Jacksonville, Florida-Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park

In Jacksonville, we stayed at a great city park called Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park. It was a pretty park with lots to do including a beach, bike trails, a playground, and a water park (but it was closed while we were there). There were so many great campsites with plenty of trees. On the downside, the camp store and laundry facilities were closed and have been for 2 years. Fortunately, the park is in town and close enough to all that is needed.

The beach was nice and clean and only a short bike ride from our campsite. There were so many sea shells to pick through, which was fun since it was too cold and windy for swimming.

It rained often this week but we were still able to check out one of the bike trails. Jordan took the challenge like it was nothing new. She did awesome and wanted to do it over and over!

(The sign says "More Difficult")

There was plenty of room around the RV for the kids to play and they discovered that palmetto branches make good bows. With a little help from Mommy to notch them and attach the string, they made several bows then set up a table behind the RV to sell their wares.

They decided to sell their bows for 1 cent each and Jacob set out his suction cup arrows so that each potential buyer could test out their bow. They ended up selling three of them for 50 cents each! Their first lesson in pricing! ;)

(with one of their customers)

During their play, they found this Luna Moth. Isn't it beautiful?! Those who work in the sleep medicine field, know it as the Lunesta moth. Ha Ha

The kids and I took a trip to nearby Tree Hill Nature Center. We were fortunate to be able to tag along with a school group during their educational program. The leader discussed several of the native animals and brought an opossum, snake and alligator around for all the kids to touch. 

Then we took some time to explore the visitor's center and nature trails on our own. The kids always enjoy the touch tanks and their's had turtles and fish.

On the weekend, we visited St. Augustine. It was VERY busy perhaps because it was Spring Break time and there was an Arts and Crafts Festival. Trying to find a parking space is always tough when your only vehicle is a big truck with a bike rack on top. We take up a lot of space and are often too tall for the garages. And maybe one day we will remember to keep quarters in the truck for the parking meters so we don't have to hunt for change in the area.

But we finally found a spot and took a walk through the town and market area.

Then we visited Castillo de San Marcos. It is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States and was built by Spain beginning in 1672.

It's over 300 years old and the walls still look really good! They are constructed of Coquina which is a type of limestone that is mostly shells.

We were able to watch (and definitely HEAR) a cannon firing demonstration.

And the kids earned their Junior Ranger Badge. (Here Jacob is interviewing one of the volunteers)

Afterwards, they had a blast rolling down the hills surrounding the fort.

Another fun experience was our trip to the Kennedy Space Center. We were about three hours away from the center but we arranged our trip based on a scheduled rocket launch.

We explored many of the exhibits including the Atlantis exhibit.

It had several hands-on areas that the kids liked.

There was quite a bit to see and do, but at lunchtime, we had to line up and take the bus ride to the launch viewing area.

Along the way, we saw one of the crawlers that transport the spacecraft from the assembly building to the launch site 3.5 miles away. It is 131 ft wide and can carry 12 million pounds! And since it moves at 1 mile per hour, the typical travel time to the launch site is almost 5 hours!

When we arrived at the viewing location, we found a great spot to sit in the bleachers. Sadly, it was a pretty cloudy day and shortly before launch time, those pesky clouds rolled in and covered the launch site :(

It was still really cool that we could hear the engines and feel the rumble. And even though we didn't see the actual lift off, we were able to see it fly across the sky. We, the parents, were a little disappointed but the kids thought it was "so awesome" which made us feel better about it :)

And a final exciting thing that happened this week was that Jordan lost her first tooth! Mommy cannot stand to think about loose teeth much less see them and Jordan didn't want Daddy to pull it, so she just did it herself! She's growing up so fast!

Next, we will head to Savannah, Georgia. Good-bye Florida!!

Orlando, Florida-Thousand Trails Orlando (Third time!)

So here we are back in Orlando for round 3! Greg always says that staying at a Thousand Trails Campground is down time for him but for me it means days of park activities, swimming, and other kids on top of the usual list of “things to do”. But I enjoy it even though it is a little exhausting.

We stayed for two weeks and probably did a little more exploring than we have done in the past. Not far from the campground were three places of interest for the kids.

The first was the Showcase of Citrus. Obviously, they have citrus fruit for picking but they had so much more for the kids. 

There was a fishing pond, an alligator pond, a playground, and an animal area with kangaroos, goats, chickens and an ostrich. They also offer a Big Foot tour but we did not sign up for that.

There is a little store to buy some local products like honey, salsa, jams and hot sauces. And they make a really good orange smoothie.

The next place we checked out was SkyZone trampoline park. They offered a homeschool time and so for $5 a piece the kids were able to jump for 2 hours. We got there a few minutes late but they jumped for a solid hour and a half. They definitely had some energy to burn!

And lastly, we visited Lake Louisa State Park. I have seen the signs every time we have come to Orlando and kept telling myself that we must go since this may be our last opportunity for awhile. I was surprised at how pretty it was. There was a small beach area and a nice new playground where we played and had lunch.

Then we went on a hike in search of a couple of geocaches. We found one but had to use A LOT of hints because it looked like a LOG! We never made it to our second find because we got off course and it was so hot and buggy, that we gave up.

On the weekend, we all headed to Tampa for the Bay Area Renaissance Festival. There were sooooo many people there! We saw an acrobat show, jousting, and a mud show. 

And Jordan met a mermaid :)

But it was NOT the Texas Renaissance Festival for sure!

We had also heard great things about The Honeypot at Bee's RV Resort so we drove over there one night for all-you-can-eat meatloaf and pot roast.  It was really delicious and I was so disappointed that I could not eat more than one serving!  The kids both approved as well!

