Bowler Family: December 2014-Florida

Well Ryan had a tradeshow in Florida and we had a bunch of miles built up so we decided to take the whole family for a little trip thanks to his seemingly endless trade shows (can we tell that after 7 years this chicka is getting a bit "over" this routine... so we'll try to focus on the benefits like this trip!)

After a bit of a hassle figuring out a mixup with the rental we had gotten a steal on we were able to hit the pool. Sadly it was a bit cool and stormy, but we loved it nonetheless!

Our distraction while dad worked on figuring out the mixup was walking around this cool mini golf place next to the office. There were all these animal statues and a ton of little lizards running around!

Ryan had wanted to go fishing out of the gulf side so we headed to Western FL a day early so we could go to Clearwater Marine Aquarium-somewhere we have wanted to go for a few years after watching Dolphin Tale years ago!

We took a fun little "water taxi" to the other part of the aquarium.

And a trolley back.

We got to see Winter-we missed her the first time not realizing what we were looking at ;).

We went to Busch Gardens and fed some animals...

Bird ladies...

Rode the carousel and some other fun rides.

They had a whole North Pole set up.

We went on an African Safari ;) and then went to Egypt. I didn't have any great pics, but all of a sudden there was a CRAZY downpour!! Like 20 minutes of POURING rain. We were all soaked before we could find the nonexistent shelter-apparently in Florida shelter is minimum!

That next morning we woke up bright and early to go meet the boat captain. Turned out to be a bit anti-climactic. Us rookies didn't bring warm clothes for the storm coming in, the captain was a bust because he wasn't prepared so after waiting and trying to make it work, going out and not being able to even catch bait fish (he did't have any ready)

we cruised back in so we didn't capsize ;). However we saw a small pod of dolphins hunting right by our boat-so so cool!! They were totally making a bait ball and then diving into it to eat. Super cool to see.

We got warm clothes and went out for a few hours on a more reputable boat-no Groupon ;).

He was awesome and we all had a fantastic time!

Red Snapper, grunt fish, grouper (not in season for a few more days so we couldn't keep them to eat), hog snapper, and a bunch more I don't remember.

And a puffer fish!

Alli was thrilled-she caught fish constantly. It really was like we caught so many fish Ilene and Cam got bored and started playing up in the sitting area and doing what they do best on a boat-sleep!

We stopped in Downtown Disney and ate at Planet Hollywood-so good!

The kids had so much fun dancing to the different music groups and DJ area.

Ali's artwork while dad was working.

Another day we went to Gatorland.

Probably a favorite part was the petting zoo!

We ran into group of sister missionaries while we were at lunch.

Another day out fishing-Ryan had a sailfish on within 10-15 minutes of being out! Sadly, it broke off right when he got it to the boat-but the regulation says it still counts as a catch!

Alli reeled in a Mahi Mahi!

Some amberjack, bonito/bonita (I don't remember)

Love that cute, giddy little fisher girl!

Seriously-not a boat trip without some good boat naps while trolling!

Alli did play dough, worked on homework, read, and colored in the downtime. I love that we can take our kids out on a full day fishing trip and the captain comes away impressed at how well the kids do-this guy says they were truly the best kids he has ever taken out and among the youngest.

The flight back.

Right when we got to Florida at 11:30 pm Cam hit his head on a retractable band post and popped it open :(. It was not a big cut, but just bled a lot. One lady asked if we needed an ambulance-nope, pretty sure it is okay...