So I don't think I have technically written a bucket list update in about a month. That's because we were just so busy with other random things that took up all our time. We had our Keys trip and then birthdays galore it seemed so we had to take a break on bucket list items. We have come to the realization that we will definitely not be getting a lot of the list done this year. That's okay though. We never expected to do it all. We just like to use it as a guide for things to do over the summer and a way to come up with some new things to do that are more out of our norm. We have been having a blast with all of our bucket list items, as well as everything else we have been up to this summer so it has been a success. We are carrying through the Summer Bucket List until Labor Day this year to try to get some extra things in if we can. We won't have a fall list as that would be a waste of time since so much of our time in the fall is usually filled with football, cookouts, and picnics. We have some things planned, like our annual UCF football game, but we won't have a list.
Before I go any further, one big thing we did this week that wasn't related in any way to the bucket list was that we met Kenzie's kindergarten teacher!!! Crazy! She seemed nice and Kenzie liked her. She is from New York and definitely fits the sterotypical New Yorker profile. She talked loud, fast, and a lot. The good news is... although I'm initially from what people would assume is a more quiet and quaint place (Mississippi), my family is from New York so I grew up in a loud household and consequently am quite loud myself. And I talk a lot. Kenzie gets it honest. Anyway, that should make Kenzie feel right at home. I will write up a full post about the kids first days of school in about a week when they both have their first days and recap everything from this Meet-n-Greet to Meet the Teacher for both kids (Kenzie later this week and Will the week next week) and their first days. This is a big school year for us. Kenzie starting elementary school and Will starting preschool. I'm feeling a bit of a mess but I'm also looking forward to getting more done around the house and with work while they are in school so I think this will be good for all of us. It's been a very, very long time since I have had any serious time to myself, I think. It's part of the reason I took up running. Because I mostly did it alone and since I usually cannot take the kids, I don't have to worry about anyone else but myself. Haha! I'm hoping to add in one run to myself on one school day a week but then have plans to work on reports when I have them and do some more deep cleaning and organizing in the house. I'm trying to convince Steven we could go in on a garage sale with our neighbors if they still would like us to so I need to do some serious organizing and start piled for a potential garage sale.
Anyway, this week we sort of got back into the swing of things for the bucket list. We had plans to go to meet Daddy for lunch on Thursday but those had to be rescheduled because he had something come up with work. It might have been okay though because the day before that we had Kenzie's well check at the doctor and then less than an hour after we left, Will started running a fever. It seemed to have topped out around 102.7 when I finally gave him meds. I waited because we know running a fever is actually not a bad thing and he was running the fever in the middle of the day so it's not like he was sleeping all night at the same time that we were which let me check on him more. I gave him meds eventually though because Will is our high fever kid. He can spike a 104 fever like it's nothing so when he shot up from 100.4 to 102.7 in about an hour, I gave him something. He had been alternating between about 101.4 and 100.4 prior to that which we were okay with. Anyway, he was pitiful so I didn't know that he would want to go to lunch the next day anyway. Then, the craziest part of all of it was that the next day he was perfectly fine. We wondered if Kenzie would get it but while she complained of a headache in the evening, nothing ever started as far as a fever went. We think it was either the weather or she was tired.
By the time Friday rolled around, everyone was feeling well. So, we decided to go ahead with plans to meet up with one of the girls from Kenzie's VPK class at the Winter Garden Fountains for a play date. We went down a bit earlier than we planned to meet her friend (hereafter referred to as "B" to keep me from needing to write "her friend" any time I want to reference her). B wasn't able to make it to Kenzie's birthday party this year because she was out of town so we definitely wanted to have a play date with her before school started back. She is going to be home schooled next year so they will not be in the same school. Though I don't know if they are even in the same zone as us so they might have been in different schools to begin with. They don't live too far from us, I think but there are so many elementary schools within a short distance from us that I'm never sure where the lines are. The Winter Garden Fountains were on our bucket list for this year. They are the least "splash pad" of the splash pads in the area as they are just interactive type fountains but the kids enjoy it. Plus, the area is super cute. Side note: They are working on approving a splash pad for us here in Apopka so I hope that works out well. The kids would love that. The other things about WG Fountains is that they are free as they are only fountains. A lot of the other splash pads in our area have small fees because they are far more serious splash pads. Kenzie had a blast playing with her friend. Will wasn't into the fountains. He never really has been. Kenzie was a lot like this a few years ago so I know he will eventually love them but this time... not so much. He sat with me and we chatted with B's mommy and her little sister while the big kids played.
