An August Day At Silver Springs, Florida

A few days ago we spent the Day at Silver Springs, Natures Theme Park. We enjoyed it so I thought I would put some of our pictures up for viewing.

Nana on a glass bottom boat surrounded by some of her grandchildren.

Gus and Will are ready to roll, or maybe I should say float.

This may be Wills first boat trip. He keeps his eyes on everything. The pink cheeks indicate this Florida day is somewhat warm.

Sky is somewhat relaxed in Nana's arms. He only gets excited when it's time to eat.

As you can see, cameras were the order of the day. Digital cameras are greater than sliced bread.

Here you can get a better check on the days sweat level. On a scale of 1-10, it was probably a 12.

All of the grandchildren are trained to react when a camera is pointed in their direction. Some of them have reached the age where they no longer smile when asked. Sometimes they get tired of getting their pictures taken.

All of the older kids really liked the Carousel.

Of course their Mom's and the Nana did also.

More pictures of Nana, you can see she is still bothering that baby.

This little guy has not yet learned to smile on command. However, it does not take much effort to get a smile out of him yet. He loves the attention.

My toe shots for the competition toe shoot.

This guys job is to keep an eye on the forest at the back of Silver Springs.

This is a Jeep they said was left over from one of the Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies from the 40's.

These are the older boys. It would appear they were having a good time.

This is the American Alligator in its native habitat. This alligator is a wild creature that lives on the water flowing out of the park. This is not an exhibit. That is why we were in a boat.

This is baby Dee, she is also a tad sweaty. However with multiple feedings and diaper changes she held up remarkably.

Another shot of the carousel, we hit that a couple of times.

You can see from this shot that both babies seem to travel well.

The gardens at Silver Springs were well maintained.

Here is a topiary or two depending on how you count them, as a set ot two singles.

More greenery along one of the walkways.

My blushing bride, the infamous and world renowned "Nana".

A picture of one of the springs taken from the lift ride. The lighter colored water is one of the springs. There are multiple springs at Silver Springs.

Check out the way this tree grew.

Some of the glass bottomed boats awaiting passengers for a waterborne tour of some of the springs.

A group of tourists looking for adventure in Silver Springs.

Some of them start smiling when they see a camera pointed in their direction. Then you have to take their picture so they won't be disappointed.

Silver Springs has two white alligators at their park. You will have to guess which one this is. When we were there this one was on the right.

This large American Alligator has a private pen. The keeper said he "does not play well with others." They have one gator who lost a tail and another who lost a leg to this big boy.

This Nile Crocodile I thought was the scariest. It was obvious that when I was looking at him, he was looking at me. He kept positioning himself behind the glass to keep an eye on me. He looked like he would attack in a heartbeat if he had the opportunity.

This is a large American Crocodile and I do mean large.

Not everyone had a smile on all day long. This was not the only grumpy face, it just happened when I had the camera and nothing else to do.

Sea World In July

I have been to Sea World when it is really hot and now I have been there when it rains. I think I will take the rainy day over the heat; particularly when the rain causes the day to cool down and doesn't get muggy.

Sea World was not full to begin with and it seems some folks left during and after the rain which made it even nicer.


Of course, my blushing bride was there. She even brought her camera and took a few pictures. As you can tell, she likes theme parks; what you can't see is she loves theme parks with her grandchildren.

The first show we watched was Believe starring Shamu and his family. The killer whales always put on a great show. They can demonstrate an awful amount of power.


Here a sea world whale trainer stands on the whales nose as it comes up from the bottom of the observation tank. The whale comes much farther out of the water than this shot shows.


A highlight of the show for many is when the whales splash the crowd. The water in the tank is set to what Orcas like not what people would normally swim in. The water is cold and the whales can throw huge amounts of it. If you have a camera and want pictures you need a waterproof camera to sit next to the tank.



This is Baby D, 8 weeks old, doing her thing at Sea World. In this picture, she is quite damp from the rain, her hair looks somewhat plastered but she trucked on.


These are Baby D's toes. Every since one of my daughters took some shots of little toes on the beach we try to one up each other with little toe pictures. These aren't sandy, they were sleeping.


Nana and Isaac always have a good time wherever they are, rain or shine. It mostly rained while we were at the show staring Shamu. Then it drizzled for a little but it eventually stopped - a typical central Florida afternoon.



By this picture it is drying up a little, you can see Baby D's hair is not so messed up. By this time she has had her knickers changed, ate, barfed and is ready to go.


A shot of Ise and his Mom on the kids roller coaster. He said he wanted to go, but he also admitted that it really scared him. It's a real roller coaster, not as high as the Kraken and you don't go upside down but pretty impressive to a four year old.


