Kelly Trips and Tours

Today was our last day in Florida with Austin, so it was off to the Alligator farm and show. Here one of the handlers drags a big gator out of the pool before her partner jumps aboad. The weather has been fantastic running 72 daily except today - it was 77 and humidity started. We stopped here on our way to the airport to see the show and see hundreds of Alligators get fed. Seriously, they have hundreads and breed them. The largest is a 14 footer and the grandfather of them all is shown below - after he died. In fact, so big we didn't get his head in the picture! We also feed a few small ones in the nursery ponds as they had gators as small as 6 inches to 14 feet. After the show, Austin and Grandma held a small gator. After spending a couple hours here, we headed to the airport as the Austin trip comes to a close. It was a great trip and Austin was excited about all the things we did.  After a 5 1/2 hr flight, Bob met us at the PHX airport. Austin was excited t

Today's adventures will take us 30 minutes off the coast to the White Reef in the underwater world of John Pennekamp State Park. First we head out down one of the many canals. Time to suit up and get in the water "boys".  Grandma is not sure she wants to join us because it's a little choppy and by the time we got to the reef she was a little seasick.. Once suited up, Austin was the first one in the water. He had his under water camera and started shooting pictures. Bill was in shortly after and headed to the reef where they saw lots of fishies!  They really enjoyed the reef that was only 5 feet deep in some spots. Here fishie, fishie.  Where's Grandma? This is cool and lots to see. Here comes Grandpa - wow, lots of fish and beautiful coral everywhere. Hey, that's not Grandma! Here's Grandma on deck getting a little sea sick while sunbathing with another "wus". Maybe Grandma will snorkel with us in Hawaii in July? A

Well, we had another big day today.  Austin slept in again - probably for the last time this trip.  We drove to Wendys for a hamburger breakfast for Austin.  We have been eating real gourmet food this trip!  After 'breakfast' we drove south to Robbies Marina to rent our watercraft.  We rented a paddleboard for Austin and a kayak for us.  They gave us a trail map and told us how to avoid the crocodile.  Off we went.  We followed the trail out into the bay, up to bird island and into the mangrove trail. It was so cool.  The roots grew down into the water and sometimes the branches were so low that Austin had to crouch down on his paddleboard.  It felt like we were cruising through the bayous.  You know that Austin is really having fun when he turns around while paddling and says 'thank you'. After we followed the trail around we went back to the landing because Bill wanted to try the paddleboard.  He did very well standing up until Austin and Bill decided to ch

As you know teenagers need lots of sleep so we let Austin sleep till 11am this morning. After bagels in our room, we headed to Dolphins Plus so Austin could swim with the dolphins. On the way, he was very quiet and nervous. After an interesting and educational orientation,  it was time to suit up.  Once suited up, it was time to go. The smile never left his face! Although he was nervous, after seeing a few others in the water, he was ready and excited. He loved it all.  He rode by holding on to the dorsal fin and other times they pushed him with their noses against his feet. Dorsal fin drop-off above and rubbing their bellies.  They look like  they love it! Austin / Dolphin tricks. It was cute to see them kiss him on the cheek.  After the dolphin swim, everyone was hungry.  We stopped at a local place called Mrs Mac's.  They started on one side of the street and got so busy that they opened another place across the street.  The food was good and the

Today it was lots and lots of gators and more. But first we're starting to get the hang of posting photos.  Here's Austin having breakfast in first class yesterday! Yum, yum! So now that Bill has some semblence of being able to put pictures in, we will move on to todays adventures.  We started off with breakfast at Starbucks - very original.  We didn't want to waste time in a resturant  because we had a lot to do.  After breakfast we drove to the Royal Palms Visitor Center in Everglades National Park.  They have a well known trail that we wanted to take because of the opportunity to see wildlife and we were not disappointed.  There were vultures and other birds unique to us California and Arizona people. They were all beautiful but the main attraction was the alligators. There were a lot of them in all sizes and Austin took the opportunity to touch one just before the ranger came along and said 'don't touch the alligators'. After that great exp

Departed PHX with Austin yesterday morning. We surprised him with first class tickets, a perk from Bill's many trips. To quote Austin "I love first class"! The only way to fly. First breakfast then lunch.  Austin started thinking about the most exciting thing about the day and he started off with 'I don't have to feed the dogs'  then it went to the breakfast in first class to riding the monorail at DFW.  Don't know what ended up to be the most exciting thing of the day.  He certainly enjoyed the beautiful view of Maimi as we flew over it. After arriving Miami, we made the reportedly 15 min walk to the monorail to the rental car offsite location which actally was 25 minutes and a long way around the airport. Once in the car we drove to Key Largo in rush hour traffic which took 2 1/2 hrs - ugh. Finally arrived Key Largo at 8 pm and got dinner at a local beach restaurant. Marriott upgraded us to a 1 bdrm unit which is good with 2 sleeping areas but a bi

Tomorrow we drive to Phoenix to pick up Austin. Then Wednesday we fly to Miami, then drive to Key Largo until March 18. Why? When each grandchild reaches 13 to15 years old, we treat them to a trip and it's now Austin's turn. Stay tuned daily for updates and pictures. The Kelly's