The Florida Aquarium

Monday, April 21
The Florida Aquarium
Tampa, FL

Since our flight didn't leave until almost 6 p.m. we slept in, went swimming at the hotel and had the pool all to ourselves!  And then we checked out and headed over to the Florida Aquarium in the Tampa Bay.  It was right next to the port where the cruise ships leave from and we saw one of them as it was departing.  This aquarium was pretty cool.  And our ABQ BioPark pass got us in at half price, which was awesome.  (And BAM--our biopark pass just paid for itself!)

The aquarium had several touch pools, with rays, horseshoe crabs, starfish and anemones etc.  They also had lots of turtles and birds and a cute penguin show that was fun.  But the favorite thing was this fun splash park outside.  We'd packed our swimsuits so they could change and be dry for the flight home, and the aquarium was totally equipped with dressing rooms outside by the splash park to make it easy.  Anyway, pretty much all of the pictures we took there are of the splash park.  Our last hurrah before the long/late journey home.

The journey home was fine.  We had so much fun at the aquarium, that we didn't have time to get dinner before our flight left, so we ended up eating dinner in Las Vegas at 10 p.m.  Sean was so tired, he was falling asleep at the table in the restaurant.  

In Las Vegas we had another delay on our layover which put us home about 1 a.m.  The kids did pretty well traveling that late despite the really long day, and the most exciting event of the flight home was Hayden losing his FIRST TOOTH on the plane!   

And just so I remember--this is how I feel the day after a vacation.

Sometimes it's totally lame being a muggle.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday, April 20
Orlando, FL

We had to check out of the house this day, so we had sort-of an unorthodox Easter Sunday.  We went to church at a ward close by the temple.  They were so friendly and we met 2 couples with family or friends in ABQ, and coincidentally, family and friends that we know from our ward and the neighboring ward!  So funny.  After church, we ate a picnic lunch in our car and went to the Orlando temple for a little Easter devotional and a walk around the temple grounds.  It was lovely, even if we didn't get a ham dinner with funeral potatoes.

love that little boy.

After our walk around the temple, we headed over to Tampa where we were staying the night since our flights were in and out of Tampa.  Our flights, by the way, were completely paid for by Arthur's frequent flier points, which is why we were flying out of Tampa--it used less points than Orlando.  All I can say is HURRAY FOR FREQUENT FLIER MILES!  There's no way we could have taken that trip if we'd had to pay for 7 round-trip tickets.  

This picture makes me smile.  I'd started to fill the tub to give him a bath and he just climbed right in while I'd turned my back to take care of something else.  Guess he was READY for his bath!

Gatorland

Saturday, April 19

Gatorland

Orlando, FL

After the cousins left, Sean skulked around the house for a bit and said, "All I feel like doing is walking around doing nothing now that the Reed's went home."  Well we couldn't have that.  So after some time in the pool and some lunch, we decided to go check out Gatorland.  

Gatorland is a zoo of sorts, with lots of animals including some crocs, and TONS of gators.  They have big open swamp areas with gators, that all get along, and smaller areas with rare kinds of gators, and exhibits with mean and cranky gators that can't hang out with the other ones because they are too mean and cranky.  They also have a famous TV star gator that has been in documentaries and one gator who lived in a small bachelor pad because he developed a nasty habit of knocking baby birds out of the trees and eating them in front of the horrified Gatorland patrons.  Luckily we didn't see him exhibit that behavior.   They also have a zipline that goes right over their big gator breeding swamp (wonder how much they paid to insure THAT attraction!)  

There are also a few fun shows.  We caught the Gator Jumparoo show where they put out dead chickens on lines over the water and the gators jump out of the water to snap them off the line.  The other show we saw was the Gator Wrestling show where a guy gets up close and personal with a gator and actually does some pretty cool tricks with him.

The kids' favorite parts were the exhibits that were interactive.  Daphne paid $5 of her own money to feed a giant tortoise.  She was allowed to bring one other person into the exhibit with her, and Hayden was the one who got to go.  Sean said "I'm not spending 5 bucks to feed a giant turtle."  Which I thought was a great lesson in how everybody values things differently.  What is totally worth $5 to one kid is definitely NOT worth $5 to another kid.   

There was a petting zoo with lots of goats that made Bennett laugh and Sydney's favorite part was the aviary where they could feed the birds.  She and Daphne would have stayed there all day if they'd been allowed!  She still talks about feeding those birds with a stick.  

When we first got there, Hayden said, "What?  The alligators are behind fences?  I thought we were going to some random swamp to find wild alligators!  I like a little danger."  Unfortunately, we didn't know where any random swamps were, but despite his disappointment I think we all had a pretty fun afternoon!  

 

Last Day With The Cousins

Saturday, April 19

Saturday was our last day with the cousins.  When the kids woke up, they'd discovered the Easter bunny had found us in Florida!  They searched for eggs all over the house.  Dallin mixed in a few billiard balls into his stash.

This is Sydney after a week of too much fun.  

I said, "Can you show me your Easter Egg?"  

And she said, "Well I don't want to smile."  

I said, "Fine, don't smile, but can you show me your egg?"

So she did.  And she didn't smile.

And since the cousins were leaving, we had to do a wand photo shoot. 

(They would run around the house casting spells and curses regularly after they got their wands.  It was pretty fun to hear.)

EXPECTO PATRONUM!

LUMOS!

Cousins ready to duel.

Wands.  If only they worked.

We had such a fun time hanging out with the Reed's in Orlando!  What wonderful memories we made together!  Thanks so much for sharing our spring break with us, guys.  

Clearwater Beach

Thursday, April 17

Clearwater Beach

Tampa, FL

Melanie flew home Thursday morning. We are so glad she got to come out and be with us for a couple of days during spring break.  After we got her to the airport, the rest of us packed up to head over to the gulf side and visit Clearwater Beach.  It was cold and windy, but the kids didn't care and all had a great time.  Bennett LOVED the water--I had to strap him in his stroller to eat lunch.  He just couldn't wait to run back and stomp and splash around.  While we were eating lunch, Sean was standing with a chip in his hand when along flew a seagull who snatched the chip right out of his hand!  Wish I had a video or something.  Sean didn't even realize until he looked at his hand and the chip was gone!

you can never take too many beach pictures, I think.