We wanted to see the Everglades during the summer when it is the rainy season, so we took the shuttle ride in Shark Valley. Because of the extra water in the Everglades the alligators were more spread out and were not easy to see, although we saw a young one by the road and one large one by the observation tower. The biggest difference from our previous visit was that it rained while we were on our tour. The large open spaces allowed us to see several rain clouds around us while we were riding which gave the day its own unusual beauty.

It was a bit breezy for the ride. Sitting with the grandparents made it lots of fun. Grandma shared her camera with the girls to take some photos. Who knows what photographic masterpieces she ended up with.

At the half way point of the tram ride there is an observation tower that we climbed to take a good look at the scenery. Emily decided to have a one-girl race to the top. She won.

The girls took a minute and stopped moving to check out the view.

This is the alligator who greeted us at the observation tower stop. He had found his lunch of a turtle. We watched him for a few minutes from a safe distance and then went to look at other views. After we got to the other side of the road the alligator threw the turtle into the air and grabbed it back as it fell. It is almost like he was showing off for the visitors. We were glad the girls missed the excitement.

While visiting Miami each year we try to make a trip out to the beach to take photos along with enjoying the sun and sand. The weather during this year’s trip was not helpful for this activity. It was cool, windy, and more rainy than usual, so instead, we took some photos of the kids in the backyard while they were having playtime.

Ty was visiting his grandma for the afternoon and Lizzy came over for cousin time. There was lots of flower picking, ball kicking, running, and laughing. There is enough room on the swing set for everyone to have a great time.

The next stop on our trip was to visit with our Grandparents in Miami. it has fun people to play, places to visit, and a pool to swim in. The weather was unusual for our visit. There was a lot of cool weather and rain. It changed our activities during our visit, but we still had a lot of fun. It was pretty special to have cuddle time with little baby Daniel.

Uncle Robby with the newest nephew, Daniel!

Emily got a chance to hold the little guy too.

Lizzy is always fun to play with too. Here she is with her favorite toy, Baa.

Julia loved playing with the basketball and goal, Julia made up a crazy card game, lots of opportunities to swim, great play times with Lizzy, and being with Grandma and Grandpa was just icing on the top.

What a sweet little boy!

And he woke up so we could see his eyes.

All Aboard!

We rode Amtrak’s Auto Train between Virginia and Florida to skip a bit of the driving on the trip and to have a cool experience. We boarded in the afternoon on one day and got off the next morning enjoying two meals and one night on the train.

The girls waiting outside of our car to board.

We had two rooms reserved for the trip and they were across the aisle from each other. We discovered, as a great side benefit of this occurrence, that the girls could play in one room with the door closed and the parents could relax in the other room in quiet. It didn’t seem that we got to spend much time in the room just hanging out because of the early dinner reservation and early bedtime for the girls.

Mama and Julia were room buddies. She enjoyed setting up all of her toys just the way she wanted it. We were given small water bottles which she thought was just her size.

Daddy and Emily were room buddies. Robby decided to let Emily have her wish to sleep on the top bunk. This way he got to enjoy watching out the window as the world sped by.

We caught Emily just watching the world go by from the dining car. It doesn’t look like she ate much food, but she had eaten her salad and bread first and was waiting for dessert. Julia was so tired from skipping her nap that she fell asleep eating dinner and got her dessert later in our train car.

Julia slept on the bottom bunk and felt like a queen doing it. Only once did she check on Mama. She slept the whole night like it was nothing. This proved to be a great experience and was a nice way to cover the miles. The girls want to know why there are no other auto-trains that go places that we can visit. Mama and Daddy would be ok with that too!

Our trip took us through Washington DC on our way south and we took the opportunity to give our girls their first introduction to our nation’s capital. We only had one evening and one morning to explore, so we packed as much in as the sun would allow. For the evening portion of the visit we went to the Smithsonian’s American History Museum until close and then explored until sunset. This took us by the Washington Monument and White House. The next morning, we were walking around more monuments as the commuters made their way into the city. We saw the Jefferson Monument, World War II Monument, and Lincoln Monument. The rest of our visit was spent in the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.

While everything around the mall seems close, it is farther than the girls could cheerfully walk so we rode around a bit stacked up. You would think they would be grumpy, but they were so glad to not be walking anymore. The sun shade was a bonus when it decided to rain and both girls could hide from it.

Emily decided to be quite a ham for the camera while we were in town. Lots of smiles from the big girl.

Emily assisted Robby in giving a presidential speech. When we picked the exhibits that we felt would be most interesting to the girls, high on the list was the First Ladies Exhibit. It was a hit! In fact the idea of the presidency was something the girls seemed to understand a lot better because of the visit. We walked past the White House, we visited several presidential monuments, we toured some exhibits, and talked a lot about the job.

When you don’t get your nap, stay up late, need a snack, and are tired of dealing with your family, it is hard to keep grinning for the camera. At least you get a cool view of the world.

Some “monumental” moments – the monuments were interesting to the girls. We would have liked to walk over to the Jefferson Memorial, but had to satisfy ourselves with a cross-lake view. The other monuments we visited sparked a lot of opportunity to discuss what they were and some historical perspectives.

The Air and Space Museum is a bit overwhelming for a little person. There are things everywhere! Hanging from the ceiling, sitting in the walkways, and through doorways. We moved fast trying to introduce different experiences and ideas. Emily enjoyed the solar system exhibit because it was something her class studied in school last year, so she had some perspective. In the early air travel area they found a video with cartoons and didn’t want to move. But we weren’t there for cartoons, so we moved on. Julia seemed to enjoy most the things that allowed her to touch or interact.

We took a day and explored Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty. The weekend we were visiting was the official reopening of the statue after damage from a hurricane. Because of the re-opening there was high visitation, but we found that we could visit from the New Jersey side and get on and off the island easier. Julia had a hard time imagining where we were going although we described it. When we parked and she could look into the bay to see the Statue she pointed it out and exclaimed “I want to go there.”

The day was pretty hot so the girls were not excited about walking around the island to see the statue from different angles. Once we got inside and had some air conditioning they were more interested. We went up to the statue’s base and enjoyed the breeze and the view. After coming back down, we toured the museum and learned some cool facts about the statue. Emily was most fascinated by the repairs that have occurred over time. Julia enjoyed finding the life sized foot and face replicas.

We ended our visit with a bit of shopping and got our National Park stamps. We promised the girls each a “treasure” from our trip and Julia found hers here. The National Park has made a bison stuffed toy as a mascot for a conservation program. Julia fell in love and named it Honky. Honky the bison enjoyed traveling with Julia for the rest of the trip.