St. John's River

We wanted to rent a pontoon boat for a 1/2 day to go down the river, but they won't let you reserve those in advance and they kept selling out, so we finally decided just to rent one for a whole day, because we didn't want to miss out on this. It was Kevin's favorite day. We all had a blast. We picked up some KFC on the way so we could eat lunch on the boat. Lisa met us there with drinks, chips, water guns, and a squirt bottle in case we got hot. It was actually a beautiful day with a good breeze. Derek is the only one who I think got too hot wearing his life vest.


The scenery was beautiful as we drove through.


Haley enjoying a drink.


The river was pretty empty so we let all the kids drive. Logan was really good, he kept it nice and straight. Haley did a little zigzagging. Isaac was a race car driver.

Derek drove eating a drumstick.

We saw turtles, deer, lots of birds and gators.


A young gator coming down the shore into the water.

These gates helped me keep my sanity by keeping Derek enclosed.

Kevin thought I was talking too much and not taking enough pictures of the wildlife so I got to drive with Derek.

We saw 12 alligators on our trip. We parked the boat and walked up to the springs where there is a swimming area. On the walk up we saw 2 HUGE gators. They were at least 8-9 ft. long. We saw one of them eating a fish. You can see one of them in the background and the size in relation to the canoers.

A large gar. The 2 large gators and these fish were within sight of the swimming area. Fortunately where the water comes out of the springs is 72 deg and that is too cold for the alligators.

A junior gator sunning himself. As we were driving around Kevin told the kids who ever found an alligator would get a special treat. Every time we found a gator we would show it to Isaac who would get excited and say "I found an alligator, i get a special treat." After we docked our boat to go swimming at Blue Springs, Aunt Lisa and Isaac were sitting at the edge getting their water shoes on and Isaac says very calmly "Hey look I found a snake" and sure enough crawling up from underneath the boat was a black snake. Lisa was a little disturbed but Kevin was very excited and Isaac got a special treat for finding a snake.




We bought this raft so we could pull Isaac up the springs to the top. He wasn't so fond of it, he wouldn't even lift his head off the raft.

Haley jumping off of a tree.


Derek presenting his royal forhead for Aunt Lisa to kiss. (Whenever you ask Derek for a kiss he gives you his forhead, he never kisses on the lips.)

Derek pulling a fit at the end of the ride. He was so exhausted. He was asleep in the car before we even had the rest of the kids buckled in.

After our boat ride we went to Sonny's Bar-b-que. It was delicious, some of the best ribs ever. They also had fried cream corn nuggets which were so good.

Isaac got very attached to Aunt Lisa and when we got in the car to leave he started crying and reaching out the car and crying I want Aunt Lisa, I want Aunt Lisa. It was very sweet.

relaxing day

We had no plans for this day because we couldn't get a pontoon boat. So we decided to just relax since we've had our kids up past their bed times every night, been up early, and have run them ragged. I got up and Derek and I went to get doughnuts for breakfast. I drove across the street to Dunkin Doughnuts and it was packed, they also didn't have a great selection. As I was standing in line I remembered that we had seen a Krispy Kreme close by, so I walked out and back to the car and Derek screamed. He was not happy about leaving without doughnuts.

The kids left their doughnuts on the table and Derek helped himself.

Our condo had a great pool with a shallow area, which Isaac referred to as his beach, a lazy river and a good swimming area.

Isaac liked to jump off the side into his 6 in. of water.

Haley's cannon ball

Last time we took Isaac swimming he would put his feet in and say "Look I'm swimming" By the end of this day he would walk as far as he could with the water up to his neck.

National Seashore and Dixie

Today we went to Dixie Crossroads in Titusville for lunch. SOOOOOO GOOD. This is a favorite family restaurant and a must when we are in Florida. Here the kids are feeding the fish after lunch.

This was our lunch 2 dozen rock shrimp 1/2 broiled and 1/2 fried. DELICIOUS. The corn fritters are excellent also.

At the restaurant I took Haley to the bathroom. She walked in and said "wow these are fancy"

She really likes the restrooms in Florida, because all the handicapped stalls have their own sinks. She would always tell me, when I come out you know I'm all done because I have my own sink. She was very disappointed with the bathrooms in Georgia, because they didn't have the sinks.

Then onto the national seashore to play at the beach. All of the kids loved it. The water is warm, the waves are small and the riptide is minimal. So they could just play and have a good time. Derek started off loving the sand but then decided he didn't like any of it. But by the time we were leaving he was screaming for daddy to take him into the water and get splashed by the waves just like everyone else.

I was impressed with Isaac he loved the beach and would run into the water as deep as he could and then run back away from the waves. At one point he looks at me and says "I'm really good at this"

A fit derek had at the beach before he decided he liked the water.

The results of said fit.

This is the part Derek loved.

Rock Springs

We started our actual Florida vacation, now that we are done with Disney. We went to Rock Springs. There is a cave where the water comes out of at 72 degress and flows down to the river. You can jump into the water and then float down into the swimming area. There was a shallow beach area where the kids got buried in the sand by Kevin and Aunt Lisa. Haley's favorite part was wrestling with daddy in the water.

Hollywood studios. Our last day at Disney

This was our last day at Disney. we went to Hollywood Studios which used to MGM. We started off by going to Tower of Terror. We had been doing rider switch on all the big kids rides which means Kevin and the kids wait in line, go on the ride, and when their done I get a pass from the attendant and get to go through the fast pass line with the older kids while kevin watches the baby. We were getting ready to go on the ride and Logan was nervous. I told him to go with daddy and I wouldn't make him go on it a second time with me. He then said "How come dadddy always gets to go first, I think you should get to go first so I can make sure I get to go with you." Such a sweet kid.

These pics are from the Honey I shrunk the kids playground. The kids had a blast here, but were hot tired and sweaty when they were done.


We saw several shows, Indian Jones, a stunt car show, the great movie ride. One time when we were in line for a ride they were playing the theme music to Pirates of the Carribean, and Logan starting singing it and kept doing it after it was over. The people in front of us were very impressed with his abilities.

Haley got to go on her first upside down roller coaster, Rockin Roller Coaster. She loved it. It's in the dark so she didn't know it was going to be upside down which i think it was better so she didn't freak out.

Unfortunately Isaac was too small for almost all the rides and he was not happy about it. He started to cry when he couldn't go on Star Tours. Luckily we had picked up fast passes for the Toy Story ride (we picked them up at 11, but couldn't return till 7:50) but it made him really happy and it was a great ride to end our Disney trip on. Unfortunately the car that Haley and Logan were in their guns wouldn't work so they couldn't play and score points, so the attendants let them ride again.

Haley and Logan spent the last of their money from Aunt Lisa. Haley bought pink Mickey Mouse earrings, and Logan bought some star wars action figures.

Disney was definetly Haleys favorite part of the trip. She keeps wanting to go back. gotta admit, I loved it too.