Florida Christmas Trip

On Dec 26th, we headed south to the sunshine state. After driving about 9hrs we arrived at our Airbnb on the Weeki Watchee River!!

Kayaks were included so we used them the next morning. Up river, the water was beautiful!

And just a short 5 minute paddle down the river was the star of the show! Hospital Hole, a spring where MANATEES come in the winter.

Since it was early in the morning, we had 15-20 manatees to ourselves!

Benny joined in the fun of playing with them. Is he touching their whiskers!?

My FAVORITE thing to do was scratch their back to see them roll over!!

After a good back scratching...

Some were friendlier than others. Hey Guys!

Extreme closeup...

Trying to make friends with Addy.

Maybe a trick and smile will win her over!

On our 2nd day, it was raining but Josh, Addy and I went back again.

This time to swim with the manatees and take selfies!

He's smiling!!

He kept following me around in the water. Nice to meet you too!

Back scratching and rolling.

Another curious friend nearby.

Come on Josh, don't you want to pet him!?

Good-bye AMAZING manatees!!

Hugs!!

On Day 3, we drove 2hrs to Orlando and stopped by Harry P Leu Gardens.

We went on a hunt to find 20 hidden Christmas gnomes.

And ended up finding 18.

I was surprised so many flowers were blooming. The orchids were heavenly!

The trumpet flowers were also beautiful. Ha!

After the garden, we went to Benihana's for hibachi to use a gift card from last Christmas. Thank you Neville's for this unique and new experience for the kids!

The next day, before heading home, we hiked the Black Bear Wilderness Trail 7m.

Such different scenery, a cypress bog area.

We had high hopes of seeing a bear or wild boar.

Loved the Spanish moss, palm tree combo.

We saw tons of boar holes and scat but only got to see one dead boar. Then ended up catching a quick glimpse of one on the side of the highway in GA on our way home.

Florida is a special place. Thankful we live close enough to drive there in a day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Benny went to a bowling birthday party with friends. And Jackson went to a party as well at Hudson's. I didn't sleep at all waiting for him to come home.