We went down to Florida and saw both sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles, beaches, Disney, and the Space Center. We are all exhausted, but had a great time.
Ready to hit the road!
How both kids spent a good portion of the drive. I picked up two "play-aways" from the library which are basically audio books in their own little individual player. We had tried them once before, and they hadn't worked, but we had much better luck this time and I wished that I had grabbed a couple more. Dorothy listened to "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe" twice, and Malcolm only got to hear it once. She didn't care for "Fortunately, the Milk," but Malcolm loved it and listened to it numerous times.
At a rest stop on our second day of driving. There wasn't much for the kids to do there, but I wanted them to burn off a little steam. The rest area was empty, so I suggested they throw some pine cones. I later regretted encouraging them to do that.
We made it to Grandma and Grandpa's house just before lunch time, so we were able to have some fun on our first, partial, day there. We took the kids for a walk at a neat little park. There was this tiny play area, but there were also little things to touch and explore along the walking paths.
They both passed out and napped hard after we got back from our walk. Traveling is hard.
Once they woke up, we had our second swim of the day in Grandma's pool.
On our first full day there, we hit the beach! We took the kids to Lido Key, which was fairly quiet. They had a great time splashing, swimming, and playing. It was difficult to get good pictures of Malcolm because he spent the bulk of his time out in the water with his aunt and uncle.
Dorothy was in constant motion up on the shore.
Both kids really liked using the boogie boards I picked up really cheaply up in Illinois. I saw some nearly the same at a Florida Wal-Mart, and they were more than twice what I payed. Win!
There was still time for some sandcastle building.
We had lunch at the Lido Key concession stand, and it was surprisingly good! I had looked it up online before we left, to make sure there was someplace to get food, and discovered that it has quite the local following. I had my first ever lobster roll, and it was amazing. I highly recommend it.
The next day, we went to the South Florida Museum and explored, saw Snooty the manatee, and went to a discussion at the planetarium.
Malcolm was too nervous to stand near teeth that size.
Manatee fun.
More manatee silliness.
Taking manatee love possibly a bit too far.
Snooty and his buddy were feeling very lazy while we were there, and not very hungry. We were able to ask lots of questions and eventually everyone else left because the manatees decided not to perform that day.
There was a touch tank up in the viewing area, but it wasn't clear if the kids were allowed to touch the sea creatures without a staff member there, so I asked Brittany, the manatee lady, if it was OK for the kids to touch. She came up and we had a private session with the touch tank, which was great for the kids.
The kids got their science on in the Discovery Room while waiting for the discussion in the planetarium. They used microscopes, checked out fossils, rocks, and minerals, and I explained some outdated household items like a rotary phone and a washboard.
After lunch, we went down the Bradenton River Walk and stopped at the splash pad and playground area.
Both kids really liked this big saucer swing.
On our way back to our car, we ran into the man who had given the talk at the planetarium. Dorothy had complained that she hadn't gotten to ask her question, "How fast do stars move?" during the discussion, and he was very nice to stop and answer question in the parking lot, on his way home. The staff from the museum had been extra nice to us all day.
For our last day on the west coast, we hit the beach again. The sky was very threatening, but we got in about an hour before we decided to head home.
There was a lot more sandcastle building on our second day.
Dorothy found a Lego man in the sand. Better than a shell souvenir!
Dorothy and Uncle Nathan blew bubbles that afternoon for a very long time.
Grandma built a giant cardboard rocket ship a few years ago and Dorothy decided that she wanted to nap in the ship. We didn't think she would actually sleep in there, but she did. She also slept in it at night for our last night there.
Next up...Disney...
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