Alligators

I knew there would be alligators around here, ya know, being Florida and all, but I didn't really realize how close they were until recently. One Saturday we were out for a drive, and I remembered reading somewhere that there was a lake in the middle of the University of Florida campus that has alligators in it that you can go and see. So we decided to go and take a look. I figured there might be a few behind a caged area or something. But to our surprise, there were a LOT of alligators there in the lake, they were not caged in any way, and you could literally walk right up to them to see them. If you were a daredevil, you could even try to touch one. It freaked me out a little seeing them so close up, especially when a big one we were looking at suddenly got aggravated about something and jumped out of the water, snapping at the fish around him. Nothing will get your adrenaline going like standing 2 feet from an uncontained alligator who suddenly starts jumping and snapping! Anyway, now it's one of our favorite things to do, go and see the alligators at Lake Alice.

 

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I'm not sure what kind of turtles these are, but they're ginormous, and they have long funny noses. There's also tons of them in the lake. Maybe they're a species native to Florida?

Makayla turns 6!

Our little Makayla turned 6 this last October! Seriously, where does the time go? Anyway, with us being so close to Orlando, we went down to my parent's house for a weekend of fun, which of course  meant having some serious Disney-style fun. And no, we hardly ever get tired of it. :)

 

 

Makayla got a Tinkerbell cake, which she loved.

Opening her pile of presents.

 

We ate at the T-Rex restaurant at Downtown Disney for dinner. So fun!!

 

Kylee and Papa.

 

Brian and Ella

 

Me and my baby. That blue area behind me is the "ice cave", one of the eating areas. It's seriously the coolest restaurant. The kids love it!

One of the dinosaurs by our table. Every 15 minutes or so, the dinosaurs come to life and roar and stuff. There's also a meteor shower that always scares the crap out of Ella.

 

Of course, we had to take the kids to the Magic Kingdom.

 

Us in front of the castle. For being October, it was still very warm.

 

On the Winnie the Pooh ride.

The new Dumbo rides in the new Fantasyland. There's now 2 Dumbo rides, so you don't have to wait one million years to get on it anymore. Now if they could just make 2 of every ride, we would never have to wait in line again!

 

We were able to do some fun character greetings, like Cinderella...

 

...Rapunzel...

 

...Belle...

...Mickey Mouse...

...and the Fairy Godmother. Their autograph books sure got a lot of use that day.

 

One of the fall decorations on Main street.

It's important to start your childrens' swordsmanship education from an early age. Ella's pretty good, she'll be earning her eye patch any day now!

 

In Frontierland, with Tom Sawyer's Island over my right shoulder, and the Mark Twain steamboat over my left shoulder.

 

I really think there is nothing more fun or magical than the Magic Kingdom at night. I took this pic of the castle at night from Adventureland.

And of course, no evening at the Magic Kingdom would be complete without watching the Electrical Parade. Here comes Pete's Dragon! I love the lit-up whiskers on his chin.