We stayed for a while at the fountains and then had to head out to meet Daddy for lunch. We decided to go ahead and do it last week once Will was feeling better because this week Steven is out of town for more than half the week in Melbourne again so he will staying at a hotel again and not home at all. The plus is that he is going to be gone at the beginning of the week which we initially didn't expect so it means that he will be home for Kenzie's Meet The Teacher night more than likely. We are just waiting to see how long the trip takes him. There is the possibility that he will either be late if he has to stay through Thursday like he initially thought or there is also always the possibility he will miss it. The good news is that since we already technically met her teacher he was able to do that. He really wants to see her classroom though before the big day, her first day. The real downfall is that since Kenzie's bed gets delivered on a day he is gone, I am going to have to take her bed apart alone. If I have issues, I might be calling over one of my neighbors for help but unless a bolt is super tight or something, I think I got this. I plan to do it a day early and let her have a sleepover in Will's room the night before her bed comes because she has been asking to have a sleep over with Will. I don't want to deny them the fun. Haha! Alright, back to the Bucket List... We drove over to Steven's office and picked him up to go to Chick Fil A. We usually do Chick Fil A because it is close by and doesn't take too long. We didn't go into his office this time because most of his coworkers weren't in the office on Friday so there wasn't really anyone for us to visit. Lunch was good, as usual. Kenzie being her super helpful self, used her gift card she got for her birthday to pay for part of lunch. We are actually going to give her the amount of money from the gift card back to put in her piggy bank so that she can use it when she goes to the bigger kid group of church and can give an offering. We didn't have to rush though lunch because it was Friday and Steven didn't have a lot left to do in the afternoon so that was good. We didn't have time for the kids to play though so I promised to take them back sometime soon to do that. Hopefully the Kids' Club will be starting back up soon since school starts back this month. They love that.
That night we checked off another bucket list item. We ordered a pizza and watched Rio 2 that we rented from the library. So, marked pizza and a movie at home off the list. Nice and simple and we really needed a night to not do too much. The movie was pretty cute. I didn't watch all of it, but the kids seemed to enjoy it. We let them watch about half on Friday night and the finished the other half on Saturday morning before we left the house. After dinner, we went on a two and a half mile walk. Mainly to burn off all the extra calories that the pizza added on. Haha! Actually, Steven and I both were about 5,000 steps behind our daily goals and that is just too much. I'm okay not hitting my goal sometimes but I usually like to log at least 9,000 steps in a day. Typically, that is pretty easy for me as I rarely sit down at home but since we had done the play date and then met Steven for lunch, I was way off. Steven has a harder time hitting it since he works in an office and meeting him meant that he couldn't walk down to the library or anything like he sometimes does. No sooner did we walk in the door after our walk, and the downpour started outside. We made it back just in time.
Saturday we actually had plans initially to go to Weeki Wachee but our neighbor's youngest ended up having her birthday party that day. So, we changed our plans some and went to the birthday party in the morning instead. The kids had a blast. They had the party at the pool in our neighborhood and the kids spent over 2 hours playing in the pool with friends. It was fun.
That afternoon, after a nap for Will, we ended up going down to my parents' timeshare they had for the weekend. They apparently had points they had to use or they would lose them so they decided to get a timeshare for the weekend. It was down near Old Towne so it wasn't exactly close but we wanted to spend some time with them so we went down. We made it down there and gave Papa his birthday present since that is sort of what we were celebrating. His birthday is the day after Kenzie's and we weren't able to drive up to Palatka that weekend to celebrate so this worked out well. He was super excited with his Mamma Mia CD. He is apparently obsessed with the movie right now so we bought him the stage show recording (from London) and he was pretty excited. That's what you get the man who has everything. We hung out at the timeshare for a bit and then heard all the thunder starting as an obvious rainstorm was moving in so we elected to go to Cracker Barrel for dinner since it was right by the exit of the timeshare. When we were seated, the rain started. And it poured! It was pretty bad. We took our sweet time eating dinner because we didn't bring any umbrellas in. The kids ate a ton! They were apparently hungry. Actually, everyone did. I don't think we left any food of any kind on the table at all. It was good. After dinner we had my parents take the kids back to the timeshare and Steven and I ran out to get a cake to surprise Joe for his birthday. It was fun. He didn't expect it so it made him happy. The funniest part was that it was frozen from being in the Publix cooler and Momma actually broke the plastic cake knife thing when she tried to cut it. We had our cake and then got the kids ready to head out. We thought they might fall asleep on the way home, but they stayed awake. We got them in bed as quickly as we could when we got home because Sunday was going to be a big day.