A gratis smile.


Baby D liked to look at the quilt placed over her stroller. It seemed to calm her when she would get a little antsy. The Nana came up with that idea and Baby D really liked it. I just stuck the camera in the side of the stroller for this shot.


Check the facial expressions and guess which one really is airborne qualified.


Contrary to popular belief it is really the mom's who teach their kids to put their hands up during the ride.


A pair of dolphins at the start of the show.


This picture and the next one show how the dolphins move their trainers around the pool underwater.


In this picture the trainer has one hand out in front, while in the above picture his arms were at his side.


Here the trainer is half in the water and half out. Think of the amount of pressure that must be on him as he moves around the pool on that dolphin. Check out the wake.


The dolphin show has a lot of aerobatics, here are two divers going into the pool from on high.


A dolphin in midair, the trainer in the back is giving a hand signal to one of the animals.


Two dolphins walking on their tails across the tank.


A closeup of one dolphin tail walking.


An enmasse jump.


Nana and Ise doing their thing on one of the rides.


Is anyone ready to go?


Lets spin it really fast.


Who put this hat on my head?


It couldn't have been Mom, she is holding me with both hands.


There is such a thing as to much fun.


At this point Baby D still had it together. The actual meltdown came about 45 minutes later when we stopped to eat supper at Denny's.

A Wild Afternoon At Chuckie Cheese's Birthday Emporium

On a Friday afternoon that seems so long ago in a different galaxy, a birthday party was held at Chuckie Cheese. Here are some of the pictures from that gala.

Here we have they world famous Chuckie Cheese in full control of the situation.



You can plainly see who is the star of the show today.



This is a shot of "The Dancing Fools" in motion.



The star of the show does a solo.



The stars sister, who did not wish to be identified; is trying to maintain her image during this wild party.



The youngest cousin present decided not to get excited, which is a good thing. The boy can get excited when he so decides.



And of course there was a Nana present.



One cousin was enamored of the yellow bus. Just about everyone of his tokens went to drive the bus.



Here the star and her mom play a little table hockey. The star has a wicked little arm and had mom hustling to keep up.



Another shot of "The Dancing Fools"

The Incredible Hulk And Indiana Jones

During the last two weeks I saw both of these movies. I went to see Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull first, but the theater was full so SweetHeart Face and I went to see the Incredible Hulk. It was really great! A lot of these movies are really dark, but this one had the right amount of dark and anger. We really enjoyed the movie.

Then about a week later we got into Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. This was also a fantastic movie. SweetHeart Face and I both loved this one too. Jones' new sidekick fit right in and did an excellent good job

I see more sequels coming for both of these flicks.

My Father's Day Surprise

On Father's Day, SweetHeart Face took me to the movies and then we met our son, Rye, at Sonny's for barbecue. After eating we sat around for at least an hour catching up on all that had been going on since we went to NC about 3 weeks ago. We arrived home about 7:30 pm. I was in the house and SweetHeart Face was on the back patio checking on her orchids, and other plants when the doorbell rang.

When I opened the door my grandson, Ise, from NC was standing there. He normally doesn't drive since he is only four. Then I noticed his mom, Jac, getting baby Dee out of the car. About then, SweetHeart Face came in the back door and as she noticed the little legs behind me Ise stuck his head around me into her view. When asked what he was doing here, he said "You missed me." His dad had to go out of town for a week so they decided to come visit us on Father's Day (week).

Here is baby Dee laying on a blanket in the back yard. The picture has her almost smiling but at this point she is almost 3 weeks old so this is probably not a conscious smile, but she is soooo darned cute.

Here is a shot of Ise in the backyard. A clue here is that he has just seen Kung Fu Panda for the second time. He loves that movie and is busy collecting as many Kung Fu Panda action figures from McDonalds as he can.

Not bad form for a four year old who has never taken any lessons. Ya gotta love him, he is basing all of this on the Kung Fu Panda movie.

When he gets a little older, I bet he would really enjoy some lessons.

Here is a shot of him at the little park up the road. The town has a really great little park and this is part of the playground. We went over one evening after the temperature cooled down and he had a great time running around there. The sign says the park has been there since the 1920's.

During the week they were here, Jac went to visit some of her old girlfriends and the children's grandparents so everyone could get their first look at baby Dee. This is a picture of Ise in Cocoa that I really liked. I didn't go on the trip but it was reported that all involved had a great time. With the cost of fuel, a small vehicle was used to keep the costs down, but small vehicles carry less people (although still tightly cramped) especially when car seats are involved.