Busch Gardens

We spent our final full day at Busch Gardens.  This was a unique blend of amusement park rides, attractions and live animals (12,000 in fact).

 Victoria can never pass up a carousel and enjoyed Opa joining her on this one.

 While Victoria road the carousel, Micah and Izzy road on the smaller scaled Flume.

 The Falls Flume was a hit with everyone.  This was the one ride we came back to at the end of the day.

 After a long day of walking, riding the SkyRide was a welcome relief.  This provided us with a unique view of the Serengeti animals.

 A close second place for favorite ride went to the Bumper Cars.



Fishing Charter

On Saturday Opa, John, Izzy and I headed out to do a little bit of fishing.  Micah and Victoria hung out with Oma enjoying the beach.

We enjoyed the various fowl heading out of the channel.  The pelicans were by far my favorite.

This guy joined us on the way out for a bit.

 It took us 45 minutes of traveling to get out far enough.  This was approximately 15 miles off of the shoreline putting us only in water ~40 feet deep.

 Napping can make any trip go by faster.

 One of our many Strippers.

 This was my favorite and most fascinating fish we caught; a Remora (aka sharksucker).  He could even suck onto our hands.

 Izzy working hard on reeling up her catch.

 Opa's Grouper

 John's Grouper (a different variety)

 Izzy enjoyed catching a Puffer Fish.  We puffed him up but he deflated before I could nab a picture.

The boys hard at work.

 Once we returned it was as if the birds knew we had fish with us.  Our friend that joined us on the way out came back but with company.  As our fish were fileted, these two would eat the scraps out of our hand.  The pelicans were hilarious. They swarmed the boat waiting for the scraps.  Below is our catch that we could keep and eat.  That evening we took our Strippers to Sea Critters where they will cook up what you bring in.  What a great experience for Izzy to be a part of catching the food we ate as a family.  Great life lesson.  And, just like fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh fish was so much more savory than what you buy at the grocery store.

Legoland

Day #2 of our Florida adventure was a trip to LEGOLAND.  I don't know a kid who doesn't love (or at least played with) Legos.  Micah is all about Ninjago making this a special adventure for him.

 One of the most entertaining "ride" was the Rescue Academy.  Teams competed against each other to drive their fire truck to the scene, put out the fire and drive the truck back.  Teams consisted of 4 members.  I think John over exerted himself pumping to make the fire truck move.

 Micah and Victoria earned their licenses at the Jr. Driving School.  A bit nerve racking as they were actually driving these lego cars.  Micah seemed to be going for a lovely Sunday Drive while Victoria was a woman not to be messed with on the road.

 All around were amazing lego structures and scenes.  Who knows how many legos are actually in this amusement park.

 We all enjoyed Pharaoh's Revenge - virtual shooting game.

 In the middle of LEGOLAND was a pole pointing in all sort of directions.  Much to our surprise, one of the markers pointed to Ainsworth, Nebraska.

 Of all the Ninjago characters, this is Micah's favorite, Jay.  He did not want anyone else to have their picture taken with him.  He was totally fine with all the other characters.

The girls favorite Ninjago, Nya (she's the only girl so no surprising).

 We all took a turn testing how fast were our ninja reflexes.

Oma being "helped" by Micah and Victoria.  A bit of an advantage compared to the rest of us.

Our day would not have been complete without a few tries at the carnival games.  Thank you Opa for always indulging us!



Destination Puerto Rica - Actual St Pete Beach

One can never underestimate the power of Mother Nature.  Our plans over Christmas Break were to relax and enjoy Puerto Rico.  However, Hurricane Maria changed those plans.  We were fortunate enough to find another warmer location to spend time with extended family.  We lucked out finding the TradeWinds Island Resort on St Pete Beach.  Our trip to Puerto Rico is only delayed... not eliminated.  Until another time....

 The view from our balcony.  Sunsets were beautiful.

 This was one of the kid's favorite on location activities.  Micah and Izzy braved cooler temperatures the last day to go down one more time before heading back to a snow storm in Boston.

 We love our family adventures.

Other on location activities included a warmed pool and paddle boats.  Some teams worked together better than others when it came to paddling.

John's birthday is only two days after Christmas often being overshadowed by all the holiday hustle and bustle.  Oma and Opa helped us celebrated in Florida.

 Taking advantage of Oma and Opa's babysitting, John and I headed out for New Year's Eve.  We hung out at Level 11 in the resort next door.  The view from the 11th floor from an open bar was spectacular including fireworks over the city and beach.

 Seafood was everywhere.  We enjoyed a few local places - Sea Critters, Rick's Reef and Rum Fish (above).  RumFish houses a 33,500 gallon salt water aquarium which was featured on the show, Tanked.  My favorite was the moray eel who hung out front and center.