Florida Adventure, Part 1

Florida!

Wonderful...sunny...rollerblade-friendly...rubber-nosed dolphins...lemons and oranges...I-can-hardly-stand-feeding-them-but-I-just-want-to-anyway-rays...ice-cream...looking for gators...it's-so-fun-to-meet-people...golf carts...HG-TV and morning cartoons...hot tubs and swimming pools...shells and mystery beach objects...lots of food...and naps!

One of the things that the boys were looking forward to the most was driving the golf cart! I don't think I could even put a guess on how many times Isaac talked about driving the golf cart since he' found out we were going to go to Florida in January.
You probably can't tell from this picture, but his excitement and nervousness is basically bursting out of his seams, here. And wow, I will never forget that first ride I had with Isaac driving (and I'm pretty sure Grandpa and Isaac won't either) He didn't quite make the 90 degree turn and almost put us into the lake! :) But, he was a trooper and got right back up on that horse (I did too, but I'll tell you what...my legs were shaking, terribly!!! ).
Ian's excitement is a little more visible, here (as are his untied shoes). He wasn't quite ready to tackle the whole neighborhood (and we weren't quite ready for any more near-lake experiences), but he sure loved driving around the cul-de-sac.

The first 2 days in Florida were chilly, but over the next few days, it started to warm up. On Tuesday morning, we drove up to Orlando so that we could go to wonderful, wonderful Sea World and Disney World the next day.
Sea World is just wonderful! What a privilege to be able to touch such smart, docile water mammals. God's creativity is so obvious when you are looking at all of these amazing water creatures.
I highly recommend studying the animals before visiting them, though. We've been using a fantastic science curriculum for elementary students, put out by Apologia, and the boys have learned so much. I really think they (and I) have been able to appreciate things so much more than if we'd gone with no scientific background.
Posing with a giant manatee.
Posing pinnipeds (flipper-feet). The boys were so excited when they saw that the name of the Seal and Sea Lion show had a ship that was called The Pinniped.
The Dolphin show is an absolute must-see!
I could watch this show over and over and over again and not grow tired of it, nor lose my amazement over the artistic, physical muscle as well as patience, that it takes from both the humans and animals to learn and perform all of the sequences.
You just don't want to blink your eyes...
...lest you miss something else spectacular!
A little break of ice-cream (The adults had wonderful soft-serve cones with hot chocolate fudge in the center- yummy!), a little playing on the climbing net at the playground, a few rides on both the Shamu rollercoaster and the Sea Carousel...and we are off to Shamu's show.
We almost didn't get to see the Shamu show because apparantly the orcas weren't interested in performing that night. But, Yay, they were eventually convinced somehow to do their show... and we were extremely grateful! What a wonderful experience!