Day 7
Today the weather looked bad so we decided to do Everglades today instead of the beach. We drove to the Everglades Alligator Park in the pouring rain. Lots of rain on this trip - I guess that's why they call it the "Wet Season." We did the airboat ride with Nana and Jason. We went slow through the canal spotting alligators all over the place. As soon as it opened up a little the captain sped up and did donuts all over the swamp. The front row got soaked (Kira, Isaac, Jason, Calvin & Kate). Isaac almost fell out one time! Even HE was a little nervous! We came back soaking wet and walked around the park waiting for the alligator show. The alligator show was thankfully under a tarp because it was a total downpour during the show. The "handler" was pretty amazing. He did some "tricks" with the alligator that were pretty impressive, including putting the alligator's open mouth under his chin. After the show Jeff went and talked to him and he told us some crazy stories and showed us a few scars from tricks gone bad. It's amazing that he keeps doing it! After the show we each took turns holding a baby alligator - even Nana! Later we saw the snake show and held snakes and watched the alligator feeding. (They fed them HUGE rats! It was disgusting)!
We drove back into town for lunch at Wendy's (15 min drive) because Jeff was determined to stay within our food budget (love that)! Then we headed back into the Everglades National Park down to the Flamingo Visitor's Center. It felt like a hurricane was coming. The wind was howling and the rain was coming down in sheets. I opened the car door to run in to the concessions to ask about the boat tour and boat rentals and the door flew open and felt like it was going to come off! The place was a ghost town - totally empty! Finally I found someone and they said "Oh this is no big deal. It'll blow over in a few minutes. You want to do the boat tour? No problem!" So I signed us up and we wandered around inside the empty visitor's center for an hour while we waited.
The boat tour was a little slow and boring. The tour guide gave us lots and lots of info about the flora and we saw very little fauna. (Sometimes it makes me feel smart to use words like that)! :) It was an hour and 45 minutes and we went up the buttonwood channel into Coot Bay and Whitewater Bay. It rained most of the trip but the boat had an awning so it wasn't too bad. The deer flies were pretty bad so they gave us all fly swatters on the boat. Mikey and Isaac spent most of their time sword fighting with the fly swatters or swatting the empty seats around us. It was probably totally annoying to the other passengers. Oh well.
When we got back to the docks the captain told us where we could probably see manatees and crocodiles in the marina. As soon as the boat docked the kids headed straight there and sure enough we saw crocodiles! They are nasty looking creatures. WAY creepier and bigger than the alligators. And the kids were not nearly as afraid of them as they should be! We also walked to the other side of the marina and sure enough, we saw a manatee! Kira was so excited! She loves manatees and has wanted to see one so bad. It was just sitting below the edge of the dock letting the rainwater drip off the dock into its mouth. Pretty awesome!
We drove the hour and a half drive home and picked up some pizza on the way home and had a late night swim after dinner. Before bed we had our devotional about Spiritual Crocodiles.
We drove back into town for lunch at Wendy's (15 min drive) because Jeff was determined to stay within our food budget (love that)! Then we headed back into the Everglades National Park down to the Flamingo Visitor's Center. It felt like a hurricane was coming. The wind was howling and the rain was coming down in sheets. I opened the car door to run in to the concessions to ask about the boat tour and boat rentals and the door flew open and felt like it was going to come off! The place was a ghost town - totally empty! Finally I found someone and they said "Oh this is no big deal. It'll blow over in a few minutes. You want to do the boat tour? No problem!" So I signed us up and we wandered around inside the empty visitor's center for an hour while we waited.
The boat tour was a little slow and boring. The tour guide gave us lots and lots of info about the flora and we saw very little fauna. (Sometimes it makes me feel smart to use words like that)! :) It was an hour and 45 minutes and we went up the buttonwood channel into Coot Bay and Whitewater Bay. It rained most of the trip but the boat had an awning so it wasn't too bad. The deer flies were pretty bad so they gave us all fly swatters on the boat. Mikey and Isaac spent most of their time sword fighting with the fly swatters or swatting the empty seats around us. It was probably totally annoying to the other passengers. Oh well.
When we got back to the docks the captain told us where we could probably see manatees and crocodiles in the marina. As soon as the boat docked the kids headed straight there and sure enough we saw crocodiles! They are nasty looking creatures. WAY creepier and bigger than the alligators. And the kids were not nearly as afraid of them as they should be! We also walked to the other side of the marina and sure enough, we saw a manatee! Kira was so excited! She loves manatees and has wanted to see one so bad. It was just sitting below the edge of the dock letting the rainwater drip off the dock into its mouth. Pretty awesome!
We drove the hour and a half drive home and picked up some pizza on the way home and had a late night swim after dinner. Before bed we had our devotional about Spiritual Crocodiles.
The boys loved playing in the rain.
This picture cracks me up. Everyone is wearing ponchos but my family!
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