Will has been waking up early (again). As in, right around 6:15 for the last few days so he was up pretty early again. This is actually something he does periodically that lasts a few weeks. Hopefully it ends by the time school starts so he can get a bit more sleep. Him waking up early on Sunday was okay though because we needed to get ready to head out to Weeki Wachee by 7:15. It was an hour and forty minute or so drive for us and the park opened at 9 so we wanted to be there then. We ended up taking 50 all the way across but it was okay that early in the morning. Steven nor I have ever done Weeki Wachee so we weren't sure what the expect. Our main goal was to go and see the mermaids but we knew they also had a water park that was included with admission. When we pulled up, we saw a HUGE line waiting to get in. Then a smaller line on the other side. After we parked the car and walked over to the entrance we asked why there were two different lines and were told that the long one was people that had to pay to enter. The shorter one was for annual passes (which you can buy separate for this park even though it is a state park) and people with advance tickets of sorts or something. Basically people that could walk right in. Well, because we have the annual pass, we got to join that line. Our state park pass gets two people into Weeki Wachee and kids 5 and under are free. So, we didn't have to pay and were able to wait in the short line and walk right in. If we had to wait in the other line... well, I don't know how that would have gone with the kids in tow. It was LONG. A few hundred people, at least. Everyone got in but they all waited quite some time. Getting in quickly meant we were able to get a map and schedule and plan out a bit of our day.
We decided to start (after a potty break) with the wildlife show. It was set back in the rear of the park and took a bit to walk to but we made it just in time. On the way there we hit a snag when my Rebel started experiencing issues. I was so upset. The camera is 9 years old though at this point so it has served us well. I think we are about to be working towards getting a new one. Anyway, the wildlife show was small but the woman giving it was knowledgeable. We saw a king snake, yellow bellied slider, gopher tortoise, and (of course) an alligator. The show was native reptiles so they are all something we have seen before in a show or in the wild but the kids always like these sorts of shows. They were able to pet Newt the Alligator after the show which is always a highlight. They act like it's the first time they have touched an alligator every time. I admit, it never does get old. Definitely my kids. Haha!
After the show, we took the trail back towards the front of the park but stopped along the way to take the river boat tour. It was a 25 minute tour down the river where they pointed out more native plants and animals. We weren't able to see the bald eagles that live there as they weren't home but we did see an anhinga and a ton of fish. No gators as they rarely have any since it is a 13 mile trek up the river to that point. Our guide said if any show up, they have to shut down the park until they can relocate them but it rarely happens. They had manatee a day or two before after the crazy rainstorm they had but they had moved back out into the Gulf so we didn't see them either. The water was exceptionally clear because it was coming from the spring so you could see through it perfectly. There were a ton of kayakers on the water. It is a 6 mile trek down the river to a stopping point where a bus picks you up and brings you back apparently so you don't have to fight the current to make it back. The guide said it takes an average of 3 hours to make it down the river. Steven and I decided that when the kids are bigger, this is definitely something we want to do. When we hit our turn around point is when the boat ride became super exciting. Apparently on the turn, we lost an engine. All of a sudden we hear the captain casually announce, "We lost an engine." Then... we hit a tree. Hahahaha! Oops. The guide asked "What engine?" to which a passenger announced, "The one that turns us right." which made everyone in the boat crack up. It became an interactive experience when they made everyone on the starboard side come onto our side so that they could push us out of the tree. Once we were straightened out, he was able to get the engine to kick back on so we made it back to the dock fine after that.
