Fort De Soto, FL: January 4th

We made it all the way into 2010, still on the road, still have 2 adults, 4 children and one gnome!

We stayed in Florida for over a month. In the New Year we were in Fort De Soto, which has the #1 rated beach - it was beautiful.....but cold for most of the week!

Manatees: December 29th

We have seen a number of manatees this month: in captivity at Seaworld of course, but also in the wild at Everglades National Park and also close to two electrical plants, once over Christmas near Fort Myers and then also in Tampa by Tampa Electric. The manatees seek warmer waters and the water used in the cooling system at the electric plants comes out lovely and warm and becomes a manatee haven.

We were joined by the Geller's on our visit to Tampa. There were so many manatees, as well as a couple of small, lively sharks. Everyone was commenting on the high numbers this year due to the much lower temperatures of the water in the Gulf.

The dark gray blob in the water is a manatee!

Seaworld,FL: December 6th

We couldn't wait to get to Seaworld. We arrived really early for breakfast with Elmo and his friends.



We traveled on the Polar Express to see Santa, the beluga whales, walrus and polar bears.

We rode on lots of different rides, climbed the netting for hours, watched the Shamu show TWICE (we LOVE Shamu!), saw many other shows, walked through the shark tunnel, rode Atlantis and enjoyed the winter wonderland ice skating.








What a GREAT day, BB had fun!

Thanksgiving at Myrtle Beach, SC: November 26th

We spent the week of Thanksgiving at Pirateland Campground in Myrtle Beach, SC. We were camping really close to the beach so spent a lot of time jumping waves and building sandcastles.

After a yummy Thanksgiving dinner, we went to the beach with our friends, the Opela's. The kids had a great time jumping waves, unfortunately one wave didn't want to be jumped by Nate and swallowed him up instead! He was soaked from head to toe and quite chilly!

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN: November 8th

We all loved this National Park, the mountains were beautiful. It crosses over both TN and NC, so we checked off two more states of our intended 48.

As we walked down from Clingman's Dome, a BLACK BEAR crossed the path in front of us. It was running down the mountain so we didn't have chance to take a photo but it was exciting to actually see one; the Rangers estimated it to be about a young teenage bear.

Playland: October 20th

Caitlin's Aunty Debbie had got a leaflet about Playland so we took BB and spent a couple of hours there on the equipment and extremely slippery, just-waxed, slides.

London: October 14th

We started our London adventure by taking a trip on the London Underground, the 'tube'.



We did a lot during our day in England's capital city.....

gazed at The Royal Standard: the flag flying above the Palace to indicate that the Queen was in residence


admired the ornate gates


watched the 'changing of the guard' at Buckingham Palace


walked next to the 'guard' to St James Palace, along Pall Mall


posed next to the unmoving, buzzby-wearing guards


played on a fun playground


went on the London Eye


saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament


took a boat along the river to stop at the Tower of London...


...and London Bridge


It was a long day but so interesting for us all. We finished with dinner that included a yummy, bambinoccino!

Windsor Castle: October 8th

On the way back to Grandma & Grandpa's in Letchworth, we stopped for dinner in the city of Windsor, right opposite the Castle. We were excited to see that the flag was flying, indicating that the Queen was in residence. There were a lot of cars coming and going but unfortunately, no sighting of the Queen.





We had a great view of the beautifully lit London Eye from our location too.

Legoland, Windsor: October 8th

While we were in England, visiting family, we went to Legoland in Windsor for the day. It was the perfect place to visit during the week as everyone else was at school, it wasn't busy at all - we love theme parks without lines! Aunty Helen and Rae joined us and we all had a lot of fun (including BB - he's certainly a well-travelled and fun-loving gnome!).

Duck Race: September 26th

Each year our friend, Cheryl, along with her team, organize a plastic duck race, along the Brandywine River to raise money for breast cancer. They walk in the 3-day event in Philadelphia in October to raise awareness and funds for Breast Cancer.

Brandywine Outfitters, a canoe business run by our friends Rick and Colleen, host the event at their location - if you ever need something to do and spending a day paddling a canoe along the Brandywine sounds like fun, give them a call!

During our day at the Duck Race, the kids did a treasure hunt, went on a hay ride, had their faces beautifully painted, made tye-dye T-shirts, bounced, played, made crafts, ate and HAD FUN!