Final Florida Chapter

While we had a few rain showers off and on, Saturday turned out to be beautiful! It was mid-70s and overcast so we were able to check a few more things we wanted to do off our list. We started the day with an air boat ride to look for alligators and other wildlife. I even had a nice lady take a pictur of our family in front of the boat so I'd be in at least one of our vacay pics, but I guess she wasn't familiar with camera operation. When I looked through the pictures later that day there wasn't a single one to be found!

We were able to see an alligator, some turtles and lots of native birds during our boat ride. Emma loved it, Elissa was unsure of the noise and required life jacket and Easton took a nap. I swear, that not falls asleep in the funniest places! It was a really neat experience. I'm so glad we did it. Emma was able to hold a little alligator after the ride too.

From there we had lunch at Checkers where we were able to eat outside. It was right by an amusement park of sorts so our lunch entertainment was watching people get strapped into their seats and getting sling shot into the air. Super fun to watch, but you couldn't pay me to ride!

Our last stop of the day was a local orange farm. Jason finally felt in his element out of the city. Of course Elissa had another blowout diaper when we arrived and I had no spare clothes for her. Thankfully it was warm enough out that I was able to wrap her in the Moby and carry her around. We rode a monster school bus for a tour of the farm, fed the cattle some oranges and went back to the shop for refreshments and orange samples. They had a large playground for the kids to play on so we hung out for a little before heading back. It was nice to take it easy without a big agenda.

They even let Easton drive

We headed back to the hotel that evening to pack our bags and get to bed early since we needed to leave for the airport at 6:00 the next morning. After some confusion dropping off our rental car, finding where we needed to be, checking our bags (which involved moving things around since they were both over the weight limit) and getting 5 people plus car seats, bags and strollers through security and a stinky diaper we barely made the final boarding call. Thank goodness I didn't have the flu this time around!

Thrilled to be in the picture again

The kids were well behaved again, so grateful for that! Our landing was a bit exciting though. After we started to descend, Jason said he thought he saw the landing gear going back up. Sure enough we were ascending a few minutes later. Turns out the flaps were not all working properly, but the pilot assured us we would have a normal landing. Also, we shouldn't worry about the rescue vehicles down on the tarmac, that's 'just for kicks'. This was followed by an announcement from the flight attendant telling everyone to be sure your seatbelt was properly fastened and tight. It was an exciting landing to say the least. Thankful for a safe, successful family vacation even if it didn't quite go as we planned!