A Trip to Florida...

January 28, 2014

We made it to Florida! Since various things hindered us from traveling to Florida over Christmas break- illness, injury, icy roads... we ended up going last week! We had a fabulous time!! We were able to stay with Grammy and Grampy Brown for a few nights and another home down the street for a few... And each day was filled with so much fun and laughter! It was so great to stay with Grammy and Grampy and get to spend time with them and create more wonderful memories.

The pictures are not in any logical order....

One place we went was the MOTE Aquarium and research lab. I learned quite a bit! We had read about how the shells are born and grow and to see the various stages in real life solidified our understanding. You can click on the pictures to see larger size.

Touch tank was awesome! The manta rays are so smooth!

We headed to a park after the aquarium and found lots of shells. So many sand dollars! Some were HUGE! But alas, they were broken. Lots of little ones too.

This guy was NOT in the beach park! He was at Busch Gardens! They have a zoo and an amusement park in one place. It was so nice because each area or section of the park had a wild life area and big rides. So, if you were not going on the ride there was tons to do!

My new friend....

We went to Busch Gardens two days. Both times we were with Grammy and Grampy. One time their friends were with us and the other day Rick was with us. Both days, Alex and Addison rode the rides all day! When Rick came he also was on the rides most of the day with them. And Grampy rode the big rides too!

Being around 60 degrees- cold for Tampa- there were no crowds both times we went!

Atley and I loved riding the gondola! It was a long ride that went through much of the park.

Joyce (Grammy) and me!

And Grampy got the "ride" the whole day!

This is the view from the back at Grammy and Grampys house. What a nice rainbow our first day there!

Joyce took us to see the wild manetees. It was cold and windy so they were a bit difficult to see, but we did see lots and they are HUGE! We also saw manta rays flying through the air as they played and sharks swimming below us.

The Aquarium was beautiful.

Each day we went somewhere fun, and AAA were always excited to get back to ride in the golf cart!

Long John! Argghhhh. Great book btw!

Yes, they went on every ride. Not many people on the water rides because the added thrill was the cold temp!

Atley could have spent hours in the Sesame Street area on the ropes course.

Alex can find a good set of trees almost anywhere!

First time swimming in the Gulf of Mexico! It was about 60 degrees in the water! But Alex and Atley did go in!

One morning we went with Grammy Joyce to help make blankets for children at the Shriner's Hospital. We had so much fun and the blankets came out fantastic. I know the children will love getting them.