Today was an exaughsting day! We got up and left the condo by 9:30. We attempted to find the Huntingdon State Park. After being 'lost' for about 5 minutes or so we found our way to the entrance.
First up on Bob's agenda? Alligator walk! This ended up being a fairly short trip while the guide told us about alligators. One interesting fact: Alligators do not want to make contact with humans versus crocodiles that will immediately attempt to attack (crocs are only found in Florida). A second interesting fact: Alligators lay 45-50 eggs in their nests, of which the colder ones are on the bottom and turn into females where as the hotter ones on top become male. Of those 40-50 eggs, only 4 to 6 will survive to 'adulthood' without being eaten be creatures they would eventually eat as full grown gators.
We think we saw one or two alligators hiding in the swampy areas as we listened to our guide talking.
First up on Bob's agenda? Alligator walk! This ended up being a fairly short trip while the guide told us about alligators. One interesting fact: Alligators do not want to make contact with humans versus crocodiles that will immediately attempt to attack (crocs are only found in Florida). A second interesting fact: Alligators lay 45-50 eggs in their nests, of which the colder ones are on the bottom and turn into females where as the hotter ones on top become male. Of those 40-50 eggs, only 4 to 6 will survive to 'adulthood' without being eaten be creatures they would eventually eat as full grown gators.
We think we saw one or two alligators hiding in the swampy areas as we listened to our guide talking.
We then hit the nature center where we saw a lady feeding some sea left including a hermit crab, horseshoe crab, and a stingray. Who knew - they all eat shrimp!
At the nature center, we also saw other marsh wildlife in cages!
Next we went for a fish find. The kiddos and Bob drug nets through the water to try and catch animals. Bob caught lots of little fish and little shrimp. The kiddos only found broken seashells. In all Bob's excitement he forgot to take his cell phone and keys out of his pocket before submerging his body into the ocean. We will have to see the price of the damage... the keys worked (thank goodness), the phone... I am pretty sure it is dead. Ugh.
After the 'water excitement' we headed to the picnic area and ate our packed lunch as the weather threatened thunderstorm. Somehow it passed over with just a few drops (whew)! We then went and toured Atalaya. Atalaya was an old home to the very wealthy Huntingtons. We toured it once on our own and then at the request of Morgan and RJ toured it a second time with a guide. That was a LONG two hours!
After touring Atalaya we headed to a place called Pawley's Beach. There was said to be pretty big pretty shells on the beach. We did find some nice small ones, then Bob found 'the big one'! He was happy, all was good!
We came home and changed before heading out to a place called Broadway on the Beach. No, it isn't shows to watch (as I thought...), but it was like a big promenade. It had tons of restaurants, rides (urgh), miniature golf (urgh), and tons of shops to go in and out.
We ate outside at Margarittaville then disaster struck. I love my little boy, but man, can he be stubborn,
loud, and tremendously difficult, not to mention embarrassing!!! He
wanted rides and 'golf balls' AKA mini golf. That was all, end.of.story
in his book. First of all, we weren't finished eating yet and he said
the moon bounces. Bob gave him money and told him to go by himself, so
guess what? He did. By the time I caught up to him he was almost
already at the moon bounces (a FAR distance by himself). Oh my!!
After a
STRONG talking to and Morgan and Daddy came, I let each of them bounce
on the moon bounce. It was $8.00 for 3 minutes. Ouch! Then they each
got one ride - the swings - one ticket each - cheap right? WRONG! Each
ticket was $3.00 each! Double gulp! So... 8 minutes later and $22.00
less rich we were LITERALLY tearing (and dragging) RJ away from the ride
area.
Needless to say a big frozen icee, soft pretzels, a charm for his crocs, and a glowy toy late... we was still being a pain and crying and whining about rides. Then...then... we saw a mini golf place. The world just ended for him. The sky fell! 100% melt down. Complete with crying and screaming hysterically with many many weird looks thrown in our direction. I can't even write how embarrassed I was. He FINALLY settled down (after Daddy and Morgan went on by themselves and I was stuck with RJ). I carried him the LONG way back to the car in the heat and humidity. Needless to say... the ride home wasn't much better as we passed more rides and mini golf places EVERY 2-3 blocks. Sigh... did I mention he didn't have a nap today... maybe that perplexed the problem? Oh my.... patience is a VIRTUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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