Our Florida Trip

*WARNING* PICTURE OVERLOAD! I had to stick them in Collages just to save time and space. If you want to see the pictures in there actual sizes click on them, and it will show you. I had them in a larger format, but it cut them off and it looked really dorky sorry!

Since Ron's Graduation for his bachelor's degree in July 2010, Ron Hayden, His parents, and I have been trying to plan a fun trip to celebrate. We did a lot of hit and miss shots trying to find a trade for Ron's Parent's time share. This last April we found one! The Perfect place. Fort Lauderdale Florida. Ron and his folks had been to Florida a few times, but I never have and obviously neither had Hayden. So in August Ron, Hayden, and I packed up and headed to Florida with Ron's Parentals to have a fun vacation full of  the beach, alligators, and the Florida Keys! It was amazing!



We stayed at the Wyndam Resort in Pompano Beach Florida, just outside Fort Lauderale. I forgot to take pictures of our condo, but believe me when I say this. Fantastic! 2 bedrooms ,2 bathrooms, Laundry, and  a full kitchen. It had the works including a jacuzzi tub!




We did so much over the course of that week. We had dinner at Bubba Gumps. You might remember it from the Famous Forrest Gump movie.The food was a bit over priced, but pretty dang good! We also  did tons and tons of mini golf. It was located just outside  our condo so whenever we were to tired to go out or go swimming this was our fall back. It was lots of fun!




We spent one day driving through the Florida Keys. Absolutely BREATH TAKING!!! SO BEAUTIFUL DOWN THERE! We went on the famous 7 mile bridge that goes over the ocean. It was crazy! We stopped at the Island grill and got "Crabby Patties" So delicious! We found out after we had eaten there that it was voted best Resturaunt to eat at in all of Florida. Who knew?! We could definately see why too. It was Fantastic and Right on the ocean! We also went to the Southern Most point of the US in Key West.  At that spot Cuba is only 90 miles away.  When we got to Key West we mostly just walked around and took in the sights. The architecture was amazing and right up my alley, and I loved it! We also HAD to stop and get what the keys are famous for! KEY LIME PIE! It was too die for!




The next day after the Keys; we slept in cause we were exhausted then that afternoon headed to the everglades where we went on and Air Boat Ride. It was so crazy and nerve racking to be out on that water. We were in Gator territory, python territory, and if we were farther south Crocidile territory. Scary Stuff. Within five minutes of being out on the boat; our guide stopped and pointed to a gator swimming around (picture above). The gator swam right up to the boat and the guide fed him cheese its. Those pictures above are NOT zoomed in. That is how close I was to an actual Live wild gator. I am not ashamed to say that I was a bit scared, especially since Hayden was right next to me in Ron's arms.  We also saw a couple of snapping turtles swimming around and lots of fish. The everglades were eery but very beautiful in their own way. After the ride we went through there little zoo thing that they had, and saw a little show were the guy taught us about alligators and  preserving the everglades. This just might have been my favorite activity, but its really hard to say.




When not out and about at the beach or anywhere else. The pool was our other stand by. They had 2 really nice ones so  we took advantage and went almost everyday! We got so fried while we were there.





The beach was our most visited place. We went almost every day. It was so much fun besides all the stinking jelly fish. There were hundreds of them! You could walk up and down the beach and see tons that got washed up on shore. I acually almost got stung twice! The first time I was washing the sand out of my shorts, when I felt something between my legs and bum. I looked down and screamed! I was so lucky! I touched the top and not the tenticals. The second time I was snorkling when a wave came and threw one right at my face. Lucky for me I have an awesome husband who saw it and yanked me away. Hayden loved the beach! He loved playing in the sand, and only liked the water if we held him and took him in. He would not sit near it cause sometimes a strong wave would come and knock him over.




The last day before the airport we went down to a dock/pier. There was a light house off aways and it made for breathtaking views.  What made it even more fun was that there where tons of wild life that you could see in the water. Tons of Jellies again. Ron and I counted over 15 go buy in less than a minute! We also saw Ron's arch nemesis ... the sting ray! If you didn't know Ron got stung by a sting ray in the foot the last time he was in Florida. We also saw tons and tons of fish!




In the Top left Corner (your left) you can see the sting ray... kinda. Its the dark shadowy thing in the corner. These are all pictures of different jellies we saw. There were really cool to watch, and then a picture of some  fish.

One other really fun thing we did, but was not documented by our camera (except for the picture of us in the first collage) was the "Jungle Queen." Ron's parents got 3 tickets for going and listening to a proposition about buying into wyndam resorts. Well worth it! The tickets were 40 bucks a person, and we only had to buy one! It took us through Fort Lauderdale, and let us see all the water front properties that were around. The houses were incredible! Of course most of them were owned by celebrities or big wig Franchise owners, but it was fun to say the least. They took us to an island where they served us "all you can eat" Shrimp, ribs, and chicken. So good! Of course endless sides and deserts as well, but I went for the shrimp. I was in heaven.

Needless to say our trip was awesome and so much fun! Ron and I fell in love with the area. So much so, that Ron is going to look into a Ph D there, around that area, or on the east coast. We love it over there!
Thanks Lance and Rhonda for everything! We can't even express to you how much fun it was to spend time with you, and how fun the trip was. Thanks for the memories! Love you both so much!