Outdoor Excursions

In my opinion, this is the best time of the year in Florida. The weather is mild, the bugs are hiding, and no hurricanes threaten our survival. I'm always sad when these months pass, so I'm trying to take advantage of the opportunities to do things outside.
**The week after Christmas we went "camping" at the Church ranch with some friends. That was the beginning of Florida's freezing weather, so we were grateful to be staying in a cabin with heat. The days were chilly, but still quite nice so we did a little hiking and exploring and the kids got their fill of playing in the dirt.

Aubree, Cheyenne, & Ella hanging out in the cabin

Aubree & Bryce playing in their "kitchen" cooking up pine cones - yum?

There were a number of tractors parked around the camp, which Bryce constantly ran off to see. I think sitting in the driver's seat was definitely the highlight of his trip.
**The other week I got brave and decided to take the kids to Animal Kingdom by myself. We'd rather go with Mark, but Saturdays always seem to get filled up by other things. The morning of our planned excursion, Bryce woke up and promptly puked. Scratch Plan A.
The next morning we resumed our anticipated adventure and managed to have a fabulous time with only one minor potential set-back (reminder to self and others planning a long drive - make sure little ones have gone to the bathroom immediately before leaving as there are no bathrooms in the parking lot or before the ticket entrance to the theme park - thankfully, we [barely] made it).
What made our day especially pleasant was the fact that there were very few people in the Park. In fact, we walked straight onto the Jungle Safari ride without any wait! The animals were wonderfully active. We saw a number of areas we'd missed on our first outing and visited some of our favorites again. I think I liked the Lion King musical even better this time (if that's possible). Both Bryce and Aubree were completely captivated by the performance and Aubree got to participate in the finale "parade." Awesome!
We all tuckered out fairly early and made it home before the evening Orlando rush hour. It went well enough than I'm planning to try it again...
**The other day the weather was fantastic so we made last minute arrangements with friends and went hiking at a local sanctuary. With so many little people, I can't say the hike was very far or very strenuous, but it was fun. Aubree ran ahead with her friends and had a blast, except for two minor conflicts. In both instances, Aubree was accusing her friends of being "too bossy." To which I must reply, "Hello Pot, meet Kettle."
Bryce was much more interested in the planes and helicopters that kept flying overhead than any of the birds or landscapes. At one point, there were three helicopters flying at the same time; Bryce was breathless with excitement.