First on our list of adventure for Monday, June 15th, was to hit the beach bright and early! After the kids had their taste of the ocean when we got into town, they couldn't wait to go swim in it! I also promised the kids that we could swim every day while were were on vacation. This vacation was a beach vacation - and we were going to take advantage of that! :)
Heading out the door of the condo the kids were pretty helpful to carry supplies:
The kids went on a shell hunt before they even made it into the water!
Finally they got their feet wet!
As we were swimming we saw a couple dolphins go by!
We had lots of fun jumping in the waves
Nathan had no fear when it came to the ocean. He loved it so much!
The kids and I heading out into the water:
Holding hands!
Polarized shades on a beach vacation are a must!
Dad & Mads:
Mom & Nate:
Swimming with the kids!
After our morning at the beach we headed in for lunch and showers. We then headed out on a trip for adventure - Jacksonville was our destination.
If you recall the Myrtle Beach trip of 2009, you may remember that I LOVE crazy tourist stops (Salt & Pepper Shaker Museum and the Colonel Sanders Museum, anyone?)
Well - I found a few stops in Jacksonville. First up was Five Tiny Bridges!! (Jacksonville is known as "The River City" because the St. Johns River runs through it. Five bridges in Jacksonville cross the river, and a downtown park has small versions of all five that you can walk on across a miniature St. Johns River. The miniature bridges are even painted the same colors as the real bridges.
The bridges are the Mathews Bridge, the Dames Point Bridge, the Fuller Warren Bridge, the Acosta Bridge, and the Main Street (John T. Alsop) Bridge.)
Oh yes, friends, we walked all five bridges! :)
Lighthouse parking ramp! Bonus!
We've been to Lambeau and Andrew and I have seen Soldier Field.. so we had to add on EverBank Field and the Jacksonville Jaguars to our list of NFL stadiums. (Side note, Andrew has also been to the Metrodome - but that's gone now and I've never been there, so does it really count? And he's also telling me that he's "seen" the Georgia Dome... Whatevs!)
Next stop - a giant shark in a fountain. Because... well, why not?
SWIM AWAY! (We told Nate he better look closely at the shark because it would be the only shark we would see on our Florida trip!) :)
Lookie here! Monroe Street!
Spiffy looking sculpture on the Jacksonville Library called Wisdom (more info here.) I think it looks like an owl from Harry Potter.
It was super hot in Jacksonville - the high was 94 that day. We treated the kids to their first official Slurpees from 7-11. They chose a super refreshing combo of Blue Raspberry and Lemonade. Nice choice for newbies!
Andrew added a stop on our list of things to see in Jacksonville - the Vistakon headquarters, home of Acuvue Contact Lenses. The jury is still out on if this was a cool stop or one of the tourist trap stops! :)
As we were leaving Vistakon, which is on the southern side of Jacksonville we searched for more attractions. We were thinking of going to the Jacksonville Zoo, but when the St. Augustine Alligator Farm popped up on our list we changed our course and took the 45 minute drive there!
When you get to a location and this is the first sign you see -- you know it's going to be good!
Mads wrangles a crocodile! OK, so it's fake...
But these guys aren't!!!
Just laying around, not moving much... but I wouldn't want to be the reason they decided to get active!
Walking through some of the exhibits of crocodiles around the world we found King Tut:
Part of the Florida Bird Rookery goes thru the Alligator Farm. Look closely and you'll see many bird in the tree, while crocs are lounging in the water below the walkway.
I see you!
So many different types of birds were just hanging out near the walkway:
This guy was standing on the post just posing for my pictures. I kept walking closer and closer - he didn't seem to mind! Work it baby!
Love these pink wings!
Andrew, Mads & Nate braved the poop zone for a quick pic!
These pictures are too funny!
The kids acted their parts well!
More gator wrangling!
Finally - a "normal" picture!
Definitely worth the stop!
After the Alligator Farm we needed some dinner so we headed to Sunset Grille. Super yummy! Nate says that next time he comes back he's going to order three orders of shrimp. We told him that he totally could. (Don't tell him that the chances of him being back are slim....)
After dinner we went back to Castillo de San Marcos - a fort built in the 1600s! (By the way, St. Augustine is the oldest city in the nation!)
It's Andrew and the kids, holding down the fort, no biggies! :)
We weren't able to walk through the fort, we missed the closing time by 2 minutes! We were able to take a walk around the fort.
The entrance bridge over the old moat:
Cute little marina outside of the Fort on the Matanzas River with the Bridge of Lions in the background:
A pirate ship!
We're on the A1A!
Looking back at the Fort:
Another shot of the marina:
Instead of taking the Interstate back to Amelia Island, we drove up A1A as far as we could go. We ended up coming upon a car ferry that had already made it's last trip for the night. It was a beautiful drive, right along the ocean!!
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