FLORIDA

We LOVE Florida, maybe because of the ocean and palm trees but mostly because we get to see the Stevens! It's so fun to hang out with them and play with Dylan. We were in Florida from August 13th - 25th. When we arrived we went strait to Disney World were we met up with Mom, Dad, Jolyn and Dylan. We spent one day at Magic Kingdom and one day at Animal Kingdom. That was enough for us and the kids were really worn out by the end of Animal Kingdom. It was so much fun and such a HAPPY place to be.

Then we headed to Sarasota where the Stevens live. We had one day there with mom and dad so we decided to go to the beach.

Mom and dad left for Utah but we stayed in Fl since we didn't know the Holt reunion was in UT until it was too late. We hear they had lots of fun, wish we would've been there but we did have fun staying in Fl.

Mon we went to the beach again.

On Tues the 19th our area was supposed to be hit with tropical storm Faye so most things were shut down. We ended up going to see Prince Caspian at the theater. (Very good movie by the way) When we left the theater we thought there would be rain and wind but it wasn't bad. We found out the storm veered left right below where we were.


Wed we went to Myakka State park to check out the alligators. We took an air boat ride out on the lake but were not able to see any alligators, the water was too high.

We walked along a trail, across a wobbly bridge, and climbed the fire tower. No alligators but we did see wild hogs, deer, and lots of lizards.

On the way out we stopped on the bridge and looked out at the river and there it was, an Alligator. It didn't keep it's head up long so I didn't get a picture but we stayed in the area for a while and did eventually see some more.

Thurs our family went to the Mote aquarium, letting Jolyn and Daniel get a break from our kids :) We got to see lots of ocean life: fish, seahorses, jellyfish, sharks, stingrays, dolphins, sea turtles, manatee, and I'm sure there was more.

Friday we headed up to Clearwater beach. There are usually vendors all along the pier but Tropical storm turned again and was headed back across Fl. The wind was too strong and the waves were really high. Cameron and Dan wanted to go in but we said "NO." Some people were swimming but not us!

We went to a park where we walked along some trails in the wooded area, saw lots and lots and lots of these nasty spiders.

We also saw these crabs everywhere.

On Sat it was pretty rainy again so we went to the movie and saw Kung Fu Panda, cute!

Sun we headed to the beach again. The waves were great for body boarding.

Baylie was out on a board and a wave took her under where she scraped her face on the sand and shells. She wasn't too eager to get back into the water.

The girls and I made sand turtles and sand alligators and Payton smashed them. FUN!

Mon we went back to the beach were Baylie had been injured the day before. She did get back out there, the waves had calmed down.

That night we were on a plane heading back to MN!

Thanks for all the great hospitality Jolyn and Dan! It was a wonderful trip and we will definitely be back soon.