Keys!

 I'm so glad to be part of this family.  We stopped at the Manatee Observation and Education Center where there were 2 Manatee swimming in the inlet.  There were also neat fish and this gigantic hermit crab.  The previous carapace of the crab was 3 inches long!

 This was a great stop.  I'm glad the children had so much fun.

 We continued south and went to the Explorium in Boca Raton.  The playground there was more extensive than any I've ever been to. 

 The science displays and activities in the Explorium are so awesome.  They had a sound chamber to record the decibels of your scream.  G and P both got above 102 Db!

 We started spotting iguana as we drove south on the keys and it was sort of alarming as it became common to see a 4 ft lizard walking in the grass.  The children got competitive and claimed to have each sighted over 200!

We stood in line to get a photo at the southernmost point.  It was a long line but we did get this nice picture.  I like the selfie picture P took.  The lighting is great.  The line to take pictures with the marker was an interesting opportunity to watch people.  After waiting in line so long, some parties would take a group picture, then another 10+ photos of each person in the group, and couple shots.  It was nice to see that people were civil and took turns.

The place we stayed Thursday night was a little resort with cottages.  They had hammocks!

  Kayaks!

And a giant dinosaur!

We arrived at 5:30 as the sun was going down.  There were starfish in the water at the dock and the children enjoyed swimming as it got darker and darker.  The sunset was spectacular.  We spotted a sting ray off the dock that was about 2 feet wide.  It was really cool to see that in the wild.

We went to sleep early and woke up early to enjoy the kayaks, hammocks and breakfast before going to the glass bottom boat ride.

The glass bottom boat at Pennecamp was really great.  The drive out the captain drove 18MPH part of the way and it was crazy fast!  There were 2 glass areas to look out and see the reef.  We got to sit down and hang our legs over the side of the enclosure.  We saw a sea turtle, green eel, and so many beautiful fish.  The people in the other part of the boat got to see 2 nurse sharks.  The children were disappointed to miss that but were glad they got to see so many cool things.

Next we drove to the Loggerhead Sea Turtle Center in Juno Beach.  The older children participated in the Jr. Veterinarian class and the younger children discovered a playground and beach access directly behind the center.

It's so majestic to see Sea turtles in real life.  I'm so grateful we were able to take this trip as a family.