Florida Vacation Day 5 EASTER!

Easter morning came, we had little goodie piles for the kids. I didn't pack their baskets due to luggage space, but it was still fun without the baskets. Glad I had picked up some odds and ends randomly in March, otherwise I probably wouldn't have done much since we weren't home. They got some bunny slingshots with snowball-balls, stretchy toys, a chocolate bunny, and some books.

Attempt at a group photo "Mom the sun's too bright", lol.

We knew we wanted to go to the Miami Zoo while visiting. We even purchased a MN Zoo membership because that entitled us to a discount at the Miami Zoo. We had asked the kids if they wanted to go on a week day when it might not be crowded (our choice) or on Easter Sunday and attend the egg hunt event they had. Well the kids picked Easter, so we drove the hour or so drive down to the zoo... it was pretty crowded but not horrible. It was just warm for sure!

Made our way to the Egg Safari event... the sun was blazing!

Kyle waited in line (yes that massive line behind them) with the kids while Thomas and I strolled back and forth along the sidelines.

The had the 'hunts' separated by age groups, Isaac was able to go first with his age group. (he's in the blue hat)

Then the girls got to go with their age group:

Little red faces, they were HOT!

Then it was time for them to dig into their egg goodies.

 Next we got to exploring the zoo. Lots of tired feet. 

Emma was excited to see the alligator.

Thankful for the stroller that the house we were renting had. It was nice to have it along. We were going to rent another zoo stroller for the girls but they were all out :-(

Lunch break by the elephants.

The Rhinos were hiding in their bath water.

Camel:

Long day in the heat, at least it was a little break from the sun. We loaded up in the warm van and drove back up north to Deerfield beach area. We went straight to the house, then walked up to a nearby restaurant and put our name on the wait list. It was just a block or so from the beach so while we waited for our table we went to peek at the ocean.

I got a super cute photo of the kids but my camera was acting up and the lens was foggy for some reason. The edit helped a little...

Love these guys!

Thomas ended up having a poopy diaper and of course we didn't have anything with us. So while we waited for our table I went back to the house to change Thomas and met them at the restaurant. Kyle got the text just as I was coming back but since it took him 6 minutes to get back instead of 5 the lady gave our table away  ::grrrrr:: but it wasn't much longer and we were FINALLY seated.


We ate at The Whale's Rib which was featured on drive-in, diners, and dives. I had some really good dolphin!

Florida Vacation Day 4

Saturday morning Isaac lost his second tooth! And if you're wondering, yes the tooth fairy visits in Florida. :-) So far he's lost both his bottom middle teeth.

Emma enjoying a 'chocolate milk straw' at breakfast.

We decided to take a break from the beach (and sun, our virgin Minnesota skin was needing a break) and drive about 15 minutes away to a park we discovered the day before on our drive to the Wildlife Refuge. This park was called Sugar Sand Park and it was a pretty neat park!

It's been a long winter and a long while since getting to be outside at a park, Mary was in heaven to be in her beloved swing again!

They had lots of cool science stuff. This was a solar system maze and there were these info boards on each planet.

Thomas getting to try out the swings for the first time. He looks happy here, but he wasn't actually a fan.

More a fan of crawling and standing in the tunnel.

 After some playtime we had our packed lunches then the kids got to go around the carousel.

Some camera fun back in the van.

More camera practice back at the house.

We spent the evening cooking at home and relaxing.

We even colored some eggs! Since Easter was the next day. When we originally planned this trip we didn't realize it fell over Easter weekend, we were mainly concerned with spring break and airline ticket prices. It wasn't until a few weeks before we realized we'd be there on Easter Sunday. I packed some of the basket goodies I had picked up the month prior and we picked up a few more things at the dollar store, one being egg coloring kits :-) They loved it. 

 

 

 

And this one is upside down... if I had time I'd fix it but if I'm ever going to get these blogs posted I need to keep moving forward :-D

 Fun evening playing at home.