Fun in Florida--Our last day :(

Thursday was our last day in Florida.  We went from Friday to Friday and did all of our crazy traffic traveling on Friday.  On Thursday, Mom had found this really great place called Myakka River State Park.  It was in Sarasota FL.  We took an air boat ride around the river and saw many alligators sunbathing.  We were also able to walk out on a deck thing that had alligators swimming under it and a grassy area where they were very close.  It was really cool!!  It was funny the people who were around us who were very scared and concerned for us because we were apparently too close for them.  :)

On our way to see the Alligators, there was this great tree that we took our picture in.  This branch was really thick, but moved when they moved.  It made the kids a little nervous that it would break, but it never did.  Made a nice picture I think.

Got kids and us in the pictures.

Our boat ride was really fun.  We were not all able to sit next to each other, but very close together.  It kind of worked out better this way as everyone ended up being pretty close to the side and could see pretty well.

This is Mike and Lydia on the other side of the boat.

My parents were with us at the state park.  Made a really great time with everyone.  Mom and Dad sat right in front of Emily, Ryan and myself.

Ryan took a few pictures of this boat.  We passed it on our boat tour.  It looked like the one we were on.  Our tour guide was Robert.  He was really great!

This is the fan that pushed us around the river.

Not sure how well you can see them, but there are two alligators in the above picture--sitting on the shore and one on the bottom with his mouth open.

This is a pretty big one with his tail showing pretty well.

My mom packed us all a lunch to eat there.  There were a ton of picnic tables there.  We enjoyed our lunch, but there was a squirrel there who came VERY close and tried to eat our food.  :)

Another feature in this park was the Canopy Walk.  It was a tower that was built over 780 feet in the air and a bridge that crossed from a smaller tower to the bigger tower.  Only four people at a time could walk across the bridge.  It was really pretty.

There was a nature walk from the road to the tower and bridge.  This is what is considered a forest in Florida.  Very different than the ones in Virginia.

This is the big tower we climbed up in.  I could not get low enough to get a really good look at the height of it.  Many flights of steps.  Very cool!

This is the view, over the treetops, from 784 feet up.  It was so amazing!  You could not stay up there too long.  It was a very small space and about 7 people could get up there at one time.  So you could look around, but had to move pretty quickly so that other families and people could have their turn.  Was really amazing!  These pictures really show nothing compared to what was visible in real life.

There was a couple up there when we arrived.  They asked that we take their picture and they returned the favor.  784 feet up.  The tower was swaying.  :)  Still so pretty!!

After visiting the Makkaya State Park, we headed south to Herrmann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions of Austria.  On our way, we crossed Sunset Bridge.  It is tall enough for the cruise ships to pass under and such a beautiful place to see the sun set from what I understand.  We did not pass at the correct time.  Off to both sides of it are parts of the old draw bridge.  They turned them into fishing piers that you can drive out on.  So neat!

It was really very beautiful!

This place does a training show each Thursday in the month of April.  They bring out their stallions and now also some of the mares, as it was started my Captain Herrmann many years ago.  They talked about the different ways the horses helped with fighting in the wars.  That before weapons were effective, the horses were the weapons.  Kicking and running, etc.  Was neat for the relating to back then.

They had a Shetland pony that was there for the use of the grandchildren in the family.  Lydia kind of liked him.

Duke is the head of the stable.  He is an old horse and there is another horse, Autaurus, who wants to have the dominating role, but Duke is not giving it up that easily.

This is the new pony.  Just a few weeks old.  He stood with his mother in the pin with the older mares. I am sure they are all careful with him.

Wednesday! Hate when vacation is half over!

After spending the morning playing at the park, we went to Safety Harbor.  It is this fantastic little park with boat docks and a pier where you can often see Manatee in the water.  You are also able to see other areas of Florida that jut out into the water.  It is so beautiful there!!  We went up there and walked out on the pier.  Ryan hoisted himself up on the edge of the pier and we all gather around him for a picture.  We enjoy this place and would have stayed longer, but we had plans to go to Celebration Station!

I emailed my mom prior to our visit.  I asked her to find stuff for us to do that was cheap or free.  :)  She and my dad looked around and asked their friends and found some really neat places.  We went to a place called Celebration Station.  It was kind of like a Chuck E Cheese, but better.  In addition to the pizza and arcade, there were go karts, putt putt, and bumper boats.  It was great!!

