Hello Georgia and Tennessee!

We drove a LONG day from Florida to our state park, High Falls SP in Georgia.  It was a gorgeous park that we drove into late that night.  A very narrow, "gorrillas in the mist" experience pulling our big rig into the unknown.  However, we grabbed a site easily and put the kids to bed.  However, Matt quickly got them back up to see the gorgeous show outside our door.  Lights flashing all around us.  Fireflies.  It was beautiful.  In the morning, Matt took off on to explore world class mountain biking trails at Dauset Trails Nature Center.  He came back refreshed and glowing from the rides.  The kids had their own adventure.  They discovered two abandoned kittens living in a tunnel.  Sweetest, most beautiful white kittens.  Uh oh.

 

I made the kids leave the kittens while we continued on our exploration of the "high falls".  Great rocks with lots of tadpoles and tiny frogs to catch. When we returned from the hike, the kittens had been snatched up by another family with two teen girls.  I was glad they had a new home, so we didn't have to make that decision. Can you imagine two kittens trailing along this adventure.  I had started to..... 

We went on to the nature center to discover a animal reserve.  Felt bad for this eagle trapped in a cage for the rest of his life.  He should be soaring in Montana.

My handsome boy, Alex showing off the Georgia vines and forest.

 On to Tennessee.  These southern states are simply gorgeous.  This was a rest stop near two huge rivers on the Tennessee border. 

Into our next state park, Old Fort Stone SP.  Tanner and Alex had picked up some army guys and were busy setting them up a the picnic table.

Elise showing off her oreos in the Tennessee forest

The trees changed from the dense vines of Georgia to these skinnier wispy trees of Tennessee.  Each beautiful in their own right.

The next day, we were on to a very popular state park, Montgomery Bell SP.  We had a 200 mile day planned through the back roads to the park which could not be reserved.  It was a busy beginning to the Memorial Day weekend, so we were nervous to get a spot.  Instead, we got lost.  It's no fun trying to figure out where you are at, turning around a 37 foot RV and car in an unknown city.  After finally figuring out where we were going, we pulled into the desired park only to find NO sites left.  It had 20 miles of famous  biking trails that we sadly left behind.  Unfortunately, the RV park we had to chose was a dumpy old park right by the interstate.  Not a great end to a stressful day.  However, Pizza Hut does deliver to the pool area of RV parks.  On to brighter pastures today.....hopefully.  Kentucky, here we come.

Hillsborough River State Park and Geocache Treasures

Happy to spend Matt's 39th bday with Marjy and Bob in their house in Riverview, Florida.  Marjy went all out with pool toys for the kids and Bob bought brand new motor boats that were a huge hit.  We all had a great afternoon celebrating! 

Our state park was fantastic with these moss trees that intermingled with the palm trees.  This particular state park hosts a Haunted forest on Halloween and I can see why it's such a huge hit.  At night, these woods would be SPOOKY!  We explored on our bikes several trails and even went geocaching for the first time with Aunt Marjy.  The kids had a blast treasure hunting with GPS.  There were three hidden boxes in this park alone. 

The rockers was a HUGE hit!

Matt took Alex (his only taker) on a kayak ride down the Hillsborough river.  It is full of aligators, but they didn't see any.  Matt was disappointed....I was not.

After hiking to find the geocache stache. 

Gorgeous river view.

Just too much fun for little miss

Suspension bridge over the river. 

We have hit over 12 different pools and 4 beaches in our adventures.  I think the kids have fins growing on them.  This was the enormous pool at the state park.  Tanner thought he spotted a "poo" in the water as we arrived and he was snorkling.  The rangers came and were prepared to shut down the pool (on a very busy Sunday afternoon), but to everyone's relief, it was just a huge leaf.  Tanner was so sure that everyone else was wrong that he left the pool for an hour, sulking.  You'd have thought he'd be happy, but I think embarrassed was the word.  Hard to get a lot of attention for something that didn't exist. 

Our last days at Disney

Animal Kingdom was one of our favorite of the four major parks.  The safari was long, enjoyable and about as real experience as you can get with wild African animals.  We did the safari 2x.

The parades were a favorite of all the kids. Something about being that close to the characters they know and love.

She spent her last $3 on a mickey ice cream sandwich.

I think I like Goofy the best now. He's just so goofy.

Blizzard Beach, our 2nd day there.  We LOVED this waterpark.  Best we've ever been to.

The whole park is ski resort themed.  Fantastic scenes

We all had to try the big ride at the park.  It's an immediate 12 story drop that takes your breath away (and your shorts).  One Australian guy got up after sliding down, with his shorts still squarely in his bum and said to the life guard, "cheers mate" and moved on. 

12 story drop, with up to 70 mph.  I hit 72.

What a ham they are, even at the end of the day.  Check out Alex kissing his huge muscles.  Where does he get this stuff???

 

 Trying to get these photos side by side, but this will have to do.  This is what the girls do while the boys play on the big rides at Disney.  We try on all fancy hats, hairstyles, jewels, ect and then take photos of each other.  I think we had more fun.