At the campground, we did all the craft activities we could, swam about every other day and made new friends. There were still many families there from the winter, which made it so fun.

(Jordan's new friend, Selah)

It was also St Patrick’s Day time and the kids got to decorate their bikes and be in a campground parade.

One of the families hosted a potluck and campfire. We filled our bellies, met even more people and just enjoyed hanging out with everyone.

And now, we are off again and beginning our journey north. We are heading to Jacksonville.

Key Largo, Florida-John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Our first and last stop in the Keys was at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo. It is the first undersea park in the US.

There were no waterfront sites like we had elsewhere in the Keys, but it had both laundry and full hook ups (which are uncommon for state parks).

The park offers quite a few water activities focused on exploring the reef and marine sanctuary. We had hoped to be able to take a snorkel trip here but the weather again would not be on our side. It was sunny and pretty but the wind was strong, resulting in large swells so the trips were cancelled.

We were at least able to go out on the glass bottom boat.  We saw sea turtles, a couple of puffer fish, barracuda, a ginormous brain coral, and many other fish around Molasses Coral Reef.

The park also had a small aquarium with a 30,000 gallon tank,

Key Lime groves to walk through (I honestly had no idea that's where the name came from)

beaches,

and geocaching opportunities.

Jacob found these cool upside down jellyfish. I would have thought they were some kind of plant had it not been for him noticing that they were moving.

And this huge iguana stayed near our site. I have never seen one this big!

While in this area, we also visited the library a couple of times where Jacob enjoyed some computer time and reading and Jordan exercised her imagination with the many toys they had.

Some friends from the rally were staying fairly close so we were able to meet up with them one day at a park. The kids had a great time.

And lastly, we went out fishing. Check out this awesome catch!

If only we had caught it!  Ha ha!  We just got to take a picture with it.  BUT it was fun to watch the guy who really did hook it, bring it in. I caught nothing and Jordan gave up pretty quickly. Jacob caught this one fish and Greg caught an eel!

The guys stayed on for the next trip out and had some better luck. The girls decided to go out for pizza instead :)

After a wonderful month in the Keys, we will head back to Orlando and then begin our journey north!

Garden Key, Florida-Dry Tortugas National Park

Ahh, the Dry Tortugas... We have been waiting for this journey for quite some time. Imagine kayaking through crystal blue waters from one island to the next, snorkeling with goliath groupers, camping out under the stars all while Fort Jefferson stands mightily in the background. Sounds awesome, right?

Well that is how we imagined it and while it was awesome, our experience was MUCH different.

The Dry Tortugas are part of the Keys and the only way to get to Garden Key, which is home to Fort Jefferson, is by boat or sea plane. We packed up our tent and camping gear and drove in the wee hours of the morning from Bahia Honda to Key West to hop aboard the Yankee Freedom. The weather forecast looked nice and we were super excited.

Well as the morning progressed, it became clear that the weather forecast for the Dry Tortugas would not be the same as that of Key West. Our 70 mile journey through large swells was not as relaxing as I had hoped. The crew was awesome and apparently very experienced with this sort of thing. 

Jordan woke up from her nap with a strange look on her face, which sent us stumbling across the floor and falling on other passengers to get out into the fresh air. She kept it all down, but we were surrounded by people who were fighting to do so and some were losing. Inside the cabin, where Greg was, a chain reaction of sickness began to take place. I think we were all feeling a little sea sick but my efforts to take care of Jordan cleared mine right up. Funny how it works that way.

We were so excited to see the fort in the distance which meant we were almost there. Since we were camping overnight (there are only 11 campsites on the island), we had to attend a briefing and then we headed out to set up camp.

The wind was fierce and unfortunately it persisted for the rest of the day. That meant, no kayaking or snorkeling, gray, blah skies and trying to stay warm.

But we still had a great time. We toured the fort with a tour guide provided by the boat we were on. He did a fantastic job and really kept everyone interested (including the kids).

Fort Jefferson is the largest masonry structure in America.  Construction began in 1846 and ended in 1875 while still incomplete.  Built to protect the only harbor in that region, it was never fully armed and never involved in any battle.  It did serve as a prison during the Civil War.

These are some stalagmites forming in one of the casemates, attesting to the age of the fort.

Around our campsite, the kids had a blast collecting hermit crabs and making a play area for them. That was probably their most favorite part.

That night, we slept on the ground in our tents (no pads because we can't store all of that in our RV) while the wind whipped away. I kept waking to what sounded like a cow munching grass right outside, but it was just the wind :)

The next morning was just as windy and blah. We visited with some neighbors for a little while then took a walk along the moat wall all the way around the fort. I thought this was so cool. 

We could see lots of fish, jellyfish, sea cucumbers and conchs. The water was so clear!

And then a wonderful thing happened! The sun came out and the wind began to die down. So we grabbed snorkel gear and headed for the beach! The water was cold, but doable. The kids had a hard time though. While they had worn snorkel masks before, they had not done so with fins and wet suits while being slapped by waves. So snorkeling was not going to happen for us. Greg went out a little by himself but wasn't able to explore all the areas he would have liked.

And the kayak that we rented and paid to have brought to the island went unused. So much for planning, right? All-in-all we still had a very good time. The kids earned their Jr. Ranger badge,

they can't wait to go tent camping again and they thought the place was pretty cool and hated to leave. And Greg and I can't wait to come back. Probably when the kids are a little older and during a month that is a little warmer. It still makes our top things to see list!

And before I go, here's a couple more pictures of this beautiful place: