Airboat Ride and the Beach

When we woke up, we started calling manatee tour places and airboat tour places then we headed to the Everglades, about an hour and a half away. Sam really wanted to go on an airboat ride.

When we first got there, we got to hold this little alligator. It was pretty cool. I couldn't believe how heavy it was!

After our alligator encounter, we got right on our own personal airboat. Holy smokes, those things are deafeningly loud. We sped around the mangrove trees and the Ten Thousand Islands. We would just be looking around and then the driver/tour guide would point out an alligator to us. It was so strange to be just a few feet away from them. He said they have had them jump in the boat before. We asked what he does if that happens and he said that he pulls out his rifle and has alligator for dinner.

Edison hated the life jacket. He didn't really like much of the airboat ride at all.

The birds would land on the boat and hitch a ride. They were not scared of us at all but I was pretty scared of them. I saw them eyeing my fingers.

There were so many mosquitoes. We were told that if we walked into the mangroves, we would get a blood transfusion in just a few hours. Tempting. Edison got a few bites on his hand and it was swelled up for weeks!

We were speeding through at 40 MPH and I got hit in the head by a giant bug. I didn't even see it coming. I had never felt so much like a windshield.

The boys wouldn't keep on their noise-canceling headphones and the fan was so loud! It was sad to look at Edison and see him crying but not be able to hear him.

The boys ate sandwiches while we drove back to the hotel. They both fell asleep so we headed straight to the beach.

The beach we went to was amazing. It was so warm and the water was very shallow for as far as we ever went out.

Alex made friends with another little boy named Alex who was also two. He didn't speak English but they were still able to play well together. It helped that the other Alex had toys.

I went snorkeling but freaked out after I saw a school of fish and I beat it back to shore. Funny that I am a certified scuba diver and water creatures make me freak out. I found some seashells for the boys while I was out though.

Sam and I traded and he went snorkeling while I started building a sandcastle, which was kind of just a pile of sand. Sam came back and started helping. Then Edison got hungry so I fed him some snacks while Sam continued digging. Edison would pull sand off of the castle and then say, "Ta da!"

It was hard to put Alex in timeout because it was a giant sandbox. Dirt and water: the boys' heaven.

We stayed for a few hours and I didn't get a shred of burn even without sunblock. The boys had on tons of sunblock and they looked tanner! We changed the boys and then drove home and put them in the tub. There was so much sand everywhere!

I took this picture on our drive back to the hotel. It is not altered at all. Miami had some beautiful moments.

We went to bed early that night. It had been a long day full of adventure!

We started our drive home the next day at 10am. We had 19 hours of driving ahead of us.

We stayed for the night in Mobile, Alabama. The first day of driving was kind of painful. Edison didn't sleep well and Alex was not cooperating. It was understandable though since we had been driving for 11 hours that day. They were charging $10 for cribs at the hotel so Edison slept on the floor. The next day, we left the hotel at 9am.

When we stopped for lunch, I made Alex run laps around the tree and he thought it was awesome. We got home at 5:15pm to a huge pile of mail. I stayed up until 1am doing laundry and repacking. That concludes the first 3,392 miles of our trip.