At this point we were deciding what to do and figured it was best to take a short walk to get a few pictures and then eat an early lunch before the Little Mermaid show. Before we ate lunch, I caught site of a mermaid sitting near the gift shop taking pictures with people so we decided to go wait in line. The kids thought she was awesome. She let them touch her tail and Kenzie almost immediately realized that they were't real mermaids but people in tails. That wasn't a secret. The way the shows are done, it becomes obvious but we talked about how it is still super impressive that she can swim like that. For lunch we decided to eat at the Mermaid Galley. The burgers that Steven and I had were actually pretty good. The fries were not as great but they weren't bad. The kids shared a chicken tenders lunch. They both could have eaten their own, but we would have been there for a long time. We decided instead to just go to the show and we would get them food later if they were hungry.
We got in line to go into the show and waited for the Underwater Theater to open. While we waited, we watched people out in the area where the show takes place and the spring comes out practice swimming in mermaid tails. Not sure how you sign up to do that but one day, I could see Kenzie wanting to try it. The theater is really cool. It sits 16 feet below the water level and has a curtain so you can't see into the water until they are ready. There are two different shows and we started with The Little Mermaid which is an adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson tale. Of course, they never used the names Ariel or Ursula or anything but it's how Kenzie referred to the characters. It was seriously cool. Those mermaids (and the prince and sea witch) were impressive. The show was fun and made Kenzie want to be a mermaid. Honestly, I wish I could be a mermaid. So cool.
After the show we went out to the playground to let the kids play before getting back in line to wait for the next show, Fish Tails. Again, we watched people swimming with the tails in the water behind the theater. Fish Tails was actually our favorite show. It was more about how they do the shows and the history of them. We were told about why they take the breaths from the hose. We wondered during The Little Mermaid if it was more about holding their breath but learned that they can actually hold their breath for a really long time. The air hoses help them rise, fall, and stay still within the water. They do not wear weight belts. To become a mermaid often takes a year or so of training. One mermaid showed off how they eat underwater. Seriously. She ate an apple. In the video before the show we watched them drink sodas out of bottles. I mean... come on. I can barely drink a soda on dry land sometimes without choking or spilling and they can do it underwater. The show was really cool. Will ended up falling asleep on me just before it started and slept through the whole thing. When it ended, Steven took him and we decided to walk over to the water park area of the park to let the kids play in the kiddie pool area. By the time we got there, he was awake and ready to go.
Although we all had suits to change into, we decided that because of time and the fact that Steven nor I were exceptionally excited about the idea of 72 degree water in the spring, we would only change the kids and let them play in the kiddie pool. This area isn't connected to the spring and due to its shallow depth, it was pretty warm. The kids LOVED it. They would have stayed all day but we gave them about 45 minutes before we had to get them out to change and head home since it was still an almost 2 hour drive home. We have decided that one day we want to come back super early so we can rent a big raft for all of us to go down the lazy river that is part of the spring. It was cool but the rafts sell out almost immediately upon the opening of the park so we would have to do it another day.
It took some coercing but we finally got the kids out of the water and changed. Then it was time to head home. We stopped at a gas station just outside of the park for a snack of pretzels and combos (for the adults) since everyone was hungry from all the walking and playing around all day. The drive back was just as easy as the drive to the park. We just reversed our route. Kenzie fell asleep about an hour in and slept until we got home. She was so overtired though from the weekend that it took her another hour or so to get her self together and ditch her annoyed with all of us streak. She was just grumpy.
