Finally, Florida

I really did get to travel to Florida but it has been a while. I flew there at the end of April to visit my daughter,Tori, and her family. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed!

Jacob joined me in the Florida adventure. It was his graduation present. For the first few days, we stayed in a spacious condo on Merritt Island with Tori, Ryan and little Owen. We went to the beach every day and basked in the sun. It felt so good! Owen loved the beach even more than I did I think.

We treated ourselves to lunch one day at a crab shack on the beach.

The view from our table was stunning.

Grandma loved the rare snuggle with Owen.

Owen would sneak up to the beach tent that was set up in front of us and would peak around the corner. Soon, he was brave enough to boldly stare at the occupants.

Owen loved chasing bubbles and reading his favorite truck book. One day his book disappeared. We couldn't find it anywhere. We decided that he must have thrown it in the garbage.

One morning, we took a walk along the lagoon....

...and through a park. We didn't see much. We spied our condo and had a nice visit with some kids fishing with their Dad. It was a short walk.

Owen's favorite toy at the time was this turtle that he could ride around on. The seat was a container with a lid. He loved putting things in it--books, the remote, toys, etc. It didn't bother him if the item was too big. He would slam the lid down on it and try to sit on the seat. Tori found her lost keys in the turtle. Ryan found his missing retainer another time. One day, I saw Owen pull a banana out of the turtle seat, take a bite and then replace it. I found that banana, much browner, still in there a couple of days later.

We got to see some interesting wild life. From the condo balcony, we could watch dolphins swim in the lagoon below. This frog, which we noticed on our hood at the grocery store, somehow found his way to the handle and rode several miles to the condo.

We spent a couple of days in Gainesville. We watched millions of bats fly out of the bat house at the University of Florida. It was an amazing site.

Cowboy Owen showed off his horse.

We explored the alligator preserve.

There were alligators everywhere!

The wild flowers were beautiful. In our wanderings, Tori almost stepped on a snake.

We didn't come face to face with any alligators, though. The closest alligator, under a bridge, was about 8 feet away.

We wanted to eat lunch at Tori's favorite pizza place but it was closed. We settled for a tour of that fascinating place created from junk.

We took an ice cream break in the afternoon after doing some shopping.

Tori bought Owen a leash with a doggie backpack. We had to try it out. We put on his cowboy boots and went for a walk.

We found a real dog to pet.

The last evening of my stay, Owen and I had a squeal-filled game of hide and seek. We also created playdough balls. Owen would hand me a piece of dough and say "ball". That was my cue to make one.:) Love the boy! I sure do miss him.