Off to Sunny Florida

Even though we were up extremely late the night before, we woke up at our usual time the next morning. We had breakfast at our hotel, then set out to explore a little more. We walked to the French Quarter, which gave us a chance to show Dad and Mom how tired we were, especially Turner and Hazel. We walked through Jackson Square, where we saw lots of artists and some palm readers, then found a bathroom and an ATM before giving in to the heat and humidity. We rode the streetcar back to the hotel and hit the road, which gave Turner, Hazel and Mom a chance to catch some ZZZs.

Because we hit some traffic and some of us were so grouchy, we skipped our planned trip for the day but the Florida welcome center was pretty fun. We found an astronaut, orange and grapefruit juice samples, and an alligator tried to eat Mom. It was more exciting than we expected.

I found a frogfish!

The most exciting part of the day though, was when we arrived at our destination – Aunt Jen and Uncle Ben’s house. We got there in time to play with Annabelle and have pizza before bed. We needed some sleep because we had a big day ahead of us.

The next morning, we woke up and were quiet so we wouldn’t wake up Annabelle. It gave us a chance to play with our Kindles and for Mom and Dad to sleep in a little.

Next, we headed to St. Andrews beach. We started looking for creatures and quickly found a frogfish. I caught it in my clear container with holes in the lid, looked at it for a while, then carefully set it free. Later on we found a hermit crab and did the same thing with it.

Uncle Ben + a gaggle of kids

We had a blast playing with Annabelle, digging in the sand, looking for shells and swimming in the waves. We all went home exhausted, but Uncle Ben and Aunt Jen revived us with an amazing dinner.

The next day we went to a city called Seaside with Aunt Jen, Uncle Ben and Annabelle. We walked around, had lunch and snow cones, and Mom and I jumped in the waves for a few minutes before heading back. Hazel’s arms were a little pink that day, so we needed a bit of a break from the sun.

Our last full day in Florida, we headed back to the beach again. Dad and I spent a lot of time on the ocean side of the beach, which had bigger waves. Then Mom and Turner joined us and Mom found two more hermit crabs. Then we joined everybody for more time digging and swimming on the calmer side of the beach. As we were leaving the beach, we stopped at Alligator Pond to see what we could find. Sure enough, we found an alligator! It looked at us from where it was floating in the water, and Turner couldn't believe it was real.

Aunt Jen made me a great birthday party!

We wrapped up our visit with yet another delicious dinner made by Uncle Ben, and he and Aunt Jen surprised me with a birthday party! She made me a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate icing, as I requested, and I was pretty surprised when she brought it out and everyone started singing.

Uncle Ben, Aunt Jen and Annabelle gave me a book set I was really excited about, since I knew I could read it in the car on the rest of the trip. I couldn’t stop smiling when they gave it to me, and I said, “Now I’ll never be bored again!” 

It was a really great visit, and we especially had a great time with Annabelle. We all liked making her smile and giggle, and reading with her. 

Click here to see all our photos from the Florida leg of our trip.