We got the kids in bed around 7:15 in preparation for starting our return to a normal schedule. This is their final week without school but we want to stop prepping for our new routine. So, we sent them to bed and when they got up, they had to get dressed before they could come out to breakfast. Then no TV until they ate breakfast. Once school starts, there won't be TV at all. We did everything and were ready to leave the house (which we didn't do but could have) by 7:45 which should be perfect. We will not be leaving quite that early but at least I know we can do it without too many issues and have some free time. We will see how our continued school prep goes this week. We have a biggish week. Tonight (Monday) we return to dance for the season. This year we have a later class time so I am super excited about that because I can do baths before and the kids can eat dinner so when we get home, it will be bedtime. Wednesday we have Kenzie's bed coming like I mentioned and Steven is out of town until at least Wednesday but maybe Thursday. We are still deciding whether to go to Siesta Key or Longboat Key either Friday or Saturday as a last hurrah before school starts (even though we have a weekend planned with Grandma and Grandaddy on the East coast a couple weeks after school starts.) Just a few more weeks of the bucket list to see what we can get done. =)
Before I go any further, one big thing we did this week that wasn't related in any way to the bucket list was that we met Kenzie's kindergarten teacher!!! Crazy! She seemed nice and Kenzie liked her. She is from New York and definitely fits the sterotypical New Yorker profile. She talked loud, fast, and a lot. The good news is... although I'm initially from what people would assume is a more quiet and quaint place (Mississippi), my family is from New York so I grew up in a loud household and consequently am quite loud myself. And I talk a lot. Kenzie gets it honest. Anyway, that should make Kenzie feel right at home. I will write up a full post about the kids first days of school in about a week when they both have their first days and recap everything from this Meet-n-Greet to Meet the Teacher for both kids (Kenzie later this week and Will the week next week) and their first days. This is a big school year for us. Kenzie starting elementary school and Will starting preschool. I'm feeling a bit of a mess but I'm also looking forward to getting more done around the house and with work while they are in school so I think this will be good for all of us. It's been a very, very long time since I have had any serious time to myself, I think. It's part of the reason I took up running. Because I mostly did it alone and since I usually cannot take the kids, I don't have to worry about anyone else but myself. Haha! I'm hoping to add in one run to myself on one school day a week but then have plans to work on reports when I have them and do some more deep cleaning and organizing in the house. I'm trying to convince Steven we could go in on a garage sale with our neighbors if they still would like us to so I need to do some serious organizing and start piled for a potential garage sale.
Anyway, this week we sort of got back into the swing of things for the bucket list. We had plans to go to meet Daddy for lunch on Thursday but those had to be rescheduled because he had something come up with work. It might have been okay though because the day before that we had Kenzie's well check at the doctor and then less than an hour after we left, Will started running a fever. It seemed to have topped out around 102.7 when I finally gave him meds. I waited because we know running a fever is actually not a bad thing and he was running the fever in the middle of the day so it's not like he was sleeping all night at the same time that we were which let me check on him more. I gave him meds eventually though because Will is our high fever kid. He can spike a 104 fever like it's nothing so when he shot up from 100.4 to 102.7 in about an hour, I gave him something. He had been alternating between about 101.4 and 100.4 prior to that which we were okay with. Anyway, he was pitiful so I didn't know that he would want to go to lunch the next day anyway. Then, the craziest part of all of it was that the next day he was perfectly fine. We wondered if Kenzie would get it but while she complained of a headache in the evening, nothing ever started as far as a fever went. We think it was either the weather or she was tired.
By the time Friday rolled around, everyone was feeling well. So, we decided to go ahead with plans to meet up with one of the girls from Kenzie's VPK class at the Winter Garden Fountains for a play date. We went down a bit earlier than we planned to meet her friend (hereafter referred to as "B" to keep me from needing to write "her friend" any time I want to reference her). B wasn't able to make it to Kenzie's birthday party this year because she was out of town so we definitely wanted to have a play date with her before school started back. She is going to be home schooled next year so they will not be in the same school. Though I don't know if they are even in the same zone as us so they might have been in different schools to begin with. They don't live too far from us, I think but there are so many elementary schools within a short distance from us that I'm never sure where the lines are. The Winter Garden Fountains were on our bucket list for this year. They are the least "splash pad" of the splash pads in the area as they are just interactive type fountains but the kids enjoy it. Plus, the area is super cute. Side note: They are working on approving a splash pad for us here in Apopka so I hope that works out well. The kids would love that. The other things about WG Fountains is that they are free as they are only fountains. A lot of the other splash pads in our area have small fees because they are far more serious splash pads. Kenzie had a blast playing with her friend. Will wasn't into the fountains. He never really has been. Kenzie was a lot like this a few years ago so I know he will eventually love them but this time... not so much. He sat with me and we chatted with B's mommy and her little sister while the big kids played.
