Florida Recap

When we left Indiana last Tuesday, it was a whopping 35 degrees. So Florida was a very nice change of pace, especially weather wise. We had beautiful weather the whole week-it only rained Sunday morning, and Dave was able to play outside pretty much all day.

Here's a look at our week in photos.

Dave did a superb job on the plane rides. He was awesome on the way there, and only fussed the last 20 minutes on the way back.




Making a walrus face with the straws on the plane.








Once we landed, we immediately changed into shorts and t-shirts. Then we went to visit the grapefruit eating cows. You just picked the grapefruit and tossed it over the fence, and they smashed it with the juice going everywhere-Dave loved it.




One of our many trips to the cows-they were on the edge of Josh's grandparent's park.








Dave spent all of his time outdoors. As soon as he woke up, he would start saying bye bye.










We took a trip to the orange grove where they have delicious ice cream.




We also spent lots of time at the beach. Here is Dave's first experience on the sand. One night, we went for a sunset and walked down to the weekly drum circle to listen.




After this picture, one of the drummers let Dave play the maracas for a bit.





We visited Oscar Scherer state park, which was just down the road. They have lots of trails and such, but we only went for a short walk.




Dave and great-grandpa Dave.











He loved all of the seagulls at the beach. We threw cookies and chips to make them come near us and Dave would chase them away. Here's a video.




On Saturday we visited Jungle Gardens in Sarasota. They have a lot of exotic pets that people couldn't handle (like parrots) and some reptiles and monkeys. There was also a flock of flamingos roaming the park.




First sight of a flamingo. They were really creepy close up. This one followed us around and every time we looked over our shoulders it was right there. We did find the nicer part of the flock and Dave kind of fed them (along with some ducks).








On another trip to the beach. He really started to enjoy hanging out and even put his feet in the water. He didn't like it too much when a wave knocked him over though.




Dave really did an excellent job staying around us outside. We spent most of our time sitting out in the sun (I went to the pool while he took naps) and watching him run around. Towards the end of the week, Josh and his grandpa went golfing. When they came home, Josh cleaned the clubs and Dave just loved it.




Cleaning golf clubs-he would dip it in one bucket, and then take it over to the other one. Back and forth. Then he'd hit a pine cone and repeat the process.







So, as you can see, we had such a great time. Josh's grandparents went above and beyond (they even babysat while we went to our dinner place we always go to while there). All of the older people in the park just loved having a baby around (he gave the old ladies lots of kisses). We got the rest and relaxation that we needed and are back in dreary Indiana.




Last day at the beach-miss it already!