Summer is heating up in Florida and weāre looking for ways to cool off but also save a little money! Check out the rec centers in your town, many of the ones in Tampa Bay have waterslides and you donāt have to be a resident to go, you just pay a little more.
Hereās a list I put together of Rec centers with water slides. There are more that I will be adding to the list too, but check your local Rec or Aquatic center. Other places with waterslides include the YMCA.
Have you tried finding sharks teeth? Anywhere along the Venice coast youāre bound to find some, it just takes a little hunting!
Over the weekend a storm came through so we headed out to look for more shark teeth! This time we tried another beach well known for teeth, Blind Pass Beach on Manasota Key.
The surf was rough, too rough for the kids to look but James and I managed to scoop in between waves about waste deep and we ended up finding twice as many teeth as our last trip!
So far weāve just been using these $5 kids beach nets and a sand dipper tool. It would be nicer to have something with a longer sturdier handle but for now weāve totally managed with this!
To find the teeth you donāt have to look anywhere special, just walk in and start scooping! When you go to these beaches the thing Iāve noticed is that no one is really sunbathing, everyone is looking for shark teeth or shells. The beach was not overly crowded at all and we had more than enough room to spread out and search.
The first thing you notice about Caspersen Beach is the water, it looks extra blue, and the sand is speckled black. Thatās because the sand is actually made up of the fossils and minerals of crushed up sharkās teeth! After a quick google search š Millions of years ago when Florida was under water the beaches area filled with sharks, now all thatās left are their fossilized teeth.
It didnāt take us long to find our first tooth, within the first 10 minutes š¤ This was our first time going and we will for sure be back! The other cool thing to mention about this beach is the airport is right next door so you get an incredible view of small planes taking off and landing the whole time!
Have you ever found a sharkās tooth? Where do you like to go? š
Found the cutest lunch bag to take on all our adventures! Itās the perfect size and we love the design. The best part is that itās waterproof, insulated, and easy to carry! We canāt wait to bring it on our next outing! Check it out here: Bag
Last year I shared our visit to Myakka State Park, we always go around Motherās day. The park is a beautiful spot to hike and it makes a great family tradition. š¼
Officially out of the minivan club and Iām so excited! James surprised me for my birthday with an suv!! I have been dropping not so subtle hints for the past year that I wanted one š¤š¤£
I begged to get that minivan when Harper was born. With 3 kids in car seats we definitely needed room, and the automatic doors made life so easy with a new born šš» Now they are all out of car seats and no more strollers, so it was time! š
Of course I never did anything with the van, but I canāt wait to start making her mine and add some customizations.
Do you like to customize or modify your vehicles? š
It all started because Liam wanted to go mini golfing. I hoped on Groupon and found not only Mini golf, but a Petting Zoo, Ice Cream, Antique Shoppe, and Citrus Store, and Dinosaur cave all in one! The price was good too, the Groupon is $49.95 for 6 people for all the stuff, Perfect price, done!
The reviews were interesting, something like āIāve never seen anything like it!ā Or āYour eyes wonāt know where to look firstā They weāre all very intriguing and positive!
The art work is nothing weāve ever seen before, with 3D glasses the paint pops off the wall.
There is an entire section of taxidermy animals that the boys found fascinating. The nice part was we had the place to ourselves, and we didnāt really have anyone hovering saying donāt touch that or anything. You are free to roam as you please.
The kids fell in love with a few of the animals, this camel is a sweet heart and followed us all over eating almost an entire loaf of bread.
They also have this cool dinosaur cave exhibit that we all enjoyed
It was fun to see such a variety of animals and all the cages and habitats looked clean and well cared for! Off the top of my head I remember zebras, monkey, goats, alligator, guinea pigs, mini horse, donkey, llamas, alpacas, tortoise, and big birds like emu.
I didnāt get a shot of the mini golf, but itās inside and covered which is great from the heat and sun, but the building where it is ended up being too dusty for my allergies and really bothered me. The kids loved the course, it was challenging but still fun!
From their page: Each of our Citrus Gifts and Grove fresh fruit Baskets is carefully picked and packed with the finest fresh Florida oranges, tangerines, grapefruit and honeybell fruit and shipped in our handsome and sturdy gift cartons! We will deliver fresh fruit baskets and special Florida treats to your friends and family
If you have time do some research about this place, it has a wild history and could easily be a movie!
We love living near the beach, but donāt always make it down to Clearwater beach, it gets crowded because itās so nice! The sand is that fine sugar sand that doesnāt get hot, and there are plenty of shops, restaurants, and hotels around for when you get tired of beaching!
We brought our Sand pal toys, the kids always have a blast with these! The bricks make it easy to build!
One thing I will say is that the red tide was bad, but we just need to make sure we look up the levels reported next time before we head out! Usually itās not this bad until around August. The red tide really aggravates everyoneās allergies, and we all couldnāt stop sneezing, having a burning throat, and itchy burning eyes. So we had to leave after only an hour!
We had a chance to go back to ICON Park to check out the Play Pass! It was so much fun! š”
āØICON Park is a 20 acre Entertainment Destination that is located in the heart of Orlandoās Entertainment District! So lots of shops, restaurants, and fun spots!
Miles in The Museum of Illusions
The Play Pass is the best deal, it includes 8 attractions:
Madame Tussaudās
SEA Life Orlando Aquarium
The Wheel
Museum of Illusions
The Pearl Express
Orlando Star Flyer
In The Game $5 play card
7D Motion Theater!
āØWhich attraction would you visit first?
After we rode the train they gave us tokens for treats at shake shack
This will be the 3rd year we made it to the wild flower fields at Myakka River State Park, so Iām calling that a new tradition.
The cost of admission to the park is $6 and you can stay all day. That was more than enough time for us to grab our pictures and videos, in total we might have stayed 45 minutes, but thatās only because it was a school day and we had zooms to get to. In the past weāve packed a picnic and spent the day at the park, hiking and seeing the amazing views.
Florida actually has many wild flower blooms from Spring to early Winter all over the state, so Iāll be making it my mission to visit some of them!!
We parked all the way in the park near the boathouse. Before you get there you will pass tons of flower fields, these tend to be busy areas because everyone see the flowers and immediately pulls over. What I like to do is go all the way to the back, we had the entire end of the field to ourselves, not to mention the bathrooms were right there. Which helped a ton to wash up after, we were covered in pollen.
As always use caution, this is Florida and the park does have gators and snakes. We were very clear with the kids to stay close and watch their feet.
Emelia Simoneau 