Florida Summer Vacation 2015 - St. Augustine

The second half of our vacation week was spent at my Great Aunt Wilma & Uncle Jack's beach house in Ponte Vedra, just north of St. Augustine.  The weather continued to stay hot and sunny so we decided to be tourists this time and visit the downtown area that we had not done on our previous 3 or  4 visits. We toured the Colonial Quarters, Pirate Museum and Governor's House on the first day, along with Elise (Kim joined us at the beach with a couple of her kids).

The boys loved the ocean water and wanted to run right into it, full speed.  We let them play in it for only about 30 minutes at a time as the sun was so hot. 

On another day, we toured the downtown area again as well as Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum and the Fountain of Youth.  Vince & I both drank the luke warm water from the springs. Vince said it tasted like "Florida water." The oldest school house was downtown.

This was a statue of the fattest man.

 This was a statue of the tallest man.

 Getting young by drinking the water.

We had a great visit at the beach and enjoyed playing tourists this time as well as visiting our relatives.

Florida Summer Vacation 2015 - Children's Museum and Aquarium

We drove to Tampa on Tuesday to the best children's museum on the planet.  I was so impressed I was almost ready to open one in Spartanburg when I got back home.  It was fantastic.  The boys spent 4 amazing hours there and did not want to leave.  It had so many different things for them to do, I can't even remember them all.  3 stories of fabulous fun, including a Subway to eat at on the first floor.

 One of the first stops was on the second floor right outside the arts and crafts room (they scribbled markers on a paper butterfly and then ran out the door).  They had a disco room with TVs and cameras set up for the kids to watch themselves dance and they got to choose from 8 stations what kind of music to dance to.

 One of Alex's favorite areas was the ball pit.  Evan enjoyed it to, but Alex kept wanting to go back to it over & over.

The fire station had a truck with sounds and a real pole they could slide down (once they get older & can hold on tight).

They shopped at Publix.

 Fixed food at Outback Steakhouse.

 Let all the animals out of their cages at the veterinarian's office.

 Fixed pizza at Carraba's.

Learned about the human body at St. Joseph's hospital.

On the first floor, they went fishing at the pier, caught a fish & drove the boat.

The entire 3rd floor was dedicated to the Wizard of Oz.  They picked vegetables, fed them to the cow, walked in a crooked house, slid down the castle drawbridge, and more. 

I wish we could go there every day.  It was so fun.  The boys were asleep in the car before I could put on my own seat belt.  We then headed over to the Tampa aquarium. 

After a long, fun day, we headed back to the house.  I think the boys really enjoyed their first half of our Florida vacation.