Downtown Disney photos

Love this shirt...
Something about it just says - ME

IKEA

Yesterday, we hit our pool instead of the beach, and since we live near an IKEA and have never been to one before, we decided to head over and search for a book shelf/storage system.
It was interesting. 

We had to ask directions - we couldn't figure out the concept of 'walk through, see what you like, write it down, then pick it up at the end'...

We have a crafty room.  Full of material and sewing stuff, and yarn, and all sorts of crafty stuff that our kids like to do.  

While we had some great storage closets in Colorado, we've been at a loss of how to get everything organized here.  As such, we have a room (still) full of boxes.  But, I'll be picking up this baby tomorrow and getting organized.  

Especially as we may have company coming our way. 

Downtown Disney

After the science museum, we headed over to Downtown Disney. We had no idea what it actually was, but figured that since there wasn't an admission price to get in - we would check it out.
We found some really cool lego creations.
We hear that a lego land is opening in the area
Fascinating what can be made with legos...

Then we found a sandwich shop.
We were really worried that it would be TOTALLY overpriced (like the $5 hot dog stand we'd just passed)

We had THE BEST sandwiches we may have ever had at a little shop
titled "Earl of Sandwiches"
Oh My Goodness
My husband and I are still in awe over their roastbeef sandwich.
Yum

And it was only $5.99 which wasn't the highway robbery we'd been expecting.
Our daughter went for the tomato soup, and while it wasn't as good as mom's (mine) she said it was pretty darn good.

We will definitely head back there again.


We played in the splash fountain, walked through lots of shops, and more shops, and even more shops - window shopping all the way.
The we passed by a stage, where a gentleman was teaching kids dance moves.
We sat down to enjoy the entertainment.
Our kids eventually decided to join the dance lesson.
As the evening wore on, at one point, the kids brought an adult down onto the floor with them.
Guess who got to go up?
Yep. Both of us.
Then, the kids got to sit down, and judge the adults as we danced for the audience.
That was a little awkward.
My husband.
He didn't even try.
I was very disappointed.

I tried.
I was a finalist.
But I didn't win.
I'm glad I didn't win.
Some of the dances and songs they did were a little, ummm suggestive.
I don't know how (or want) to nasty dance.

But - it isn't every day you get to dance for a crowd and become a finalist!!!
It's a good thing I don't embarrass easily I guess.
It was fun, and I think my kids were pretty impressed.
Next time, I'll know though.
While my husband took a video, I won't be posting it.
I didn't mind strangers seeing it...but people I know? No way!

Orlando Science Museum

We watched an interesting on Arabia in the planetarium....and tried not to throwup from motion sickness...

Then watched the stingray feeding which was pretty interesting as well.

They finally kicked us out at closing time. The kids enjoyed a rocket and airplane flight simultion, and learning about powering a village with energy.

We headed out for another adventure when they kicked us out.

Alligators!

We finally saw alligators!!

We had to go to Orlando's Science Museum, but we finally found some.
We got to watch and help out in the alligator's feeding time - throwing puppy chow type food to them.
And the girls got to pet a baby alligator...oh...so cute...

We enjoyed the pinewood derby races




And this super interesting under the sea scene fascinated us once we found out that it was created completely with royal FROSTING! How weird! But totally cool.

Top views

Our girls were in a posing mood. Which doesn't happen very often.
Here are some final photos of some views from on top of the castillo.

St. Charles Bastion

I thought this was pretty cool.
The tower seen in the background was where the sentry rang the alarm.
You can read what happened in the second photo.


I love the faith seen here.

It was amazing to see the stones that they had quarried - that were literally made from millions of sea shells which had solidified and cemented together.


The drawbridge across the moat

Rey Carlos' coat of arms. At the entrance of the castle you can see this in the stone.

The view of the courtyard (not sure if they called it that) from above.

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

So while we didn't have very much time (due to an extensive day at the beach), we decided to check out the castle (castillo) before it closed.


My hsuband points out that this "castle" was really a fort - since that was it's primary use, I'll have to give him that.

We had fun taking pictures with the sentry guard, and chatting with some 'period' guards later on

Canons seemed to be the thing at this fort. They were everywhere. We even got to watch a video that had a 17 minute re-enactment of how they loaded, and shot a canon.

St. Augustine

We saw this little guy as we left the state park.
He was SO cute!


We headed into town - St. Augustine that is.
St. Augustine was founded in 1565, and is the oldest settlement in the US (not counting the native americans of course).
It was originally settled by Ponce De Leon, a spanish conquistador, under the reign of King Carlos of Spain.
They said that the sun never set on Carlos since it was always day time somewhere throughout his dominions.

Here's the historic lighthouse view from the castle.

Anastasia State Park (yet another beach)

We headed to Anastasia State Park this weekend for more beach
We just can't seem to get enough!

This time, we came equipped - we brought the beach umbrella and some chairs, and some boogie boards. It was all we needed.

We had a blast riding the waves back to the shore - especially when we caught 'good ones'

Dad took both of the girls for a run with him along the beach. Here's the end of a two mile run.

Did I mention how beautiful it was???

Well, a nice 12 year old guy named Thomas asked if the girls would like to try out his surf board when we asked him when exactly to 'catch the wave'. Both girls had several tries.
Our oldest did well and LOVED it.
Our youngest got up on her very first try, and rode in ALL the way to the beach.
It was SO fun to watch!
We can't wait to go back and try some surfing... :)

So, how do you like Florida?

Here's a photo of our new digs.

We had dinner last week with the Morelos family, and they had a super cool chair our girls couldn't get enough of.

Here's the answer to:
How are you liking Florida?

Hair bows

The girls needed some new hair bows - here's our most recent projects