Alex, at the ski patrol training part of Blizzard Beach waterpark.  He LOVED this section. 

Disney World and the crazy busy Florida

Excited on our first ride from the parking lot to tickets

We were greatly anticipating Disney World and I had downloaded an app on my Ipad giving us the inside scoop on the best parks to avoid and attend for limited crowds.  Well, everyone else and their dog must have downloaded the same app, b/c the Magic Kingdom was a nightmare of people on Sunday, Mothers Day.  The lines were long and navigating amongst the masses was so tiring.  Aunt Marjy joined us for the day and was truly a bright spot. She was able to get us her military discount which saved us about $500 in tickets for the week.  I wasn't sure if we'd make it a week after Sunday.  What a let down for the kids and us. 

On the way in...stopping in a crowd is interesting!

Elise and I trying on hats we would never buy for $26/each

 

However, Monday came and the crowds lessened.  We noticed that we had been avoiding the character greets b/c the lines were so long for them (and who cares about characters).  Well, turns out, the kids cared.....meeting Mickey, Goofy, Minnie, Donald and Pluto was a highlight.  Elise had said as we were leaving the first day, "I didn't even get to hug anybody Disney".  We knew that we had to change that. 

finally a hug

At Epcot, Monday night...rains were falling, rides were a dud and I asked the kids to pose once again....here's what I got.  We were all feeling it, she just doesn't mask the fact.

Fireworks were cool at 9pm

The waterparks have been a saving grace.  Their favorite is Blizzard Beach with a snow mountain theme.  This one is Typhoon Lagoon with a tropical theme.  Both parks were awesome and the crowds were miminal which was even better.  The boys did a 12 story drop on one of the slides.  Real shark reef swimmng experience, huge wave pools and long lazy rivers made for a great start to our first two days.

At the front of the park looking at the ship wreck ride

The "real" Florida

We have enjoyed traveling the southern states so much.  The state parks are simply amazing and access to beach life has been incredible.  We don't see a whole lot of the sea up north, and when we do it isn't that warm.  Here, life is ridden on bicycles with snacks in tow and towels on the white sands.

Our view from our spot in Gulf Shores State Park, Alabama.  We sat on a lake filled with alligators, but only saw one head peek up.  They live amongst them down here which is fascinating to me.  Alligators are not our friends, I'm pretty convinced.

Frog catching was big business and the boys made the most of it.  Dr. Phil was the first, and Froggie next.

A sign in the park as we walked.  The RV is in the background

On to Fort Walton Air Force base, where there is Blue Angels practice days and the huge Naval Aviation Museum.  Lots of aircrafts to explore and climb into.  Awesome diversion on our way to Destin, Florida.

He loves this stuff.  Doesn't enjoy flying though, but still thinks he might be a pilot someday

Magestic blue angels planes.  Love these

We made it to Destin, Florida which sits on a peninsula on the tip of northern Florida.  Here we stayed at Henderson Beach State Park.  This was by far the hardest park to get into, and we had to move spots for our two nights.  Fantastic wooded area with bike trails leading to the beach walk down to the beach.  The kids were so excited that we jumped on our bikes (leaving Dad to set up camp) and flew to the beach witout suits.  They stripped down to undies and went in.

The walkway to the beach

Play, build, swim, eat, play, build, dig, swim...what a life

The water was this indescribable blue/green color.  It had some algae floating around but clear, clear waters as far as we could see.  This day, we followed what later turned out to be a manatee about 15 feet off the beach.  Just a huge dark shadow that loomed, bobbing up gracefully every once in a while. We followed him down the beach about 2 miles gathering a crowd behind us....all of us wondering what it was.  Bull sharks are frequent sea life here as well as sea turtles who are currently laying eggs on the beach.  We learned that it's a federal offense to touch a sea turtle or her eggs on the beach. 

Elise and mommy enjoying the waters

Tanner, got to love this creative child.  He duct taped his flashlight to his bike, so he could see better at night.  Even though he never rides his bike at night.  But, just in case...

Met another homeschool family of three. All girls.  Not sure why, but we keep meeting these families with only girls. They were very sweet and loved playing at the amazing new pool at the Gulf State Park. 

A view of the beach as a nightly storm was about to hit.

Happy boys exploring airplanes at the museum

Our RV has proven to be a work in progress. We had a terrible sewer smell that kept us up all night the second night in Henderson SP. We thought it was our new site, and so we immediately packed up and moved planning to complain.  However, when we parked at the beach access point (below), we noticed that the smell came back.  Since then, we discovered a busted pipe in the shower.  All that gray water was stinking things up.  Matt is such an amazing handyman, that it is since fixed after several trips to Home Depot.  I feel bad for him every time there is another problem at the wheel and beyond.

By the way, all the signs up here say, "thanks for visiting the real Florida".  I think there is some competition with the southern part of the state.  We must say that we fell in love with northern Florida.  Matt says, no allergies, beaches, warm weather, mountain bike trails....pretty close to paradise for him.

E and I relaxing on our last day in Destin