Back in Davie

We arrived in Davie/Ft. Lauderdale an hour later. It was so near to revisit our old home for four years. We remembered a lot about the town, our way around, and we saw a lot of new construction as well. This part of Florida will always hold a special place in our hearts!

This is where I taught! The school was all closed up for the night. 

Arriving at our favorite Cuban restaurant

Edward had to take Luke fishing at the med school, something he and a coup friends did often.

That same morning, Madison and Alex had the pool all to themselves.

Then Luke joined them.

We never had people in the pool. It was awesome!  The hotel was perfect for us.

No trip to Davie is complete without a stop at La Spada subs...yum. Luke conquered this beast.

Airboat Rides and Gators

We left Tampa and drove across Alligator Alley to one of our old favorites, Billie's Swamp Safari. We had not been there in 10 years, but things hadn't changed much. While most people wouldn't visit the Everglades of South Florida in the summer, well, that is when we could go. Because is the terribly humid and hot weather, they weren't busy, which was just fine with us.

They weren't doing an alligator show, but this was almost better. They were teaching some of their new staff how to do it! We got a free show, and it was really interesting to watch. This girl was good.

They loved the tortoise. 

Ready for the airboat!

We didn't see many out of the water because it was so hot. Our airboat ran over one, which was pretty cool. Because the motor is out of the water, the gator was not injured. 

Nice and swampy

While fun, we were all miserably hot and ready to get back in the car.

Busch Gardens

Our first big stop on out trek around Florida was Busch Gardens in Tampa. Thank you, Busch Gardens, for your military deal! We all got in free. It was a really hot and humid day, but that is what it is like most days in Florida. The park wasn't busy, as who goes there when it is that hot, right? We had a great time and were thankful for the afternoon showers that cooled things off a bit.

Ready for the day

We split up a bit in the park. Alex was one inch short of riding the big rides (47 inches). So Edward went with the older two while I hung out with Alex.  We still found some great rides.

We also found kangaroo.

And ostrich 

Alex was tall enough for this coaster!!

He wanted to ride by himself 

BIG hills

I snapped this before they took on the water rides.

Oh yes, I was there too!

That is my crew getting wet.

Another water ride to end our great day!

Vacation in Florida

We spent the last week of June vacationing in Florida. We wanted the kids to see where we had lives for several years and also take them to Busch Gardens. We really had a blast and have several posts for this trip.

Florida Welcome Center!

Next up, stop one of our trip-BuschGardens 

Daddy-Daughter Dance

Madison and Edward attended the Ft. Bragg Daddy-Daughter dance at the end of June. They had such a great time, and Madison was so excited to go after missing it a couple of years due to deployments.

While they went to the dance, the boys and I went to their picks, Red Robin and Dairy Queen. I think we all had a good night.