Happy 4th of July!

FRIDAY:
We arrived Thursday evening at Michael's parents house. We had some desserts and good conversation before calling it a night.
Friday morning we awoke to a deliscious egg and bacon breakfast!

After breakfast, we headed over to Homosassa where we enjoyed Florida's natural animal park. On the way there, Jay entertained us with his sweet hijinx!


It was not very crowded and the manatee show was going on at 11:30 am. While everyone was at the show, we enjoyed the park minus any other people!


The first stop was at the underwater observatory. You could go down under and watch the fish and manatees swimming underwater. This is a free area. This is not a cage or "aquarium". There was a great deal of algae on the window and it made it difficult to see very well.
There were redfish, sheepshead, snook, and so on and so on. Michael jokingly wanted to throw out his fishing line. {NO FISHING ALLOWED!}


Jacob was so excited to run over and put his face in this!



Baby Jay was fascinated with all of the things he saw and took note of it. Just ignore that yawn...hahaha


Not so happy about having to get into his stroller again. While we were fighting the stroller, cheerios fell out everywhere on the ground and baby Jay was on a limited stash!

Next, onto the Hippo....I know I know...not a true Florida animal. I am unsure of the story of the Hippo named Lu, but he has a pretty good life from what I could see!

Read about Lu, and then you'll figure out his story:


Here's Grammy doing her favorite thing! Well, I am not sure if it was her favorite, but it allowed me the chance to take lots of pictures! {Thanks Mom!}

Moving on past the otter.
The bobcat was awesome! This was the most exciting exhibit as a rat snake got into the bobcat's enclosure. Let's just say it was the bobcat's lucky day and the rat snake's not so lucky day!!!



The birds of Florida are vast and gorgeous!







These are for you mother!!!









SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR!


The day was just heating up and as we were walking out the crowds were rolling in!
We rode home the hour trip chattering away and enjoying the lovely ride.
Once home, we had lunch as we were all famished!
Then the children jumped in the pool to cool off!
They play a new game now. The each take turns jumping in the water alphabetically! They have to try and make their body in the shape of the letter that comes next and it must appear right to us...which means they have to do it backwards! It was fun watching them and the baby loved keeping his eye on them....then it was his turn! My how I love the crop tool on this computer! Some people are better off NOT being seen in a swimsuit!





Then it was some play time!






After a long day of fun and family, we grilled filet on the grill and the steak was sooo delicious! It was absolutely the best steak I have had in years!

Poor Jacob had gotten a bad head ache during dinner and had to go and lay down!

After the sun started to go down, we headed out to do some sparklers, AKA "Sparks" and "Sprinklers"! hahaha


Jayda is not a fan of fireworks, and they were going off all around us. So, Jay helped Jayda out and she did a few sparklers. They sort of make her nervous...

Please check back later, I will be adding video!!!