More Florida......

     Deep in Florida, we are experiencing all the craziness of the coronavirus. Although, a very level-headed older couple we met and chatted with during our loooong Walmart line, assured us that this hoarding is much worse then any hurricane. I've never seen so many empty shelves, and we've lived in Arkansas during ice storms 😂. Seeing so much panic has pushed us the other way and we're continuing life as normal. Although, I did snatch an extra pack of toilet paper before someone else added it their 5 or 6 packs in their cart 😜. 

Our typical morning drinks when we're visiting family or virus' are going around. Emergen-C and Elderberry Juice all around!

Shoo-Fly Pie to celebrate PI Day.

Scalloped potatoes, meatballs, and corn-the same meal that was served at our wedding reception. We're celebrating 12 years today!

Ocean Inlet Park

Pelicans are  Ethan's favorite bird to watch.

He wanted to pose with them.

A busy day at the beach. This is the fullest it's been, thankfully.

They have just as much fun playing in the sand as the water.

So much sand!

Digging holes is a favorite pastime.

Emily loves letting the waves crash over her.

Michael likes to go out waist deep then wait for a wave to knock him over.

     Thanks to our friends offering to watch our children, Eldon and I were able to sneak away overnight for our anniversary. We managed to leave around 4 on Friday and get into all the school traffic. One hour later we had made it to the closest Tractor Supply which was 20 miles away. We endured a long line (twice!) and a very new employee (so new that he was asking Eldon how to remove the theft device 😂) but eventually we left with a new pair of boots. We did other adulty things like fill our 100 gallon tank with fuel. We finally got to our motel well after 7, which was only 6 miles from home but traffic, and the Tractor Supply sidetrail.... Parking our dually truck was also a fiasco in the tiny parking lot so we decided to walk for supper. We ate at a fancy little place called Ravish that was nice and had good food. The next morning we found ourselves at a massive thrift store. I am thrilled to have the boys pants for the summer. We got 10 pairs, plus a few other things for only $30! After breakfast at Denny's, we went to Walmart to pick up some groceries then headed home to our children. They had a great time and were so proud of themselves for sleeping in the camper alone. Emily even had the laundry all washed and hung out and Michael and Makayla had everything else in order.

Our motel. And, the only picture I took :)

This morning we got up at 6:30 and headed to the beach for the sunrise.

It was so calm and peaceful!

Have a blessed week!

Florida Tourists

By tourist, I mean us. I've managed to get a month behind and we've done so much here and there that I'm just going to give you a pile of pictures!

It feels luxurious to be parked on concrete! The children have done lots of sidewalk art here.

So many gorgeous flowers!

And massive trees too!

Matchbox cars in color order :). This was not me!

What Eldon does everyday......fix RV's! Occasionally rigs come here to be worked on but most of the time they go to them.

 

Manatee Lagoon was a fun place to visit. They like to come hang out near the power plants in winter time because the water is warm.

These  "sea cows" are huge! 

Posing with the big statue of a manatee. 

Grassy Waters Preserve had a visitor's center that the children had a lot of fun at.

I could barely pull them away from the microscope. 

We were happy to have these nice boardwalks.

But they also offered tours where you could go slogging through the swamp. No thank-you!

These signs gave us all kinds of information about how much good trees do and what they're worth.

Air plants are so fascinating. They get all their nutrients from the air and water.

You could also rent a canoe but we didn't. 

This squirrel was certain we should feed it.

Lots of lichen around here has well.

One very windy day at the beach.

Portuguese Man-O-War were everywhere! I was silly enough to try to throw one back in the water (before I realized what it was) with the back of my flip-flop but then rubbed my arm on my flip-flop. That venom is powerful! My arm throbbed for an hour but it finally went away.

Hiking at Apoxee Trail.

Looking up  the Nile Monitor Lizard in case we saw one. They are a very invasive species. 

This reminds me of a giant house plant.

This little laptop bit the dust so I put it in the toybox. Ethan loves "doing business".

     We're doing school almost every day so staying busy isn't a problem. The children swim in the pool nearly every day over 80* . Our friends are in the process of moving right now so we'll be helping with that our last week here as well. No getting bored, for sure!