We stayed for a while at the fountains and then had to head out to meet Daddy for lunch. We decided to go ahead and do it last week once Will was feeling better because this week Steven is out of town for more than half the week in Melbourne again so he will staying at a hotel again and not home at all. The plus is that he is going to be gone at the beginning of the week which we initially didn't expect so it means that he will be home for Kenzie's Meet The Teacher night more than likely. We are just waiting to see how long the trip takes him. There is the possibility that he will either be late if he has to stay through Thursday like he initially thought or there is also always the possibility he will miss it. The good news is that since we already technically met her teacher he was able to do that. He really wants to see her classroom though before the big day, her first day. The real downfall is that since Kenzie's bed gets delivered on a day he is gone, I am going to have to take her bed apart alone. If I have issues, I might be calling over one of my neighbors for help but unless a bolt is super tight or something, I think I got this. I plan to do it a day early and let her have a sleepover in Will's room the night before her bed comes because she has been asking to have a sleep over with Will. I don't want to deny them the fun. Haha! Alright, back to the Bucket List... We drove over to Steven's office and picked him up to go to Chick Fil A. We usually do Chick Fil A because it is close by and doesn't take too long. We didn't go into his office this time because most of his coworkers weren't in the office on Friday so there wasn't really anyone for us to visit. Lunch was good, as usual. Kenzie being her super helpful self, used her gift card she got for her birthday to pay for part of lunch. We are actually going to give her the amount of money from the gift card back to put in her piggy bank so that she can use it when she goes to the bigger kid group of church and can give an offering. We didn't have to rush though lunch because it was Friday and Steven didn't have a lot left to do in the afternoon so that was good. We didn't have time for the kids to play though so I promised to take them back sometime soon to do that. Hopefully the Kids' Club will be starting back up soon since school starts back this month. They love that.
That night we checked off another bucket list item. We ordered a pizza and watched Rio 2 that we rented from the library. So, marked pizza and a movie at home off the list. Nice and simple and we really needed a night to not do too much. The movie was pretty cute. I didn't watch all of it, but the kids seemed to enjoy it. We let them watch about half on Friday night and the finished the other half on Saturday morning before we left the house. After dinner, we went on a two and a half mile walk. Mainly to burn off all the extra calories that the pizza added on. Haha! Actually, Steven and I both were about 5,000 steps behind our daily goals and that is just too much. I'm okay not hitting my goal sometimes but I usually like to log at least 9,000 steps in a day. Typically, that is pretty easy for me as I rarely sit down at home but since we had done the play date and then met Steven for lunch, I was way off. Steven has a harder time hitting it since he works in an office and meeting him meant that he couldn't walk down to the library or anything like he sometimes does. No sooner did we walk in the door after our walk, and the downpour started outside. We made it back just in time.
Saturday we actually had plans initially to go to Weeki Wachee but our neighbor's youngest ended up having her birthday party that day. So, we changed our plans some and went to the birthday party in the morning instead. The kids had a blast. They had the party at the pool in our neighborhood and the kids spent over 2 hours playing in the pool with friends. It was fun.
That afternoon, after a nap for Will, we ended up going down to my parents' timeshare they had for the weekend. They apparently had points they had to use or they would lose them so they decided to get a timeshare for the weekend. It was down near Old Towne so it wasn't exactly close but we wanted to spend some time with them so we went down. We made it down there and gave Papa his birthday present since that is sort of what we were celebrating. His birthday is the day after Kenzie's and we weren't able to drive up to Palatka that weekend to celebrate so this worked out well. He was super excited with his Mamma Mia CD. He is apparently obsessed with the movie right now so we bought him the stage show recording (from London) and he was pretty excited. That's what you get the man who has everything. We hung out at the timeshare for a bit and then heard all the thunder starting as an obvious rainstorm was moving in so we elected to go to Cracker Barrel for dinner since it was right by the exit of the timeshare. When we were seated, the rain started. And it poured! It was pretty bad. We took our sweet time eating dinner because we didn't bring any umbrellas in. The kids ate a ton! They were apparently hungry. Actually, everyone did. I don't think we left any food of any kind on the table at all. It was good. After dinner we had my parents take the kids back to the timeshare and Steven and I ran out to get a cake to surprise Joe for his birthday. It was fun. He didn't expect it so it made him happy. The funniest part was that it was frozen from being in the Publix cooler and Momma actually broke the plastic cake knife thing when she tried to cut it. We had our cake and then got the kids ready to head out. We thought they might fall asleep on the way home, but they stayed awake. We got them in bed as quickly as we could when we got home because Sunday was going to be a big day.
