Enjoying Spring Break with the kids

Bryce and Hannah escaped the cold and snow of Michigan to spend a week with us in warm and sunny Florida – good choice – they had a beautiful week!

We kept them fairly busy . . .

Watching the Lippizaner Stallions perform

Such beautiful, amazing horses!

One of the most interesting things we learned about the Lippizaner Stallions is that they are born black or dark brown, and turn white as they age. 

The new baby!

One of the younger stallions came out to demonstrate the early training process – he was pretty feisty!

The shows they put on here at their training facility focus on the history of the animals and the family that brought them to the US, and demonstrate some of the skills that they were bred for, and what they now use in their shows.  Each day is different, and you really never know what you are going to see. 

Tom and I came last year, and were really impressed.  On this day, one of the trainers was not there, so they could not perform everything they usually do, and a very new trainer was filling in the empty spot.

Gabriella’s 9-year old granddaughter participated in the show with her mother and grandmother, and did a really good job!

Exploring the Riverfront area of downtown Bradenton

Riverfront Marina

Their vacation is off to a great start!

Silly Bryce!

A day at the beach on Anna Maria Island

Sunday was another beautiful day, so after church we packed up lunches and headed out to Anna Maria Island to spend the day at the beach.

So beautiful!

The kids were looking forward to getting a little color . . .

they were successful, but Mr. “I don’t need no stinkin’ sunscreen” got a little more than he planned on!  He was still whining when we dropped him off at the airport!

It was an amazingly beautiful day!

During the week, I got back to work and the kids were on there own for a couple days – they did some hiking, and some window-shopping at St. Armand Square, and Bryce had gotten tickets to a Tigers – Pirates game for Hannah’s birthday.  The Tigers lost, but the kids had a fun afternoon!

On Monday, Tom and I went to the Ringling with our friends Bill & Linda, for an evening of music on the bay.

It was a beautiful evening, and the music was very good!

What a beautiful sunset over the bay!

Roadtrip to Gainesville and Paynes Prairie State Park

On Tuesday, we all took a drive up to Gainesville to visit the University of Florida – Bryce is interested in their Physical Therapy School.  After our visit and tour, we stopped by Paynes Prairie State Park to look for alligators and wild horses at the Alachua Sink.

I had seen online that the trail beyond the boardwalk was closed due to high water, but we were amazed at how high the water was, and how different it looked from when Tom and I were here last year!

Last year, the sink was just a small pond surrounded by marshland . . . and we saw tons of gators hanging out around the banks!

We didn’t see a lot of gators, but the ones we saw were really big!

We sure were glad the gate was closed at the end of the boardwalk, with this huge gator hanging out just a few yards away!

Had to make the kids pose with a gator!

On the way back along the boardwalk, the wild horses were hanging out in the water.

We watched them for a while, until they ran off . . .

Everybody was hungry by then, so we took them to an eclectic little pizzeria in Gainesville – they have really good pizza and really good salad!

It’s definitely an interesting place . . .

One more photo op!

On their last evening with us, we went to dinner at Cody’s Roadhouse with our old neighbors, Harriett & Rita.  It was a delicious dinner with great company!  Hannah had a birthday while she was here with us, so after dinner, she was treated to a birthday brownie sundae and the typical embarrassing rousing version of “Happy Birthday” from the wait staff!

We loved having the kids spend their Spring Break with us, and hope they had fun, too!  I think they did!