Over Veterans weekend, we met up with some of Scott's family for a weekend camping trip. We went to Myakka River State Park, in Sarasota, FL. It was such a beautiful place, quiet, relaxing, and just perfect. It also helped that we had a big cold front blow through, and it got down into the low 50's a night (I know, that is not cold for most of you, but for FL weather, that is pretty cold). Sleeping all snuggled up in our sleeping bags was so much fun. The girls got to sleep in Grandpa Joe's motorhome the entire weekend, where they had heat and a TV ... of the life of a child ... can't live without TV!
How many men does it take to put up a sun shade? Apparently, more than 3!!!!
Scott and Lindy Dog (Grandpa Joe's dog)
We enjoyed our bike rides ... Riley really enjoyed them, all relaxed in the bike trailer.
Reagan rides her bike so well now.
Our campsite ... notice the sun canopy over the picnic table that never really worked out!
Going on a bike ride to see all the beautiful scenery around us.
The first bridge ... people were out there kayaking in the water, and there were alligators in the water. Some people are CRAZY!
The Sky Bridge ... we climbed up TONS of stairs to cross this bridge that was at the tops of the trees.
Riley was a little bit nervous to cross by herself because we were up so high.
Our little family.
Then you climb even more stairs to the top, to overlook the entire state park. So beautiful, but it was extremely windy and cold up there.
76 feet high ... long way up and long way down!
Grandpa Joe discovered it was one of the only places in the park that had cell phone coverage!
Riley and I on our way down.
Looking up the stairwell.
Later that day, we went to Sarasota and visited the Mote Aquarium and went to an Amish restaurant for dinner ... it was DELICIOUS! For those of you who remember ... the Fried Chicken at the restaurant was their speciality. I thought it tasted just like Mom Sher's Fried Chicken ... YUMMY!
The Jellyfish at the Mote
Nemo
Seahorse
The girls watching closely to what Uncle Larry was touching.
Penguins!
How tall are you compared to a penguin?
Riley going through the fishing net
Grandpa Joe and Uncle Larry, having a deep conversation while watching the dolphins swim.
Downtown Sarasota, they have this famous statue of the "Unconditional Surrender" Kiss Statue, based on the famous photograph from V-J Day in Times Square.
That night, after dinner, we sat around the campfire and relaxed. We went to sleep with all the windows open in our camper, and it got down below 50 degrees in there!
The next day, we went for a drive around the park to find wildlife. First thing we saw was this big ole' alligator right were the people were kayaking the day before.
Then we saw wild turkeys ... we saw a lot of these through out our weekend.
We found this cute little picnic area, that overlooked a creek ... I thought it was gorgeous.
Then we walked down the "bird walk" to watch birds ... at least that is what most people did. There were people out there with huge telescopes and massive camera ... we were just the tourists!
Next it was ice cream time and homemade potato chip time at the local store ... YUM!
Reagan found an area that was covered in butterflies.
She wanted to catch one!
On our way back, we saw the same alligator. He swam across the water and we watched him climb back on to the shore. It was neat watching him. He was probably 10-12 feet long.
After showers, we started up another fire, and cooked hotdogs, brats, and chili.
Daddy cooking his food.
Grandpa Joe getting some too.
Reagan loved hanging out with Lindy Dog.
Then we did Smores ... yummy!
The morning that we packed up, I told the girls to get themselves some breakfast ... this is what I found them eating! Breakfast Doritos!!!
