Wrapping up a GREAT WEEK!

I see that Kim did some early morning blogging and said we were going to the aquarium. We did, and it did prove to take Austin's mind off of going home for a few hours. It wasn't the biggest aquarium, but it had some cool stuff. The clown fish were a big hit as the kids know that is a "Nemo fish." There were also sharks (Austin's favorite), dolphins, big lobsters, and some Manatee, which are found all over around here, I guess. Well, I should say, used to be found. I guess they are either endangered, or very close to being endangered. There were also some huge sea turtles. Austin became a big fan of these all of the sudden. In the gift shop Austin picked out a stuffed sea turtle, and Caitlin picked out a stuffed Nemo fish. We got a great picture of Austin actually trying to get his stuffed sea turtle to talk to one in the tank. I will post it when we get home. The turtle got the name, "Tuga." Which is short for Tortuga (Spanish for turtle), and the name of a sea turtle that Diego saved in one of the cartoons that the kids know by heart.

After a not so great nap time after the aquarium, the kids were a little stir crazy so we headed down the island to see Turtle Beach. This is a place that alot of giant sea turtles go to lay their eggs. Some agency comes out and marks where the nests are and tapes them off so you don't step on them, but you can easily see where they are, so the kids all week have enjoyed knowing where the turtle nests are. There were several on Turtle Beach, as promised, along with some surfers as there were probably about 5-7 foot waves there today, also. But, as soon as we walked 50 feet onto the beach we got hit with a downpour, so we ran for the car. It probably lasted about 5 minutes, but we bailed on it, and headed to the nearest DQ to get the kids a little ice cream. After that, we hit the Chick-fil-a (a fast food place that has awesome chicken sandwiches) not really to eat, but so the kids could get some time playing on their indoor playground. Not sure if we mentioned it a couple of days ago, but we took the kids there Wednesday night for awhile. They keep it very clean, much better than the McDonald's ones. They played there for over an hour and had a great time with the other kids.

We got back and took one last walk on the beach for this trip. We had an English guy take our picture (needs to go through photoshop to see if I can get it to look good!), looked at some sand sculptures of a manatee, a dolphin, and a mermaid and then headed up for bath time. The kids fell right to sleep and we are getting everything packed up to get an early jump on the road. Fay is raining all over Northern Florida so it will be interesting getting through it. We will take it slow if we need to and stay safe. We plan on getting to Macon, Georgia tomorrow night (7 hours), Bowling Green, KY (6 hours) on Sunday night, and then have only about a 3 hour drive home from there on Monday. Hopefully, with the storm, we can still keep that schedule.

We have had a great time this week. Some great time as a family to play and laugh and just have a great time. It has been such a great blessing for me personally because it just doesn't seem like I get time like this with the kids that often. Just to be connected with them and Kim for these 10 days or so makes me feel closer to them, and feel like we are a little tighter as a family. There are a ton of memories we will take, and hopefully can get down here a lot more in the future. To have a week without a storm and just enjoying the sun and water would be awesome!!! By the way, only Kim is going home sunburned...I am slightly darker (I used sunscreen), Caitlin is darker (even through SPF 50 - she tans really easily), and Austin is still pretty white (we make sure he is covered head to toe in sunscreen with his fair skin).

Thanks for following our travels with us this week! It has been fun to blog about our (mis)adventures!