In the beginning.....

 There was a trip on the plane.... and everyone stayed happy!  Yea!

 Haley did great!  She slept when she needed to, she colored, we read books.  No tears on the first leg of our journey.  Double yea!

 After we got settled into the condo, everything unpacked and we had gone grocery shopping and made a trip to the swimming pool we drove out to see the swamps.  It has to be one of our favorite things we did (besides Harry Potter).  When we first got there we saw some alligators in fenced off areas.  Then the boys started catching little lizards.  They loved it!  We named this one tail-less.  

 The boys were all so proud of catching them and holding them, they were fast little critters.  And can you see the beads of sweat forming?  Boy, it was hot and humid.  Our first day in Florida Haley was like a wilting flower, a sad wilting flower.  She got used to it though.

 We took an air-boat ride.  That was AWESOME!!!!  We got to see what Florida is really like.  Swamps, beautiful birds in their natural habitat.  Peter loved learning about Spanish Moss.  We were all thankful for the ear muff things they gave us to drown out the loud sound of the boat.  

 Haley at first did not want to go.  Tired, sad, hungry and hot.  But after eating a banana she was ready to ride.  And I am so glad she did.

 We found a real, live alligator who hissed at us and chopped at a stick and made a good show of it.  Then we left one swamp, and crossed the water over to another swamp.  At the halfway point the driver slowed the boat down and asked if we payed the extra money for a rain storm.  Sure enough the clouds opened up and down came the rain.  While speeding though the Florida waters, seeing sights never before seen, looking for gators and beautiful birds we were getting pelted with rain (that was warm but hitting hard).  And it was fun.  The rain was cooling us down, it was such a funny thing to drive through this rainstorm that none of us minded.  We were having too much fun!

After getting off the boat the boys had the opportunity to hold a baby alligator named Firecracker.  So exciting and fun!  The perfect way to kick off a family vacation!