Florida Trip DAY 2

We started the day off bright and early with a trip to Gatorland. There was rain in the forecast and it was quite wet outside, but it's Florida (where it often rains) so we didn't let that stop us. The humidity was HORRIBLE! Seriously I shouldn't have even bothered showering because once I stepped outside I was all wet again. We had to stop at Target to get jackets for the girls. They were cold. Haha....even though it was close to 90 degrees out. They weren't use to humidity. 

We were meeting up with my forever long time friend, Jamie, who I just adore, and I couldn't wait to see her. The park was fun. Nothing terribly exciting (except I did really enjoy feeding the birds). And honestly if you live in FL, you never have need to come here because no person in their right mind would PAY to see an alligator when all you have to do is drive past a river or lake to see one. But Ashlyn had a report to do for school on Florida wildlife, so my family members were all good sports and agreed to come with us.

The albino alligators were pretty fun to look at. They can't really survive in the wild, so most are in zoo's of some sort. Gatorland had four of them.

This a Chester. A 1,000 pound 13 1/2 foot long alligator that was caught eating backyard dogs in Tampa. Trappers wanted to turn him into accessories, but Gatorland saved him. My sister said she thought he would have looked better as a purse. Haha...naughty girl.

Pop and Leah

Dez, Pop and Leah

Me and Jamie. I just love this girl. SO glad I got to see her. The time was WAY too short.

Feeding the birds.

I love this picture. It just captures Jamie's happy spirit. These are her two boys Jack and Taylor, who are both very close in age to my boys.

Jamie's youngest little boy, Taylor who is just a 1 1/2 months younger than Carter. I had to hold him for a while just to pretend I had my little boy with me. He was also the only diaper I changed ALL week long. That was crazy. It's been almost 9 years since I've gone a week without changing a diaper. 

Me and my cute Leah on the train.

We went twice.

Uncle Chad, Ashlyn and Aunt Dez

Leah just adores her Uncle Chad. I had to repeatedly tell her to give him a rest from playing. Poor Chad was probably exhausted by the end of the week.

 The fam minus my Dad.

Now one minus my Mom.

Leah was a riot the entire week. Just cracking us up left and right. Here she is being eaten by an alligator. But my favorite line of hers all week has to be when we first walked into our hotel room. She looked around and said, "Where are the monkey bars?" HAHAHA....as if she was fully expecting to find some in there.

After Gatorland, Jamie had to head back home to Tampa, so we headed back to our hotel to get cleaned up and then right back out again to Downtown Disney. We ate dinner at this fun little Irish restaurant where they clog danced all around us. It was very entertaining.

Me, mom and Leah

After dinner, we walked around for a bit, waited for Brent's friend to get there, and then headed to Ghiradelli Ice cream shop to get some dessert. 

This is my nephew Brent (the reason for the trip to FL in the first place) and my sister Desiree.

Talk about HUGE dessert. I should have had the girls share a milk shake. They were SO yummy though. I had a mint brownie fudge sundae or something like that. I don't even remember what it was called. I just know I couldn't finish it.

Ashlyn didn't appreciate the flash in her eyes.

  

This is just a random picture taken on a random bench in Downtown Disney with some bronzed statue. Random huh?!

Leah was pretty slap stick by this time. It was at least 10 pm or later. She said her belly hurt after her ice cream (surprise, surprise), so she said, "Daddy told me if my belly hurts, I should lay on my tummy". She so lunged herself over the side of the chair. Then on the way home, she crashed. I guess the sugar rush wore off by then.

All I know is that by the time we got to bed, we were ALL exhausted and ready to not have to wake up at the crack of dawn the next day.