Florida, Day 5: Sunny Day and a Beautiful Sunset

Today was back to good weather - not as warm, but the sun was shining so bright and warm. We went down to the pool before lunch and Cameron had a great time swimming in the pool and playing on the edge. He swam with Tim for about an hour and a half, even though the tempertaure was only 60, and by the end his little lips were blue and he was shivering. He did not want to get out, but eventually we made him.

The master mixologist - Cam can sit for hours by the edge of the pool playing with his beach toys. He pours water from one thing to another, makes the shovels into various things (hockey players, snowplows, spoons) and just has a great time.

In the morning, Leah was sleepy and cranky but wouldn't fall asleep. Tim did laps around the pool trying to get her to sleep. It didn't work - every time she almost fell asleep, Cameron would shout and she would wake up and look for her big brother.

Yummmm, shovels taste good!

Playing with Daddy

Finally, late in the afternoon, Leah conked out. This was after Tim took her on two laps around the condo complex, then Omi took her on laps around the pool. Neither thing worked, so I told them just to park her for a little bit and let her sit. Sure enough, she fell asleep after about a minute. I think there was too much to look at during her walks, so she couldn't bring herself to sleep! Nosy little monkey!

After we were done swimming for the afternoon, we went down to the beach for sunset. Leah was interested in the sand but very tentative. She kept reaching out and touching it, then backing away from it. She never really did much more than fling a handful of it.

Trying to get a good picture of both kiddos.

This is a cute one of Leah but not so much of Cam. It is much harder getting two kids to look and smile at the same time!

Cameron squeezed Leah while we were trying to get a picture and she was pretty outraged by it!

Our sweet boy playing in the sand

Leah bear

Mama and Leah going to check out the ocean

Mama and her Leah girl!

Cam brought his buckets down to where we were, set them up and hopped up. He was pretty proud of himself.

Mama and the kiddos

A family picture! We took a few of these and this one was the best. Again, its tough to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time!

A few years back, I took a picture of Tim throwing Cameron in the air, and Tim just loves it. He has been trying to recreate the picture every year since, to no avail. I think these came out pretty darn good though, I love the sillohette look.

Cam was tentative at first, but then after the first throw he was loving it.

It looks like Cam is hoping on one foot in the air!

Daddy and Cameron, checking out the sunset.

Florida, Day 4: A "Cold" Day

We have been watching the weather and knew that Saturday would be a "cold" day, only getting up to the upper 50s or low 60s (sorry people at home, I know you are dreaming of weather that warm!). We decided to do some walking around and looking for a geocache or two.

We walked down the street to the bridge where there was a geocache. We didn't do a very good job finding the location and ended up walking all over the place, including walking across the bridge and then back because the cache kept moving. Well, not really moving, but the land was so close with only the narrow canal between, we couldn't tell which side of the water it was on. When we were on the key side, we thought for sure it was on the other side. Then we got to the other side and saw exactly where it would be, back on the key side. Sigh...

On the other side, Cameron communed with Captain Morgan.

Back on the key side, in the park with the cache, we did some rock climbing and smiling for pictures.

This is the bridge we walked back and forth over. It can raise up to let tall boats through, and while we were walking we saw it go up twice. Cam really liked that. The second time, we were on the bridge walking back across when the siren went off to say the bridge was going to open. We sure ran fast to get back to the other side!

On our way back, we decided to walk back on the beach. That turned out to be a bad choice because it was SO WINDY on the beach. But when we first got down there, it didn't seem so bad. The birds were standing happily in the surf.

Then we decided we would run to try and get all the birds to fly up in the air. We didn't run too fast though, so they more waddled out of the way than flew into the air. Cam still had fun.

Trying to get more birds to fly. No success here either.

After lunch and some much-needed naps, we walked around a bit more. Cam was tired from the morning walk so he rode on Opa's shoulders.

Then it was happy hour! Leah partook in her first pretzel and really enjoyed it. Here she is, quite proud of herself and her pretzel.

Cameron built himself a castle with pillows from the couches.

Florida, Day 3: Tampa Zoo

On Friday we had plans to drive to Tampa and meet our friends at the Tampa Zoo. Erin, Jason and Reagan live in Orlando, and Erin's brother Colin was visiting so he came along too. We decided to meet in Tampa because it was half way-ish. The weather report wasn't too good for the day, but we decided to chance it anyway. We got there around 11, just after they got there.

