Florida

THE BEACH....right outside our hotel.

Seagulls......from Alaska to Florida!!!

Lifeguard stations.....without lifeguards.  These are good markers along the beach to remember where your hotel is when your taking a long walk.  They are all painted different colors.  We also thought it was cool that they had sand castle stations.

Sunrise.........just peaking through the clouds.  Beautiful!

We went on a lot of bus trips to different destinations and saw a lot of the city.  We also enjoyed the bus tour guides commentary.  Funny stuff.....and interesting facts!

This is an airboat.  I had no idea.  An educational experience for me.  Behind us is the Everglades in Florida.  This is inhabited by the Mikusukee Indian Tribe.

They build these huts and take tours on the airboats to a few islands in the swamp lands of the Everglades.

On the first island they showed us turtles, alligators, and a wild pig.  This is a snapping turtle.

I am holding a soft shelled turtle.

This is a baby alligator up close and personal!

Jared is holding a little bigger baby alligator.  Look at those sharp teeth.

They had about 7 in this cage.  They catch them for a while and release them into the wild.  They aren't trained, so they could bite.  Careful!!!

Lilly Pads.....even pink ones.  Jared wouldn't get one for me (afraid a wild alligator would be in the water), so a picture was good enough.

Our tour guide's (Johnny Tiger Tail) sister cooked some frog legs (shown) and scones for us.  They taste like a fishy chicken.  (Jesse says dirty chicken.......good description).  I tried it, Jared ate them to the bones.

The Indian Tribe built these huts and walk ways.  There were wild alligators around.

This is Johnny Tiger Tail with a wild alligator that has grown up around him for about 20 years, so she will tollerate Johnny.  He still has to be very careful because she is wild and will come and go as she pleases.  Behind him in the water is a male alligator about 15 feet long.  We could only see his eyes and top of head.  Crazy!!!

Rubbing under her chin!

Petting top of nose.  She is being fed raw frog legs.  A friend of mine said if she saw the frog legs raw first, she probably wouldn't have tried them.

Look at that big smile!!!

True!  True!  True!

Views from the bus.  This is where cruise ships dock and depart from.  That boat isn't a cruise ship!!!  Look how cloudy.  We waited for it to rain all day, and luckily it didn't until around 11:30pm.  We were at the movies and had to walk about 10 or so blocks in the rain.  Its not bad when its warm outside though.

Another view of Miami.  In the back left you can see a road tilted in the air.  They had a few of these.

The view from our hotel room window.

Palm trees!  They even had green coconuts growing in them.  We took this picture right near Ocean Drive (a well known tourist shopping/dining area with resteraunts extended across the sidewalks).  I'd say it was more for dining than shopping though.  The next block over was like a outdoor mall with all of the stores you would find in a regular mall, plus hotels.

Our hotel!  We shopped in a few places for souvineers right across the street.  It was a fun part of town.

We were taken to several nice resteraunts and enjoyed trying different foods.  Over half our group drank, so waiters looked shocked at us everytime we ordered a sprite or lemonade.  It was especially funny when some people were ordering beers and Jared asked for a root beer.  He got a questioning response to confirm his order.  Funny!  We got to try some fun food though.

We are trying to pretend it was warm.  This is our cruise on a sailboat.  It was really fun.  Behind us is Miami.

The boat docked near a sand bar, so the water is 5 feet and less were everyone is standing.  Jared is on the water trampoline and there was a volleyball net behind.  I stayed warmly on the boat.  The water was cold, but I knew I would freeze more on the way home from the wind so I didn't venture out.

Jared wanted to try kayaking.  He said it was easier on the way out than back.

This was the second time I held this snake since the picture didn't turn out the first time.  We were at a restaraunt that had a club scene on the second floor.  At first we weren't sure what to do other than have a little dessert, but then we started dancing and had a great time.  Sorry no pictures of our cool moves, we were busy moving!!!

The entrance to our Sea Aquarium.

Dolphins!  So cute, so smart, and quite rubbery.

The dolphin jumping!

The dolphin clapping!

Yep....thats me shaking the dolphins fin.  Did you know dolphins only make noise and breathe through the hole on top of their head.

We look happy and warm, but we are decieving you.....the water was ice cold....no exageration there!!!

Nothing better than a salty dolphin kiss!

Giving our dolphin a nice big hug!

Taking a swim........actually just holding on!

Jared's turn moving across the pool effortlessly!

We had such a good dolphin we got to feed her fish!

So long friend!

There was also a bird exhibit here.  We saw parots and pink flamingos.

We got to go on the roof of a restaurant were we learned how to make civiche (a cuban fish dish cooked only with the citric acid of limes plus other veggies/fruits.......we didn't love it.)  We also learned how to make a cuban drink called Mohitos, which have rum.....of course ours didn't!  We made ours with fruit juice and sprite!

Jared and Clancey showing our civiche.

The Atlanitic Ocean!!!

Seagulls flocking together......with nothing better to do than be beach bums!!!

Jared and I found some cool sea shells for the girls.

Plenty of tourists and locals take walks/exercise along this path all day long.  Not bad scenery!

I didn't know these flowers grew in other places besides Hawaii!  That must show how far and wide we've traveled.  Of course the bit about Hawaii is only from others pictures, not our own.

View from our hotel of the beach!

We just wanted to show a picture by the pool.  People have to pay a good amount of money to use these white and black beds.

Overall........we loved it and stayed pretty busy.  We'd do it all again in a heart beat...........of course this wouldn't have been possible if my Mom and Jesse hadn't stayed with the girls, so a big thank you to you!!!