Airboating in the Everglades

Josh has a sort of Florida bucket list that he has been making check marks on since we got here. One of the items on that list was to go on an airboat ride in the Everglades. I have to admit, I wasn't all that excited about this one at first. I wasn't really sure it would be worth the drive or the money, but I'm glad we did it. Even the kids were a little skeptical at first, but we heard Samm tell James "That was a lot more fun than I expected!" our driver was a younger guy (6th generation Everglades resident and airboater) and he seemed to be having fun showing off a little for the kids. His maneuvering skills were pretty impressive.

Laila had a scowl on her face the whole time, but she was loving every second of it.

There are a lot of raccoons that live in the area, and they are not afraid of people at all because all of the drivers stop their boats to give them snacks. Our guy was handing out Gatorade that day and we ended up with about six of them all trying to get a drink at once.

The fans on the back are no joke. They are huge!

As part of the airboat price, you also get admission to a little animal reserve close by. Some of it made me sad, because they had several big cats in very small cages, but holding the baby alligators was a lot of fun. They are a lot more soft and squishy than I imagined.

Samm would have stayed and held the alligators all day if we would have let her.

Laila wanted to hold him, but he was a little too wiggly for her.

Macy was pretty nervous about holding one, but finally at the very end decided she wanted to. Not without the towel though, in case he decided to scratch her.

 

This is Charlie.

This is Charlie's tooth that he lost while we were there. Our kids were pretty involved in asking the guy a lot of questions so he gave us the tooth as a souvenir.

 

These tigers had the biggest cage, but I can't help thinking they belong in the wild. Must be all the books the kids and I have read lately about big cats. They are beautiful animals!



 

 

 Since the airboating was only an hour away from Beau and his family, we went and stayed the weekend with them. And on that Sunday was the Fort Lauderdale temple dedication, so it was nice to have someone to swap babysitting with while we went. The only picture I have with their family from that weekend though is this one of Paisley giving me a hair do. She did a great job!