Florida

Dad had a work trip in the beginning of December, to Fort Lauderdale Florida...so we decided to all come along!

Reading the safety instructions on the plane before takeoff.


Looking tired after having to get up at 4am to catch the flight!

But sunny and warm skies made up for the early morning flight.

While Dad was inside the hotel (the white building right above my head) Mom, Cole and Dylan got to enjoy 80 degree temps and an ocean of about 79-80 degrees too!

We also got some visitors for a few days to play with!  Grandpa Phil and Karen flew down from DC to play in the sun with us!

Extra story tellers is always a good thing!

Who knew we would see a crocodile on the beach!! 

Happy boy playing in the sand. 

The boys had endless delight burying various body parts in the sand.

For about two days that we were there about 250 Argentinean teenage girls showed up at the hotel.  Rummer had it that they only had 4 chaperones traveling with them!  One day they all came out on the beach, scantily clad, and proceeded to dance all afternoon to a loud dj system the hotel set up for them.  But then the real fun happened when they were all given grass hula skirts and leis to wear.  To say the least...

...the boys had a hard time NOT staring.  

The crew on the way to dinner.

Thanks for the great visit Grandpa Phil and Karen!!
That is a huge gingerbread house and chocolate holiday beach scene behind the guys.

Dylan taking a short break from playing in the sand and ocean to eat a snack and read a book.

Cole buried a little more this time...

...but he had a little help!

Oh yeah...the pool was super nice too.  This whole part of the pool was only 3 feet deep, which made the boys very excited.

One day we decided to take some pencils and drawing pads to the beach to draw what we saw.

Cole chose a more abstract interpretation of the view.

While Dylan chose to draw palm trees.

We got to go to Florida's biggest science center that is in Fort Lauderdale.

It had many very cool attractions like this HUGE shark that you could go inside...that's Dylan's head inside the sharks mouth.  

On our last day, Dad had the day off and we went to a wildlife sanctuary and got to see some local animals including some really big birds up close.  That is a huge pelican right above Dylan's head!

We also got to check out some amazing local flora...like the 'sausage tree'.

...and a cypress tree.

And some other plants with really big leaves!