Florida- February 2009

Busch Gardens

After visiting with the Day family in Sarasota we got a call from the Pelkey's suggesting a trip to Busch Gardens as they were on their way south and already in Tampa.  Being 2 hours north already we decided to do it... and for the second time on the trip we spent the night in the hotel with no luggage... it is a good thing that Noah is a flexible traveler:)  We had a blast at Busch Gardens and the Pelkey's were very patient to go on all of the parts of the park for Noah too:)  They did convince my mom to ride one of the roller coasters though:)  As a surprise we got to see Herman's Hermits in concert and Noah liked it so much he fell asleep... at least it was exciting for everyone else:)

Mote Aquarium

We got a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Grammie & Grampy Day and Sherri, Kris & Kara while in Florida.  Grammie and Grampy took us to the Mote Aquarium and out to lunch.  These are just a few aquarium pictures... of course the best pictures would have been while we were eating in the restaurant, but I didn't grab my camera... grrr... Noah loved spending time with Great-Grampy watching the sharks at feeding time, and touching all of the animals... including the rays with Aunt Sherri.  I was impressed that he wasn't afraid of any of them!  One of Noah's favorite exhibits was the loggerhead turtles... they has a little floor level viewing section for the little ones and they kept coming up and looking right at Noah... he loved it!  The last picture was probably Noah's favorite part of the whole trip... his new guitar... he somehow knew how to play it right away!

Sunsets- Naples & Marco Island Beaches

The first night at the Naples Beach it was cool and very windy, but Noah didn't seem to mind at all.  We got to watch a beautiful sunset... of which Noah cared nothing about, however this year instead of crying each time we tried to put him into the sand he saw the beach as one giant sandbox!  He was content for a long time to rake and dig along the beach... so long as the sand didn't touch his hands that is:) As a note about the sunglasses... he wore them all of the time!  They are just a cheap pair that came with a summer outfit last year... He even wanted to wear them on the plane and every time the sun was a little bright he would look at us and make a sign to let us know that he needed them:)

Naples Zoo

Although the Naples Zoo was a bit of a disappointment b/c all of the animals were sleeping, it was still warm and sunny:)

snowshoeing

We finally got out on the snowshoes this year!  We were hoping for a warmer and sunnier day, but it was fun none the less.  Noah enjoys riding in the backpack... Gabe doesn't enjoy carrying him as much these days though!

Noah's favorite part of shopping:)

Noah and his bags... why he insists on wearing them all around his neck is a mystery to me:)