The Retired Persons' Dance

While at the St. Pete pier, we decided to get some grub for lunch. While there, we noticed alot of old people walking right past us and into this other room (hall). There was a live band playing songs like, "Kokomo" and "Sweet Caroline". The old people rocked!! There was tons of dancing and my kids (and I) were having a blast dancing in our booth and watching them bust out some moves. On "Sweet Caroline," they were all shouting, "So good, so good, so good!" and I thought I was going to die laughing. I told Rob I would love to be like that when we're old. He said, "Just shoot me now!" Well- at least Tae and I enjoyed it!!

The Pier at St. Petersburg

There were lots of places to go shopping. When we first got to our condo, we heard of an amazing place to check out. It's called John's Pass Pier. With it being only 1/2 mile away, we took off. There was tons of shopping, (mainly touristy stuff), restaraunts, and the pier itself was amazing. We saw dolphins jumping out of water immediately and felt as though we had finally arrived. Another great pier that we visited was in St. Petersburg. Their pier was also fun. It had an aquarium on the second floor and it was a minimal cost. We hopped on the chance that it might be fun and we are glad we did. This aquarium was especially neat because it had a touch and feel section. The kids got to hold crabs, starfish, and sea urchins. We saw an eel, some sharks, and an especially beautiful fish called a Picasso fish (?) It was very colorful and although I didn't get a pic of it, definitely look it up online... it's worth seeing!

Manatees at Tampa Electric?

Another fun (free)adventure for The Ro Fam was off to see the manatees. We found a place that had a museum of sorts that dealt with manatees as well as two observation decks for us to view them. The funniest thing was that it was near Tampa Electric, the power plant. The manatees ,(during this month especially) migrate to warm waters which just happen to be by the power plant. Here we are near the facility and below are the pics of the manatees. We saw dozens swimming all together. It was crazy to see that many manatees all in one place without being forced to.

Fort DeSoto pics

The kids on the pier at Ft. DeSoto...

This is a pictue of our family at Ft. DeSoto beach. We are literally surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico and it is simply gorgeous. Seashells were absolutely everywhere! The beach sand was sugar white and the water was the prettiest blue-green color. I could have stayed on that pier forever!!

Fort DeSoto

Fort DeSoto Historical Battlegrounds are right on the tip of a peninsula. It is surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico and is super cool and the beaches there are extra pretty. We climbed 90 stairs while there, which was a feat for the kids. Rob and I enjoyed looking at the canons and the fort. We also saw how it looked in the 1950's through many pictures. It doesn't look the same now...but is really neat to see. This is one of the many free adventures we chose to go on while in Florida.

Great Explorations- Dr's and Pizza

The kids got to play in a hospital. I told Rob I'd like to save this pic for when one of them graduates from medical school. Wouldn't that be so cute? In my opinion, Addison looks right at home in a lab coat. There was a brick oven pizzeria there as well. Rob and I ordered different toppings on our pizza and the kids had to serve us. They had to take our order, make the pizza, bus the table, and ring in the order on the cash register. Rob (towards the end) asked for a "Jenna Pizza" and made Jenna sit on top of the crust and pizza sauce and put herself in the oven. She willfully did so and enjoyed every minute of the attention!

Here are the kids with their pizza creations! They did a phenomenal job!

More from Great Explorations

The girls got to be on the weather by sitting in front of a green screen. Jenna ate this up!!!

Even Tae enjoyed the fun!

Jenna and Addison- anchorwomen extraordinaire!!

Here they are in front of the green screen!

More pics from Great Explorations

The kids are all firemen and policemen in this one...

Tae didn't quite fit in the firemen pants. Needless to say- he still thought it was cool to try them on.

Jenna climbed all the way up the fireman pole and then slid down. That girl has abs of steel!! She even is wearing the heavy firefighter jacket!

Here is Addison on a pulley-rope seat. The goal is to try and lift your entire weight. All the kids tried- and all the kids failed. They thought it was super cool when Mom and Dad lifted them up with the pulley though. Tae called us "super strong!"

Great Explorations- a children's museum

We went to the Children's Museum called, "Great Explorations" our first full day in FL. It was really fun. They had all kinds of things for the kids to do including dress up, hands-on restaraunts and grocery stores, all kinds of occupations to explore, and even a display on "The Wizard of Oz." Here are a few pics to look at...

This one is Jenna making music out of these huge tube pipes...

Here are the kids in Munchkin Land and Jenna is the good witch of the East in this pic.

There was a vortex tube simulating how a tornado works. Tae really liked it. This was in the beginning of "The Wizard of Oz" area.

Rob and I chilling while the kids were climbing in the treehouse.

Bunco Party and then... off to Florida!

The night before we left, a friend and I decided to host a Christmas Bunco party. Everyone brought a dish to share, and a $10 present and we played 3 rounds of Bunco... (1-6 each, if you know Bunco...)We had a great time. Afterwards, we quickly cleaned up and each took a bathroom break. Then- off to Florida we go! Rob had a 2 hour nap earlier that day and actually drove the ENTIRE 15 hours to Florida through the night! He is a machine!! Seriously, not even tired, he made it the entire way.