Those of you who know us, know that we live waaaaay out in the sticks! Lol! We love the fact that we aren't on a main road, our kids can run around and pretty much do as they please without the fear of getting ran over or getting nabbed by a stranger, the school is small, everybody knows everybody, etc. etc. HOWEVER... there just isn't much to do! We don't have splash parks and nice shopping centers, or farmer's markets and play areas. So, we like to take the kids to The Big City every now and then to do fun stuff!
A few weekends ago, we decided to go to The Aquarium Downtown and hang out for the day. The big kids rode rides for a while but the lines were long and it was H-O-T! So that didn't last too long!
They have a carnival with lots of games and rides outside. They also have a splash pad, but we forgot swim suits and towels, so that was out. So we moved on to my favorite part, the indoor aquarium. You know, where the a/c is! lol! They have tons of fish and other reptiles that are really neat. The kids touched star fish and pet sting rays, which they thought was so cool! They also have a two Bengal tigers in a glass cage. It's really neat to sit and watch them, they are so beautiful!
After we toured the aquarium, we headed over to the restaraunt and ate a yummy seafood dinner. We had to laugh because both kids wanted an appetizer, boiled shrimp, and an entree, grilled shrimp. They don't order off the kids menu anymore, which is getting really expensive, ha! But I'm pretty proud of them because they would rather have grilled shrimp and broccoli than fish sticks and french fries. Kids menus need to step it up. Not all kids live on chicken nuggets and mac n cheese.
After dinner, we were walking to the car and we saw horse and carriage rides. The kids threw a fit wanting to go on a ride. So Daddy agreed and we all took a ride through downtown to see all the lights and big, pretty buildings. I couldn't figure out the right setting to put my camera on, so I didn't get any good pictures. The kids, even Lakyn, just sat quietly and admired all the beautiful sights that The City has to offer. It was really peaceful, and just something I want to remember forever! We had a fun day in The Big City!
The drive was LONG! And HOT! We drove about halfway at night, got a hotel, and then made the rest of the drive in the morning. It was nice to break the trip up, but it was still a really lobg drive. And this heat is just insane. Even driving down the road with the a/c full blast, it's hard to stay cool. It was over 100 degrees the entire time we were there.
We took a short cut on a ferry. The kids really enjoyed being able to get out of the car for a while and see the dolphins and seagulls. They were so excited to finally be at the ocean. They asked us the entire 8 hours if we were at the ocean yet ;)
Our Condo was awesome and the beach was blissful! The Condo was 3 bedrooms and 3 baths and had a kitchen and living room and wrap around balcony. We shared it with 2 other families, we had a blast! We cooked every morning and every night and spent the day at the beach. Our friends bought the kids beach toys and boogie boards, they were in Heaven! They built sand castles and buried each other in the sand. The resort also had a really nice pool and we went down there every evening so the kids could swim.
One day we went to a go cart track/ arcade. They had 2 seater go carts, so we paired up and drove the kids. Then we realized they had mini go carts! They has so much fun racing each other on the go carts. It was a really cool place with lots of games and rides, but we didn't stay long. Remember, 100 degrees? lol! We also went on a dolphin cruise, just the four of us. It was an old Marine boat, it was really neat. We went out about 15 minutes and found some dolphins and spent about 10 minutes with them and then went back. The guy that was driving the boat told us some history about the area (Flora-Bama) Josh and I are such dorks, we love any kind of tour! We had a great time and I'm so glad the drought didn't keep us from taking a vacation. Big thanks to Mimi & Moose for keeping our Precious Lakyn. We missed her terribly, but it was nice to spend some quality time with our big kids!
