Florida - Day 4

Wednesday, June 30th - Another fun day on the Weeki Wachee.

No manatees today, but we had a wonderful time!

On the way back to our house, it started POURING! What an adventure!

Warm showers, then dinner at the house. Then, trip #2 to Twistee Treat! And, a movie - Cruella!

Florida - Day 3

Tuesday, June 29th - Drive down the coast day! Tarpon Springs was fun! So interesting to see all the sponges on the sponge boats.

We wondered around the shops and enjoyed a fabulous baklava at Hella's Bakery and Restaurant (I would have loved to eat a Greek lunch there, but I'm the only one that likes Greek food). Jenna, Kellen, and I each bought a sponge. And, Jenna bought a cute manatee t-shirt that becomes colorful in the sun.

We ate a picnic lunch at Wall Springs Park. It was so HOT!

Next stop - Honeymoon Island. Our favorite beach of the trip - beautiful clear water. And, it was so hot outside, the water felt amazing.

So many shells!

Snorkel selfie!

They had so much fun finding shells and looking underwater!

These were amazing shells, but they were inhabited, so we put them back.

A delicious dinner at Woody's Waterfront, St. Pete Beach. Fresh seafood! We were able to have our appetizer outside by the water, but then it started raining, so we had to go into the covered area.

Next on our list to do today, was the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Still cool despite the rain.

Florida - Day 2

Monday, June 28th - We slept in after our long traveling day the day before. I woke up surprised that Kevin wasn't already up, but then I found a note that he had gone to the urgent care because the night before he had cut his finger on a rusty screw on one of the kayaks. He decided to go and get a tetanus shot. We ate an early lunch, and then got back out onto the water around 11:30 am! We found this beautiful spot to jump in and swim.

Kevin and the kids had fun climbing up into a tree and jumping.

Until the river sheriff came by and said we weren't allowed to leave the confines of the water and that a few days before a child had hit the stump instead of the water and broken vertebrae.

Then we paddled further upstream, Jenna saw this cute turtle, and then we saw this sign. Eek! We started keeping a sharper eye!

On our way back, around 2:30 pm, we were thrilled to see another manatee!

And, it swam right near and under our kayaks!

Back at the house, it was fun to look at all the shells they found and funny to see this squirrel on the screen window!

We ate dinner at our house, then headed out for Pine Island beach around 5:30 pm - living on vacation time! First ocean swim for Jenna and Kellen!

They had so much fun snorkeling and finding shells!

We spent a few hours at the beach and then we had to try Twistee Treat! We kept seeing so many of these as we drove from Tampa to our house the first night. It did not disappoint! Several flavors of soft serve, cones, and toppings to choose!

Back at the house - we found these snails outside. Kellen loved holding them - slimy! The end of another great day!

Florida - Day 1

 

Sunday, June 27th - up at 3:00 am to leave at 4:30, drove to Denver to park and shuttle to the airport for our 8:15 am flight to Tampa, Florida.

We arrived in Tampa, ate lunch, went grocery shopping for the week, then drove to Weeki Wachee to our house for the week.

Right away, we found some new-to-us creatures - cute little frog!

Around 7:15 pm, within an hour of arriving, we were kayaking down our canal toward the Weeki Wachee River.

Amazing vegetation and cool, clear water.

And, manatees!! We saw a group of about 5 or 6 in our canal as we were headed home. They are hard to see in the darker water of the canal (upper right hand side of this picture). Already, my trip was made - day 1!