Will has been waking up early (again). As in, right around 6:15 for the last few days so he was up pretty early again. This is actually something he does periodically that lasts a few weeks. Hopefully it ends by the time school starts so he can get a bit more sleep. Him waking up early on Sunday was okay though because we needed to get ready to head out to Weeki Wachee by 7:15. It was an hour and forty minute or so drive for us and the park opened at 9 so we wanted to be there then. We ended up taking 50 all the way across but it was okay that early in the morning. Steven nor I have ever done Weeki Wachee so we weren't sure what the expect. Our main goal was to go and see the mermaids but we knew they also had a water park that was included with admission. When we pulled up, we saw a HUGE line waiting to get in. Then a smaller line on the other side. After we parked the car and walked over to the entrance we asked why there were two different lines and were told that the long one was people that had to pay to enter. The shorter one was for annual passes (which you can buy separate for this park even though it is a state park) and people with advance tickets of sorts or something. Basically people that could walk right in. Well, because we have the annual pass, we got to join that line. Our state park pass gets two people into Weeki Wachee and kids 5 and under are free. So, we didn't have to pay and were able to wait in the short line and walk right in. If we had to wait in the other line... well, I don't know how that would have gone with the kids in tow. It was LONG. A few hundred people, at least. Everyone got in but they all waited quite some time. Getting in quickly meant we were able to get a map and schedule and plan out a bit of our day.
We decided to start (after a potty break) with the wildlife show. It was set back in the rear of the park and took a bit to walk to but we made it just in time. On the way there we hit a snag when my Rebel started experiencing issues. I was so upset. The camera is 9 years old though at this point so it has served us well. I think we are about to be working towards getting a new one. Anyway, the wildlife show was small but the woman giving it was knowledgeable. We saw a king snake, yellow bellied slider, gopher tortoise, and (of course) an alligator. The show was native reptiles so they are all something we have seen before in a show or in the wild but the kids always like these sorts of shows. They were able to pet Newt the Alligator after the show which is always a highlight. They act like it's the first time they have touched an alligator every time. I admit, it never does get old. Definitely my kids. Haha!
After the show, we took the trail back towards the front of the park but stopped along the way to take the river boat tour. It was a 25 minute tour down the river where they pointed out more native plants and animals. We weren't able to see the bald eagles that live there as they weren't home but we did see an anhinga and a ton of fish. No gators as they rarely have any since it is a 13 mile trek up the river to that point. Our guide said if any show up, they have to shut down the park until they can relocate them but it rarely happens. They had manatee a day or two before after the crazy rainstorm they had but they had moved back out into the Gulf so we didn't see them either. The water was exceptionally clear because it was coming from the spring so you could see through it perfectly. There were a ton of kayakers on the water. It is a 6 mile trek down the river to a stopping point where a bus picks you up and brings you back apparently so you don't have to fight the current to make it back. The guide said it takes an average of 3 hours to make it down the river. Steven and I decided that when the kids are bigger, this is definitely something we want to do. When we hit our turn around point is when the boat ride became super exciting. Apparently on the turn, we lost an engine. All of a sudden we hear the captain casually announce, "We lost an engine." Then... we hit a tree. Hahahaha! Oops. The guide asked "What engine?" to which a passenger announced, "The one that turns us right." which made everyone in the boat crack up. It became an interactive experience when they made everyone on the starboard side come onto our side so that they could push us out of the tree. Once we were straightened out, he was able to get the engine to kick back on so we made it back to the dock fine after that.
