elegant but it worked and it was really good food. I got chicken (not a seafood person) and it was absolutely wonderful! Afterward we went back to the hotel in St. Augustine for the night.

Look at all those manatees

At Castillo de San Marcos Fort

Saturday morning we drove to another fort, a much smaller one and explored it. Kirk got a splinter in his hand from the railings and then screamed/cried for a bit. A stranger came up to them and said he had a first aid kit in his car. He pulls it out and inside there was a little device used for getting splinters out. He also gave Kirk a glow stick-mostly to get his attention on the stick and not on his hand. When they finally got the splinter out (Kirk moved around quite a bit), we thanked this family for their help and then went on our way. We also saw a great horned owl at the little park that was right there.

Sleeping with daddy and then visiting a much smaller fort.

Then we headed to Sean and Amy's place in Ft. Lauderdale -about 4 hours away. It was a long drive, but luckily all kiddos did eventually fall asleep which made the drive a bit easier. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner (one of Peter's favorites that he misses since there aren't any near us). They had super yummy apples that we all enjoyed with our meals. Connor enjoyed my side dish of macaroni and cheese. When we arrived at Sean and Amy's we all collapsed in the family room. The kids really enjoyed running around and stretching their legs. They did a pretty good job of sharing their toys, well given their ages. Connor really liked Heidi's dolly stroller. It was light and easy to push around. Only problem is Heidi really likes her dolly stroller too. So there were a few fights, a few shoves and pushing thrown in, a couple mouths on others-though no biting took place, and of course there was crying and screaming and tantrums being thrown. But really, it was pretty good given their ages. And it didn't happen all the time either, most of the time they happily played near each other.

Eating mac n cheese. Yes they are cousins though they look like they could be siblings.

That evening was New Year's Eve. Amy and I went out and got some fun party appetizers, which we munched on while we played The Logo Game. It was a fun game. Then at 11:30 we decided it was bedtime and went to bed. At midnight and throughout the day we could hear fireworks going off.

Sunday morning we went to Church and then headed out to the Keys. We stayed in a condo near Key Largo that was right on the water.

The view from the balcony of the condo. Glass bottom boat ride-corals

Monday morning we took another glass bottom boat ride to see some corals. It was a 45 minute boat ride out and then it slowed down and they called everyone down to the bottom part and gave a 20 minute speech on everything we could see. It was really neat. On the ride out we could see jelly fish and at one point Amy yells Shark! We all look down and see a shark swimming next to the boat. About two minutes later we see another one. After this we met up with Amy's sisters Robin and Camille for lunch. On the way there we stopped along the keys to let the kids stretch their legs. Then we went home.

Tuesday was a relaxing day. We were all exhausted and the kids were exhausted and none of them wanted to get in the car again, so we stayed at home for the most part. We did go to the grocery store, but that was it. It was nice to have a relaxing day playing at home.

Wednesday Sean skipped school and went with us to Villa Vizcaya (an old mansion turned into a museum). We toured the mansion, and the gardens. Many people were there taking wedding photos and other professional pictures. It was a really nice place. Back at home Amy made Cafe Rio Pork which was oh soo good! Peter had to take a picture of it all.

The mansion and one of the gardens

An American Crocodile we found there. Plants growing out of the wall.

Pretty fountain and our super yummy Cafe Rio Pork dinner.

Thursday we headed to Shark Valley National Park to see the everglades. We saw a ton of alligators. All the signs said to stay back 15 feet, but that was hard to do when the alligators were up next to the walkway. We had a fun walk around the park pointing out alligators, baby alligators and all the different kinds of birds we saw. We also went down the otter trail and saw otter holes and went down a bobcat trail where people were photographing spiders(eww). Thursday night Robin and Camille came to watch the kids while Sean, Amy, Peter and I went out for date night. We took a water taxi and saw mansions, yachts and plenty of things we'll never be able to afford, but were all quite cool to look at. We saw Judge Judy's yacht, the Ritz camera yacht, Shakira's yacht, the mansion that belongs to the guy who came up with Blockbuster video and then sold it for 2 billion 6 months before the invention of Netflix. It was fun and informational to ride the water taxi. Then we went to Jaxson's for ice cream. Peter and I shared something called a Jr. Sampler which was three huge scoops one of each black cherry, fresh peach and cookie dough ice cream smothered in whip cream and sprinkles and a cherry on top. We also had three toppings of chocolate, raspberry and peach sauces. It was good, but we couldn't possibly finish it all. Then we headed back home and got there around midnight and crawled into bed.

Baby alligators and a sleeping alligator

Signs said to stay back 15 feet. It was hard to do that since they were basically on the walking path. Luckily most were sleeping or sunbathing. None of them were interested in eating small children.

Friday morning we woke up at 5, got ready and headed to the Ft. Lauderdale airport to catch our 7am flight back home. It was a great trip, we had a blast.