How we celebrated 3 years of marriage.

So this is going back a ways, but I thought I should share this!

In the past we've gone on overnight trips to go see a different state or city for our anniversary. Logan then Billings. This time we decided that since we had just driven through 9 different states and many different cities, we would just stay local. Luckily, everything's new to us in Florida!

We had heard about the airboat rides on the Everglades, and thought we would check it out. We went to Sawgrass, which is about 30 minutes away. Imagine our joy when we found out that since we are now Florida residents, we get a year free! (Now we just need to get our Florida licenses before we go back.)

I was amazed at the airboats. I expected us to avoid the plants, like they do on regular boats. Nope, we just drive straight over them! It was a weird feeling.

A few minutes in, the tour guide turned off the boat and we all took out our earplugs. And there we saw it... A big old gator! He was HUGE.

It's a little disconcerting to look an alligator in the eyes.

I got this and the next picture as he was swimming away. He was easily 8 or 9 feet long... big boy.

Part of the Sawgrass park was a reptile exhibit. As soon as we walked over there, I saw a sign that said "Hold a baby alligator!" HECK YES. So we ran over and asked when the next one was, and they said about 10 minutes. So we ran over to the tour group. We also saw some newborn alligators, which were actually cute and tiny.

The alligators they had us hold were much bigger. The mouths were taped shut, so we got into the spirit of it without the fear of our mouths being bitten off.

See how happy the alligators are? One of them pooped all over someone... luckily not me.

New rule- whoever comes on an airboat ride with us must kiss the gators! Or at least pretend, then wash your mouth off with hand sanitizer.
We saw some other alligators that we will not be kissing any time soon.

Those things were mammoth, easily over 12 feet long. No thank you!

Peacocks roaming the grounds... hopefully not food for the gators.
There some other amazing animals there, including a black panther (not the group). You can barely see it here, but it was pretty impressive.

Of course they had a skunk to pet... named Chanel. It's a little scary when its tail is facing you.
On our way back, we tried to find some new place to eat, and ended up at Little Havana restaurant. It's Cuban, and delicious! Brandon was excited to eat fried yucca again.

Overall a low-key and pretty inexpensive anniversary trip, which made it great!

Wow... we are here. And I have SOOOOO much to catch up on.

But for now, I will say we are here and are LOVING it.

Ok, one picture.

Yes that is the beautiful Atlantic Ocean behind me. It is a block and a half behind our apartment, and I LOVE it. Even though the purple flag flies a lot, which means hazardous animals in the water. It is still beautiful and WARM.

The Exodus Down South- Day 5

Our third day in Dallas started off the same... shenanigans with Dane, then it was off to the Forth Worth Stockyards! It's a historic site, where there used to be hundreds of thousands of livestock traded every day. Now, there's just tens of livestock there, but they've preserved it to be how it was in its prime. Makes for a fun Western day!

Dane with Uncle Brandon... I can't tell him any animal is "sad" because he translates that to his "sad" (dead). But the horses did look sad.

Cutie kept turning around wherever he was to smile for the camera.

We saw Annie Oakley's star.

Bucking bronco.

Some of Texas Ranger was filmed here.

They also had horses and longhorns on display, and we thought it was too cute to pass up.

Seriously. How cute?!

The worker didn't tell us until NOW that it cost money to have Dane on there, and that if I "had" taken a picture of Alyse it would have cost even more. Good thing I didn't get that picture, right?

We got to watch a cattle roundup, it was so impressive to see how big those longhorns get!

We went to lunch in one of the local restaurants, and this is probably the funniest sequence of pictures I've ever taken.

Notice how he is looking to Brandon for approval. He's a man's man.

Come on Dane, do it again.

Dane eating a lemon, everyone.

He also made a car transporter out of his car and truck.

It was a really fun day.

The Exodus Down South- Day 4

Our second full day in Dallas, we found out one of Dane's funniest new tricks. He will run and hide in the corner, and say, "I crying corner." So I started hiding inthe  corner too, and he would direct me to different corners then spank me as soon as I was "hiding".

See? Hilarious.

We headed to downtown Dallas, to see Dealey Square (where JFK was shot) and the Perot Museum. Funny Dane story... While we were trying to find the Square we were about to pull into a parking lot where you have to pay and I said, "Dang it!" From the backseat I heard "Dang it, dang it, dang it!" Hahahaha. But it was raining so I just snapped a picture.

The museum was amazing! We first went to a dinosaur exhibit, where the highlight was definitely a digging exhibit for the kids. We put some goggles on Dane, and he went to town. He kept saying, "Mommy, I goggles."

The rest of the museum was pretty standard. We did find an "Ibex", which was one of Dane's favorite animals. The picture was about 2.3 seconds after he was laying on the floor screaming.

We had heard about the food trucks nearby, and as it turned out Google Maps led us the wrong way for over a mile. It was across the street from the museum. We got some lamb tacos and Dane played in a splash pad. We think he liked it!

He would follow the other kids around, trying to hug them and copy them. If they backed up into the fountain, then so did he.

On our way back to the car, he said, "Mommy, I happy." And sang the "Happy" song. What a cutie.