Florida Keys- The Drive Home- Everglades and Alligators

After the fruit stands and flower shops we started to drive through the Everglades. We started passing a bunch of airboat rides billboards. I didn't have that much interest in stopping, but I knew my kids would LOVE it. Rachael also wanted to stop- that's all it took. We stopped at a fun place and got on this big airboat. And off we went!

Getting on the airboat I noticed an alligator in the water- um is that real? It was. It made me really nervous getting onto the boat with it about 2 feet away in the water staring at all of us getting on the boat. Within a min of going we saw this huge 15 foot gator that hangs out in that little bend of the river.

Paul looking at the big gator.

Me and Darren- we had to wear earplugs cause the air boat was so loud!

Paul- saying he would have saved up his money his whole life to do this. He absolutely loved it- actually we all did!




At our first stop this guy came up and swam around and around the boat checking us out. Another gator checked us out from a distance, but didn't really get close like this guy did.

AHHHH !!! Here he comes!!

See in the back behind Rachie and Paul?

A close up- thank goodness for a telephoto lens!

Erica and a gator.

Me holding Kyle- I really didn't want him to get close to the side of the boat.

We saw a couple of these really cool snapping turtles. They would come up- take a breath and disappear.

More gator pictures. They told us the gators wouldn't attack anything bigger than them- but I swear I have seen gators attack Wilda-beasts on the Discovery Channel.

After the ride we went to a gator show- where the guy gets in with the gators and does crazy things like put his hand in their mouth. hmm.

After the show they let my kids hold this baby gator. Paul was in heaven and said he would have gone around the world to do this.

Ellie being so cute.

Come on Kyle- you can do it!

That thing is almost as big as Kyle!

Rachie with a sign with her nickname- Chickee!!

Our family after a absolutely incredible day. After this picture I took off to the car as fast as possible because there were huge spider webs- and spiders everywhere!! They were all over the chain link fences and over the path- that was scarier than anything for me! I HATE SPIDERS!

And here is the rest of the way home. The kids exhausted from a week full of fun! I love family vacations!

Trip home from the Keys, The Fruit Stand

The drive home from the keys is 5 hours- but we decided to take it slow and stop along the way. We were in no hurry to get back. The ended up just as fun and action filled as all the other days.

On the way down we kept passing all these fun mega fruit stands, and nurseries. There was a stretch of road about 20 miles long with nursery after nursery and fruit stand after fruit stand. I kept asking Darren to stop so I could get some mangos- but he was to excited to get to the Keys, and insisted that they would have mango's when we got there. Well, when we got there, there were no mangos or fruit stands. I couldn't believe it! I was pretty mad about it- needless to say, we stopped on the way back.

Here we are just enjoying the cool ambiance.

The place we stopped had all these Koi fish that entertained my kids almost the whole time. Maybe I should get some at my house!

Darren, Erica and Kyle. Notice all the fun fruits and veggies in the back.

Gotta love the chickens roaming freely everywhere. They were all over the Islands too.

Fresh fruits galore- with great prices!

These mangos were HUGE. And I mean HUGE!

Fresh onions. I loved all the colors and textures of the foods.

Watermelons

Poor Erica had poison Ivy while we were there. - You can see it on her arm. She had played in the creek with the kids at David and Marilyn's in Tennessee. She got it on her arms and face. It was aggravating her the whole time we were there.

Fun little bananas.

Erica with a mango shake. It tasted like they just ground up the mango and stuck it in the cup- it was pretty thick.

Darren with a box of mangos to take home.

Fresh, natural honey. ymmm

Beautiful orchids.

I'm not quite sure why this pony was at the fruit stand. But I loved it anyways- adds to the experience. I love different cultures!

"What you looking at?" "What YOU looking at?"

Ok, so I wanted to capture the size of the mangos and avacodos. Paul is holding a mango in his right hand and avocado in his left hand. They were the size of grapefruits!


Here is the avocado cut open- I put the big apple next to it so you could see how big it was. FUN TIMES!