Kids and Mike on the bumper boats.  The "packages" that they offer are pretty good, but they were in even number increments.  2 people and 4 people.  We often get screwed in this department.  Apparently the package deal people don't realize there are families of 5.  So, I sat out that day.  Which was fine because I could take pictures.  And, Mike is more of the ride person than I am.

The boats had little water guns in the front.  The kids were able to spray each other.  Mike got soaked!!  :)  Lydia sure knew how to use hers.

Emily and Ryan doing the water shooting thing.

Not sure if the favorite was the bumper boats or the go-karts.  You had to be a certain height to drive the go-karts by yourself. Ryan and Emily were tall enough, but Lydia had to ride with Mike.  This bummed her out at first (very understandable), but when she realized her dad was going to lap her brother and sister, I think she liked riding with him.  :)  She had her own steering wheel to use and really enjoyed it!!

Emily's little arms barely reached the steering wheel, but she did it on her own.  She was great!  She went a little slower and seemed to prefer it when people were not near her (the bumping that happened when they were close was not a favorite), but she did really well for being a 10 year old who had never done it before.  Ryan was great!  He had driven go-karts before so it was not a big deal to him.

Mike and Lydia zooming past.  You see that smile don't you?

Getting ready for a race!

A little arcade fun.

Mom and Dad took us to Celebration Station.  Well, we followed them there.  I wanted my dad to watch Emily putt putt.  Even though putt putt is nothing like golf, I wanted to see if he thought she might do well golfing.  We are thinking about trying it this summer.  We did both courses even though we were only supposed to do one.  Shhhh.  :)

Lydia did this and I asked her to do it again so I could take a picture.  Reminded me of He Man.  :)

We all had such a great time!  At the end, Emily ended up with a bad headache and had to stop early, but she still got a lot of fun time in!  We were there from about 2 until close at 9.  We got our moneys worth for sure!!!  Cool place!

Bingo--who knew it was so fun?

I am not quite sure why BINGO is typically set up for older people.  It is pretty fun!!  Every Tuesday, my parents go to a close restaurant and play BINGO.  Their community also hosts a BINGO, but they deal with money.  Therefore, it is a form of gambling and children can't even be in the room when it is going on.  This restaurant gives gift cards out for their winnings.  We played 8 games or so.  Can't really remember the total.  Of the 8 games, Mike won one, Ryan won one and Lydia won the main "fill the whole card" game.  It was so cool!  Emily wanted to win SOOO badly, but she didn't.  She still had a good time playing though.  The kids had fun playing with and meeting Grammy and Paw Paw's friends. 

I think Grammy enjoyed having her Grandchildren around her during the game.  My dad was there too, but I only managed to get one picture of him (he was beside me) and it was blurry.  :(

The first winner!  Mike!

The second winner!  Ryan!

Lydia filled an entire board during the last game!  She won the big gift certificate.  The guy who was doing the game said that in the 5 years he has been doing this BINGO, this was only the second time a child won the big one.   Pretty cool!! 

Mike gave Emily his gift card and Paw Paw "bought" the gift cards from the kids since we won't be near that restaurant.  The kids were going to just give dad the gift cards, but he insisted since they were worth money.  :)  Too funny!!  They were excited!!

In this restaurant, there were these pictures hanging all over the place.  They all had something to do with food.  They were so cute!  One that said you shouldn't eat anymore than you can lift.  Quote of Miss Piggy.  Another one talked about how bread is supposed to land butter side down and that cats land on their feet.  What would happen if you strapped a buttered piece of toast to a cats back and dropped it?  Funny stuff like that. We walked around and read all of them.  In order to totally appreciate this story, you must understand that Emily is one who is very curious and likes to know about things.  If it is something she doesn't know, she will ask questions or will google something, etc.  She is a smart one for sure!  She figures things out and often does it before the adult in the room.  :)  This particular picture was hanging and she read it out loud.  I was looking at the one on the wall behind her and only realized what was happening . . . After reading it out loud, she took off toward the table where we were sitting.  Mike walks up to the same picture and reads it out loud.  About that time, Emily walks up with a little pad of paper and proceeds to write STRESSED backwards on her paper.  It was so cute!!!  In the middle of her writing, Mike says "Oh, Desserts."  She stopped writing and looked at her Dad with an "oh, ok" look on her face. :) I put it all together and realized what she was doing.  I kissed her on the head and told her how cute she was.  Making her wonder why I was doing that.  Too funny!!!  The one I was reading behind her--was one that said "Ham and Eggs:  A Day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a Pig."  They were all so funny!!  

Was such a fantastic time playing BINGO!  We need to have BINGO set up for younger people too.  :)