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!!