Tampa, Fl (Fulltime Families Winter 2015 Rally)

It's time for the FTF 2015 Winter Rally!  We're at Lazy Days in Tampa- we love this place! Newspaper delivered to our site every morning, trash pickup multiple times a day (no schlepping to the dumpster here!) and the ladies at the front desk dote on Bodie and feed him cookies!  Lazy Days has a restaurant called The Front Porch on site and we have coupons/passes for breakfast and lunch every day.  Life is good!  We arrived a few days early and we met a fabulous family with seven kids who we totally clicked with!  We went to the MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) in Tampa together, we went Geocaching together, and they taught us how to play disc/frisbee golf.  This was all before the FTF rally even began!  

Beautiful Walks Through the Park...Day and Night! 

Learning with New Friends!

Field Trips are ALWAYS More Fun With Friends!

Learning About Earthquakes!

More Hands On Learning!

HaHaHaHa!

Braden is Brave!

Night Swimming at LazyDays!

Hiking with Friends!

Christine and Her Kids Taught Us to Play Disc Golf!

They Even Let Mom Play!

Science is COOL!

One of Our Favorite Exhibits at MOSI!

A Real 3D Printer!

Seriously...How Cool Is This?

The 2015 Fulltime Families Rally in Tampa, Florida!

Mom & Her Boys!

On the Hunt for Fish!

Braden Showing His Little Brother The Fish!

Aaron Will Still Take A Selfie With Me...Braden- Not So Much!

Aaron Created a Bow With Materials Found On Our Hike...

Bryan Can Cook Some Amazing Meals On Our New Weber Grill!

The Strawberries Were AMAZING!!!!

Relaxing After a Hard Days Work

Aaron's Been On A Roll With His Science Creations!  This Is His Homemade Light Saber!

YES....Washing Your Hands REALLY Matters!

Learning About The Phases of the Moon!

Science Is Always Better With Cookies!

ZzzzzZZZZzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzz

Crystal River, Part 2

Here are more pictures and highlights from our time in Crystal River, Florida.  We did some exploring, fished, and enjoyed a slower pace of life here...

 Our Campsite in Crystal River

 Always Looking for Fish

 Fun Day Field Trip

 Climbing Ancient Mound Lookout

Another Angle!

 Interesting!

 We have found this awesome program - DIY.org.  It stretches the boys imaginations and gives them challenges and activities to complete that they may not think up on their own.  They can earn patches after they have completed so many of these challenges.  Braden wanted to earn his FISHING badge first (surprise, surprise!)  We have discovered that Aaron has a natural talent for Engineering and Science in general!  Here is a pencil catapult he built with common household items!  He is working on a few badges at once!

 Look at that SMILE!  This boy is happiest when learning in the sunshine!

 

 Braden convinced Aaron to fish with him!

Family Walk Through the Muddy Florida Trails!

 Sunday Selfie

 Sheepshead Teeth

Care Packages from Home are AWESOME!!!

 Visits From Nonna & PopPop are AWESOME, too!

 Aaron (AKA Mr. Science) testing his wind power theory!

 Packing Up!  

 Moving Day!

Crystal River, Florida

We arrived at Crystal River a few days early (due to the fact that there wasn't any cell service at Salt Springs and we really, really need that :-).

One of the major highlights of  Crystal River was the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park...probably one of my favorite state parks of all time (so far!).  Got in with our FL State Park pass (woohoo!) and had an awesome day!

Beautiful Wyland mural on the building

Do you see all those manatee?!!?!!!?  Absolutely amazing!

Hello, big fella!  These creatures were fascinating to watch...beautiful, gentle giants

Interesting!

We also "met" Lu the Hippo!  He was getting ready to celebrate his 55th birthday!

They had an amazing Underwater Observatory aka "Giant Fishbowl" (like a stationary submarine with lots of windows) where we saw massive schools of fish!

Look at all those underwater windows!

Mesmerizing...

Here fishy, fishy, fishy!

Schools in session ;-)

Who's that handsome creature?

We had a blast!  We learned about the manatees and saw tons of fish...and saw many native Florida animals...(the hippo was not a Florida native, but he is an honorary citizen!)

God Bless America

Salt Springs, Florida

Next Stop...Salt Springs Recreation Area in the Ocala National Forest

Quick stop at Publix before heading into the woods

Our campground was a short bike ride to the springs...the water is a constant 72 degrees but the air was a bit chilly!  

We braved the Florida winter temps (haha) to snorkel at Salt Springs.  

Braden did some fishing...

Aaron has a new toy...his Atom drop deck longboard.  The campground had great paved surfaces to cruise!  This boy can really move!

You can't really tell from this picture, but this was quite a steep slope...luckily Bryan stayed right by Aaron's side!

I was behind them on my bike, freaking out (and taking pictures!!!) 

This tree was ancient...and majestic...and massive!

The area we stayed in (part of Ocala National Forest) had so many of these dirt roads that led to different trails and recreation areas...it was fun to go exploring in the Jeep!  Some roads seemed to go on forever!!!!

Our stay here at Salt Springs was short (just the weekend). Cell service here was non existent :-(. Down the road we went to civilization!  Next stop...Crystal River.