Day 1, Day 2 and some Whoops and Whews

Day 1 and 2 of our Cruise Adventure!!

Meri and I headed to Minneapolis to catch our flight to Florida.  She drove as it's her car and no one but her can touch her steering wheel.  We had a great/snarky time on the drive.

At this point I was still watching what I ate...

We got to Orlando and one of my sister was circling the pickup lanes several times and apparently made friends with an old lady that works there and is on her Christmas letter list now.  Not sure how much of that I believe as the lady sneered at Ruth Ann as we all finally piled in.

Another sister and her kids who arrived 30 minutes after us had quite an adventure getting through customs.

But apparently that happens a lot...  And being a 13 year old boy, he doesn't ACTUALLY have a record now... :)

Meri got stopped too because she brought a metal antique jewelry box in her suitcase to hold her earrings on the cruise.  While it IS beautiful and non-threatening, the TSA had to unpack her carefully packed wardrobe to find it.  It took a bit to jam everything back in her suitcase.

We headed to a house that another sister had rented for a few days and we were allowed to crash at for the night.  BEAUTIFUL place!  Everyone has a netted in pool in their back yards.  Teresa and her family had left to pick up the pizza but had given us the code to the house.  

We let ourselves in and then hid behind anything in the house to surprise them when they got back.  I got stuck behind a desk that I slid behind.  Sigh...

After a quick, late pizza supper, we soaked our feet in the pool while we visited.  The kids played pool in the garage and got caught up.

The next morning, we all scrambled to get the house rules taken care of.  Towels thrown in the wash, beds stripped, dishes done, garbage taken out.  It's like I never left home! :)

But with all the helpers, it went fast and we were OUT the door!

In the two rentals that we had, I got voted off the minivan and rode with Teresa and her husband and son.  It was her son's birthday that day!  But no one remembered until later that morning when Facebook reminded me.  Thank goodness for Facebook!!!

Whoops!

On the way, we stopped for some coffee and then after spotting this on the side of the road, a photo op with the largest gator in Florida!

 Only AFTER the picture, did we see the sign that said "don't climb on the alligator teeth!" 

Whoops!

We had reservations for an air boat ride in Christmas, Florida!  

We had to wait a little bit for the boats to get ready, so we spent some time and money in the gift shop. 

Meri learned how to play Checkers!  She'd never learned before.  She could play Chess already, but we just never played Checkers!  I was wondering what else we hadn't taught her...

I might have to dig out CandyLand...

Teresa showed her the ropes and then Meri played the Birthday Boy, Alex.

The gift shop had lots of animals that we could admire, but not touch.  Leon told me to take pictures of all the animals that I saw so I obliged.

Several pythons and corn snakes...  Yikes!

AS SOON as we boarded the air boat and backed into the water, I realized I didn't have my cell phone with me.  SHOOT!!!  I must have set it down when paying for Leon's alligator claw in a bottle!  The driver was great and drove the boat back close so another crew member could hand it to me. 

Whoops!

A few other people out on the bayou, do you see the dog on there?  What a life!

The captain stopped the boat a ways into the ride and offered to take our pics if we wanted.  Everyone wanted one.  And he told stories about the underwater woods back there.  

And something about spiders as big as tennis balls...  We didn't see any.  WHEW!

We saw a few alligators tho!  Some closer than others. 

   But none that were acrobatic enough to jump on board and attack us.  WHEW!

He was just having a lazy day watching the birds on the shore.

Lots of cows grazing.  Apparently the alligators steer clear of them.  Too big of game.  

Made me feel safer.

 Flamingos!  They're pink from eating red algae then while living in this area and no red algae, they get less pink.  

After the ride, the captain promised that we could hold some baby alligators, and here they are!

And we all did, except Teresa.  She'd been there, done that before.

Ruth Ann

Melanie

Meri

 

She wants one for a pet now.

Yep - she's a nut.

Brother-in-law

The Birthday Boy

Jacob

 

and me. I thought I had pics of everyone else too, but may not have downloaded them.

AND we can't forget Pork Chop.  The resident pet pig that roams the parking lot and grounds.  

So ugly, he's cute.

Every time Meri pet him, he grunted like, "GET YOUR MITTS OFF!"   

She took it to mean, "Well, Thank you very much! A little to the left please."

Now she wants a pig for a pet.

And then we headed for the cruise itself.

That's enough remembering for today...

Catch you tomorrow for the rest of day 2.