Look What I Found...

The other morning I was upstairs and Paul was "watching" Gabe downstairs. When I came downstairs I was going to throw something away when I noticed something in the garbage can.  I looked inside and this is what I saw.  

Good thing it was a clean garbage bag!

A couple of games on the floor

Lets get a closer look there.  Oh boy.  I wonder why stuff goes missing at my house?

Alligator Facts

There are an estimated 1.6 million alligators in Florida.  And only about 170 trappers. So it's no wonder this little guy showed up in one of the ponds in our subdivision.  Thankfully, Ray, one of those 117 trappers came and caught him.  He was really nice and we got to get pictures of the kids holding Mr. Alligator- and didn't have to pay the usual $5.00 places charge to get your picture with a gator!

Ellie, Ray, and Mr. Alligator

Kyle, Ray, and Mr. Alligator

Paul, Ray and Mr. Gator

Ray had this big guy in the trailer behind his truck.  He had caught him earlier in the day at a different subdivision.   

The trappers only get paid $30 per alligator.  Would you catch a gator for $30??!! Not me, I have nightmares about my kids or me getting eaten by an alligator!

It's a Beautiful Day

We went to the beach the other day and it was so beautiful!!  It is nice here frequently - but it was particularly beautiful this day.  The water was gorgeous.  Check it out.

Look at that water!  Notice how there aren't really any waves- that is pretty typical for here.  I love it for the kids- Darren thinks it's boring.

Ellie and her friend Caroline

Kyle fishing with the scouts

Darren and Gabe

The kids finding all sorts of sea shells and treasures. The beach here is so fun because it is shallow for so long you can go out a ways and still touch.  And there isn't really a undertow or any waves.

Paul with his cast net.  We caught lots of fun fish with that thing!

After Paul get fish with his cast net, he puts them in this bucket and uses them for bait fish. If you can keep the birds from eating them!

It was so beautiful- Dolphins were all over the place!

Hanging out!

Gabe's face cracks me up

Playing with dad

The kids playing in the sand

I enhanced the colors in this picture- but I think it is pretty cool. Beautiful day right?!

Animal Kingdom

Well, our 4 day Disney passes were going to expire, so we decided to use up our last day to go to Animal Kingdom. Darren still is not a Disney lover- but he was a good sport and we were all super excited just to be together as a family!

  Disney World is HUGE!  From the time we drove under this sign we drove on the road for about 10 min- passing Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Blizzard Beach to get to Animal Kingdom.  I was starting to think we  missed it!

We made it!  We were there right at 8 as they open, only to find out that is the Disney Magic Hour, only for the guests staying in the Disney Hotels.  They wouldn't let us in till 9.  We were really bummed.  So we went into this really cool restaurant to hang out for an hour to wait till we could go in the park.

This is the Rainforest Cafe- at the entrance of Disney World.  It was incredible.  There were huge salt water fish tanks everywhere.

It had animatromics of monkeys swinging from trees, elephants, giraffes, birds.  And then it would thunder and lightning.  The ambiance was incredible.

We watched this guy get in one of the tanks and feed the eels.  It was pretty cool. 

We goofed around in the gift shop waiting to get into the park.

Cute Paul!

Isn't she a doll?!

Cool Kyle!

The second 9 o clock hit we went in Darren and the kids headed for the Safari Ride while I ran to get fast passes to Everest.  Then I ran and met them at the safari.  It worked good, but I was so sweaty!

Here we go!

Warthogs are so ugly!

Notice the ostrich eggs.  I had to wonder if they were real, or just "Disney Magic".

Cool Birds and nests.

In front of the roller coaster Everest, that wasn't that scary.  I loved this part of the park- the decor was awesome.  I think it would be so fun to go to Tibet.

Peddle faster Ellie!

We had to explain to our kids that people in other countries really use rickshaws.

One of my kids took this picture- and I really like it!

The tree in the center of the park!  We had fun playing I Spy here for a while.  This tree is amazing- Disney Artist's are incredible- they are the best of the best!

We went to the Lion King show- it was great!  They had Paul and Kyle come up at the end to dance around.

Just goofing off.

We loved this part of the park.  It was the Asian zoo- with huge bats, and tigers.

I thought these Tibetan Prayer Flags were so cool!  Wouldn't they be cool in a garden or something?

There were 2 bird aviaries that were, of course, amazing!

Ellie trying to get close to that really cool blue bird.

I'm telling you.  Disney pays attention to EVERY detail.  They do such an amazing job.  Here is a random tree- Look up at the orchids in it!

I loved the style of this hut.

Anyone else feel like traveling the world right now?

Look at that carving! I want some!

My beautiful Ellie!

That's all folks!  We drove home that night.  It was a great day!