The zoo was huge, so many large cages for the animals to roam around in. It was also pretty much empty, which I think was a product of the weather and the fact that it was mid-day Friday. It was great cause it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves!

First we went into a lorikeet enclosure. We bought little cups of food and carried them, and were immediately attacked by a ton of birds. According to the docent who was working in there, there hadn't been many people in there that day so the birds were hungry!

First, two landed nicely on my hand. That was easy enough and Leah was interested in those pretty things sitting on Mama.

Then, one landed on my head! Luckily for me, it didn't poop.

Erin and Reagan feeding the birds - Reagan was not a big fan!

They were so pretty. And check out the long tongue which reached down into the cup to get the food.

Hmm, I wonder if that pretty thing tastes as yummy as my fingers?

Cameron did NOT like the birds. He was totally freaked out and was not interested in being anywhere close to anyone feeding the birds.

Daddy and Leah

Outside of the lorikeet cage was this komodo dragon statue. Cameron liked it much better.

After that we decided to stick to the animals that we could see from the safety of the raised boardwalk. First up - a two headed rhino? No... just two rhinos standing together. They were so active, running around and charging at each other. It was really cool.

Cam and Reagan were very cute together (when they were both in the mood to be!)

The monkeys were pretty funny, climbing around in their cages (which were very cool) and looking back at us. This guy was chowing on a carrot.

The penguin exhibit wasn't as large or involved as the one at our zoo, but you could get right up next to the penguins, so that was very neat.

A bird hanging out with the penguins. Cameron asked where the bird's other leg went.

Cameron LOVED sitting and talking with the penguins. He was telling them about all kinds of things, like the other animals we saw and the penguins at our zoo.

Leah was smiley too, although I don't know if she noticed the penguins.

We headed over to the African Safari part of the zoo in order to get there for a 2:00 rhino feeding. I was more excited than the kids about getting to feed the rhinos, but sadly, the bad weather canceled it. We did get to check out the rhinos up close though, who apparently were not told that the feeding was canceled. They were so close, we almost could have reached out and touched them. It was really cool.

There were zebras there too and after a while they wandered over. It was so neat to be so close to them!

Trying to get Reagan and Cameron to pose, smile and look at the same camera was a bit difficult. This was the best we did.

The kiddos running around in an elephant transport crate.

Leah and the rhinos.

There were elephants too, but they were way out in the exhibit.

Since we were thwarted in our efforts to feed rhinos, we decided to feed the giraffes instead. The instant we walked up to the top of the feeding tower, the giraffe pretty much came running over. He knew what we were there for! Here is Erin and Reagan giving him some lettuce.

Then it was our turn. I didn't know if Cam would like to feed the giraffes after how afraid he was of the birds, but it turned out he loved it! He did a great job and was laughing every time the giraffe licked the lettuce out of his hand.

Reagan really liked it too.

Leah wanted a turn! Okay, not really, but I wanted to see what she thought of the giraffe. She wasn't afraid, only interested in what that giant thing was in front of her.

Cameron wanted to feed the giraffe more. He really liked it.

Mr. Giraffe, nice and full of lettuce.

On our way over towards the manatees, it started to rain a bit. Cam insisted on having his own umbrella and looked very cute walking along holding it.

Around this time, Leah conked out. She had a good nap in Mama's sling.

Checking out the fish in the underwater viewing area of the manatee exhibit.

Reagan is a dancing girl!

Cam checking out the manatees.

Looking at more fish.

It downpoured for a quite a while, but luckily we were in the one large indoor exhibit while it was doing that. A few minutes later, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and it was gorgeous out. We checked out the last area of the zoo, which had a bunch of Australian animals.

Mama and Leah, hanging out with a bat.

Cameron didn't get to see any of the Australian animals because he conked out in the stroller. He needed it though, so we were glad he took a good nap!

After the zoo we went to dinner at a restaurant in Tampa called Columbia. It was delicious food, including a great microbrew made in Tampa called Ybor Gold. The kids had all pretty much had enough by the end of the meal though, and after a temper tantrum by Cameron, I think the restaurant was glad to see us go!

We had a wonderful visit though and were so glad to get to see Erin, Jason and Reagan. Now if we could just figure out some way to make Florida a bit closer to NY, we would be all set!