Ft. Lauderdale, FL

We just got back from our 2nd trip to Ft. Lauderdale since May. Dallas had a conference for work and we all joined him. My Mom came along for that one as well and spent time with me and the kids while Dallas attended meetings. Our second trip was vacation. We left Sterling with BeBe and PawPaw and spent a week with Dallas Jr. before he starts kindergarten in the fall. We do have another beach trip at the end of July and she will be coming with us for that one!

On our first trip we spent most of our time at the pool and we also made a day trip to the Butterfly Pavillion. They were everywhere and Dallas Jr.'s only goal was for one to land on him. They were not landing on anyone but finally one landed on his shoulder and he just lit up as you can see by his face. I told him it must have liked his yellow shirt. There were also lots of pretty birds to see. Sterling had fun pointing to them and running all around. The picture of the rails with the gap behind it is to show where she escaped. They had you go in 1 door and then close it before going through another door to make sure the birds and butterflies did not escape. Then you had to follow a path that winds arounds with rails on either side until you get to the same type of exit doors. Sterling decided to escape and darted through that gap! She was running down the path laughing disappering out of our sight while I tried had to sqeeze through that gap to go running after her. If I was any bigger I would not have made it and would have had to go out the 2 exit doors and back in the other 2 to chase her down! She is a total handful and thought the whole thing was really funny!

On our last trip we had lots of fun at the pool, the ocean, and watching Gamecock baseball! We also took a day trip to the Everglades and rode on an airboat. Of course we saw alligators and lots of pretty birds. I took the picture of the tall grass with the clouds behind it because I thought it looked cool that there were dragonflies on the tip of each blade. After the ride they do an alligator show. Then we held a baby gator. We could have sat on the big one for $20but that just seemed wrong for so many reasons. Dallas Jr. and his Dad ate gator bites on the way home while I was still trying to recover from being attacked by a black bird. He wanted the gator bites and swooped right through my hair and shoulder trying to grab one. I hate those birds and I was so freaked out! Then a peacock with feathers fanned out came up for some. I guess I just don't like birds because I put little Dallas in between me and the peacock! Some Mother I am? I was practically running to the HOT car to get out of there. We also went fishing from a pier one day. We didn't catch any fish but Dallas Jr. caught a ROCK! Not sure how he hooked it but it was really funny. We also saw a huge stingray which was really cool. We got to hang out with our friend Stacy too. She is a nurse in Ft. Lauderdale and her husband is a chef on a yacht for the former CEO of AT&T. He is out for several months working so we missed him this trip.

We hope it will be a memorable trip for Dallas Jr. I think Sterling will remember too. It took her a couple of days to forgive us for not taking her once we got back. She was back to normal today though. She pulled lots of shoes out of her closet and tried them all on. I had no idea her interest in shoes would start so early...I love it!