Florida : Gumbo LImbo

Finally getting back to Spring Break in Florida before I forget what we did....

This year we left a few hours later than usual and that really seemed to throw off our drive. The things we were used to seeing were hidden in the dark and our 24 hour road trip got us there by 7:30 pm which didn't leave us much time to wind down before going to bed. So, lesson learned. Must leave before 5...but we rented a minivan this year and that made the driving easier on US so that was great!

The kids always do a great job on our road trips. They have great attitudes and we always have fun. Eli and Autumn love the car ride more than the other 2 and this year, it was harder on Lucas because we took a smaller van. You can see how well he was holding up after a few hours on the road...

24 hours straight....Kansas to South Florida.....the first few hours are filled with our new road trip music, played LOUDLY, while singing LOUDER mixed with memories of all of our other road trips to Florida. We really LOVE Florida and we all dream about living there someday. Coffee, more coffee, snacks and naps and before you know it we are in South Florida! The cousins were texting every few hours to see where we were with great anticipation! They couldn't wait to see each other! Within 10 minutes of saying hello to everyone, the little girls drug Lucas to the trampoline to work off all that stored energy...

The big kids got reacquainted and stayed up super late giggling into the night. Every year they squeeze 5 preteen/teenagers in one little room so they can pack in as much fun as possible. Some day soon though, that room will be too small. After sleeping in on Saturday, we went to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca and then had a picnic on the inner coastal.

One of the coolest things about this nature center is their Sea Turtle Rehabilitation center. They have a turtle conservation team that rescues sick and injured sea turtles throughout southern Palm Beach County.

 

The Sea Horse is one of my favorites.

These two cousins are side by side every second of the day. :)

And these cousins are just getting too big! What beautiful girls!

After walking thru the butterfly garden we made our way to the waters edge...and dipped our toes into the inner coastal waters.

Does he look happy to be in Florida or what? :)

After dipping our toes we made our way down the boardwalk (where Lucas took about 50 photos of the cool vegetation) and stopped at the lookout tower. This is the inner coastal where we were headed for our picnic. The homes on the waters edge are Multi-Million dollar GORGEOUS.

Grandma Holly and A. Kathy packed us a little lunch with Grandma's famous pickles....YUM!

After this we headed to Sugar Sand Park for a little cool down in the water....