Florida, Part 1

Wow! What a great trip. We (the 4 of us and Andy's mom) started off by flying into Orlando and driving to "Aunt Diane and Uncle Mark's" in Tampa. The kids were in the pool moments after arriving. We spent four days there during which we visited Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. This zoo is amazing. Drew got to ride a camel named Bess. That was the highlight of his day, I think.
We saw a cheetah, though at a distance because keepers were in her habitat. We saw her get very agitated when she saw a llama being taken for a walk. We could tell she was thinking "lunch." We saw a baby arangutan and Andy fed some lorikeets that were, shall we say, overzealous. They were loudly screeching in his ear.


The kangaroo exhibit was awesome because you are mere feet from them and the only thing between you is a low rail fence.





I took Drew for a ride on a ski lift over the park. Heights are not a big deal for me but imagining my son slipping out of the seat to the bricks 50 feet below caused me to become a bit unglued. Not a relaxing ride for me but Drew seemed to like it. He did get annoyed with me keeping a grip on him the whole time.

We went to Honeymoon Island...Mirra's first beach experience. She LOVED the sand. Unfortunatley she didn't realize that wiping her eyes with sand-covered hands was not a stellar idea. After we rinsed the sand away from her eyes (and the sun block with it) I took her to the deck of the little shop there. We returned to the beach a couple of days later with Drew while Mirra stayed behind with Grandma. Drew had a great time at the beach and was most interested in making sand castles.



If you have ever been to Florida, you might be familiar with the way people drive around there, with little regard for the right-of-way or traffic signals, etc. Andy was frequently exhasperated with this and Drew learned a new phrase from his dad: "Come on, Dude!" Could have been worse, right Ran?

The kids spent a lot of time in the pool. Drew honed his newly aquired swimming skills and JJ tested out a new floatie. This new floatie turned out to be perfect for her since she thinks she is the next Michael (or Michelle) Phelps. She amazed us when she began to swim around the pool unassisted.
We also ate a lot and ate well. Mark and Diane made us gumbo (yum!) and a Morrow pasta/sausage/vegetable specialty (yum, yum). We also went out to a favorite local restaurant for seafood.

What a great start to our vacation.