At this point we were deciding what to do and figured it was best to take a short walk to get a few pictures and then eat an early lunch before the Little Mermaid show. Before we ate lunch, I caught site of a mermaid sitting near the gift shop taking pictures with people so we decided to go wait in line. The kids thought she was awesome. She let them touch her tail and Kenzie almost immediately realized that they were't real mermaids but people in tails. That wasn't a secret. The way the shows are done, it becomes obvious but we talked about how it is still super impressive that she can swim like that. For lunch we decided to eat at the Mermaid Galley. The burgers that Steven and I had were actually pretty good. The fries were not as great but they weren't bad. The kids shared a chicken tenders lunch. They both could have eaten their own, but we would have been there for a long time. We decided instead to just go to the show and we would get them food later if they were hungry.
We got in line to go into the show and waited for the Underwater Theater to open. While we waited, we watched people out in the area where the show takes place and the spring comes out practice swimming in mermaid tails. Not sure how you sign up to do that but one day, I could see Kenzie wanting to try it. The theater is really cool. It sits 16 feet below the water level and has a curtain so you can't see into the water until they are ready. There are two different shows and we started with The Little Mermaid which is an adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson tale. Of course, they never used the names Ariel or Ursula or anything but it's how Kenzie referred to the characters. It was seriously cool. Those mermaids (and the prince and sea witch) were impressive. The show was fun and made Kenzie want to be a mermaid. Honestly, I wish I could be a mermaid. So cool.
After the show we went out to the playground to let the kids play before getting back in line to wait for the next show, Fish Tails. Again, we watched people swimming with the tails in the water behind the theater. Fish Tails was actually our favorite show. It was more about how they do the shows and the history of them. We were told about why they take the breaths from the hose. We wondered during The Little Mermaid if it was more about holding their breath but learned that they can actually hold their breath for a really long time. The air hoses help them rise, fall, and stay still within the water. They do not wear weight belts. To become a mermaid often takes a year or so of training. One mermaid showed off how they eat underwater. Seriously. She ate an apple. In the video before the show we watched them drink sodas out of bottles. I mean... come on. I can barely drink a soda on dry land sometimes without choking or spilling and they can do it underwater. The show was really cool. Will ended up falling asleep on me just before it started and slept through the whole thing. When it ended, Steven took him and we decided to walk over to the water park area of the park to let the kids play in the kiddie pool area. By the time we got there, he was awake and ready to go.
Although we all had suits to change into, we decided that because of time and the fact that Steven nor I were exceptionally excited about the idea of 72 degree water in the spring, we would only change the kids and let them play in the kiddie pool. This area isn't connected to the spring and due to its shallow depth, it was pretty warm. The kids LOVED it. They would have stayed all day but we gave them about 45 minutes before we had to get them out to change and head home since it was still an almost 2 hour drive home. We have decided that one day we want to come back super early so we can rent a big raft for all of us to go down the lazy river that is part of the spring. It was cool but the rafts sell out almost immediately upon the opening of the park so we would have to do it another day.
It took some coercing but we finally got the kids out of the water and changed. Then it was time to head home. We stopped at a gas station just outside of the park for a snack of pretzels and combos (for the adults) since everyone was hungry from all the walking and playing around all day. The drive back was just as easy as the drive to the park. We just reversed our route. Kenzie fell asleep about an hour in and slept until we got home. She was so overtired though from the weekend that it took her another hour or so to get her self together and ditch her annoyed with all of us streak. She was just grumpy.
We got the kids in bed around 7:15 in preparation for starting our return to a normal schedule. This is their final week without school but we want to stop prepping for our new routine. So, we sent them to bed and when they got up, they had to get dressed before they could come out to breakfast. Then no TV until they ate breakfast. Once school starts, there won't be TV at all. We did everything and were ready to leave the house (which we didn't do but could have) by 7:45 which should be perfect. We will not be leaving quite that early but at least I know we can do it without too many issues and have some free time. We will see how our continued school prep goes this week. We have a biggish week. Tonight (Monday) we return to dance for the season. This year we have a later class time so I am super excited about that because I can do baths before and the kids can eat dinner so when we get home, it will be bedtime. Wednesday we have Kenzie's bed coming like I mentioned and Steven is out of town until at least Wednesday but maybe Thursday. We are still deciding whether to go to Siesta Key or Longboat Key either Friday or Saturday as a last hurrah before school starts (even though we have a weekend planned with Grandma and Grandaddy on the East coast a couple weeks after school starts.) Just a few more weeks of the bucket list to see what we can get done. =)
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