Miami-Day 2

On Thursday, we spent the morning on South Beach. The water here is so warm...not like the cold west coast ocean that I have been in. Brian's sister and her family were here with us, along with his mom and her husband, so it was just some fun time to play with loved ones we haven't seen for a while.

Brian bought the kids a Boogie Board, and Les figured out how to catch a wave and ride it in to shore. They were all in heaven.

Thursday afternoon, Grammy & Gramps took us to a fun place called Flamingo Gardens. It has local plants and animals all in one place for us tourists to see.

First thing we saw was a peacock. At first, I got excited just for the kids to see the tail feathers. I had no idea that he would open them up and show them to us for a half hour. It was amazing.

This bird was right inside the main entrance, and it fluffed it's feathers and showed off for us too.

This is a lizard of some kind up in the tree. He was huge.

These little lizards were everywhere. The boys pointed out every one of them.

This is the big Banyan tree.

Me, Les, and Amber across the Flamingo pond.

The Gazebo surrounded by beautiful foliage.
These are roots of a tree in a swamp"coming up for air."

Amber didn't see this lizard, and nearly set her hand right on it.
Florida Gator
Amber in the bamboo. I love this picture.

Cousin Davey was determined to get a picture "riding" something. He was too chicken to actually get in with the tortoise though. All the boy cousins in the shade of the tree. Half of them are mine!

Hayden, Davey, Zak & Les

The turtles.

This gazebo was so pretty. The kids wanted to take a picture!

The kids in the Banyan tree.

A flamingo

A Pelican

A Rosiette Spoon-bill
Les learned about these birds in school this year, and was so excited to see one. When he found out that grammy and gramps were near the Everglades where these birds live, he has talked about it and wondered if they would see one. He never dreamed that he would see one!

The story behind this picture is hillarious.

When we first got to the Flamingo Garden, some of the cousins found a palm tree with some coconuts that had fallen off. Les was so excited, that he came running across the parking lot with all of the coconuts he could carry.....2......can you picture it?

All the adults and older cousins were doubled over laughing at the site! The younger ones (including Les) just didn't get it.

Nice coconuts Les! This spider was huge. And they were everywhere that we wanted to crawl into for a picture, including the bamboo.

Another Rosiette Spoon-Bill
This picture doesn't do this tree justice, but it was so beautiful.
After the Flamingo Garden, we met up with the rest of Brian's family for dinner and a night on the beach.