5-20-21 hanging out waiting for the kids to arrive!

 

 And here's the reason why the kids didn't come down to Orlando at the same time we did----Layla's last day of school!  They couldn't leave and miss that!  She loves school.  It's the only time she gets to play with kids her own age.  Which also means it sets her up for getting whatever illnesses any of them may have.  She's been fighting a cough for about a month---been to the Dr. twice about it, but seemed pretty good otherwise.  But despite how this looks, she was about to get pretty sick while on their vacation!

 Meanwhile, we knew they wouldn't be here until about 8 pm, so we just took it pretty easy again.  I did buy something at the Walmart yesterday that I decided to return.  So I went to the Walmart by our resort.  That's when I noticed this alcove by the front of the store.  A very talented young man was airbrushing Disney designs on shirts.  Since Angie hadn't been excited about any of the other options I sent her, I sent her a couple pictures of these. 

and these.  She really liked the idea of the airbrushed shirts---so did I.  Ultimately we picked the Mickey ears with the sunset and palm trees in it.  Kind of hard to see from a distance, but neat up close.  I was even able to order them and pick them up in about 2 hours.

Wish I had asked for the background to be yellow so lettering showed up better, but they're still cute.  And at about $35@, I didn't think it was too bad.  In fact, Ken and I had gone to the owner update earlier in the day and got a $150 Visa gift card, so I used that to help pay for them.  Speaking of the update, it was very low key.  The guy looked at our memberships and said he didn't think we needed anymore points.  Then chatted awhile and we were on our way.

After the kids got there, I took Layla for a little walk to the pool area (and dumpster where I'd take trash to every day).  That's when she noticed this big grass hopper.  They have some really big colorful grass hoppers in Florida.  This one was actually black and white, but still a big guy.

 and another day comes to an end.  Now we get to vacation with family.

5-19-21 Lakefront Park and more shopping

 I didn't figure Angie would be interested in going to the park we found a few years ago.  Hindesight, it might have been more fun for Layla then the Apopka drive.  But I enjoyed both.  

The park was about 30 minutes from our resort.  So we had an early dinner along our way---early bird senior meal at Golden Corral.  Someone had a really cute Disney shirt on so I asked where they got it----Walmart.  So after eating, I ran into the nearby Walmart before heading on to Lakefront park.

Sent Angie some more pictures of shirts.  She wasn't in love with this one either.

glow in the dark?  That might be neat at the park when it's dark.

sent her a couple other ideas----ears?

hats?

or----masks?

no go.  So continued on to the park----

It looked a lot different from when we were here a couple Feb.s ago.    I don't think there were islands in it then.

There were a lot of birds a few years ago, and that's what brought me back.  This time there were even more!

and an alligator.

and possibly my favorite bird--the Grackle!  I love the sound they make.  Not a chirp or song, more of a gargling sound.

there were even several Spoonbills there---and a family of Limpkins.

don't see Limpkins around too many places.

In Feb. we didn't see all the babies.  This turned out to be a great rookery.  Lots of babies, like these baby Moorhens.

lots of these snails that the birds like to eat.

baby Limpkin looking to be fed.

love these guys.

and these guys.

and the whistling ducks.

more baby Moorhens.

a little snack for the baby.

look at those feet.

great white heron

this was all lake in Feb.

crooning grackle.

even had some squirrels here.

ibises flying by

another new fellow

I've not seen a juvenile like this before----white heron?  baby little blue heron?

cute little guy

an anhinga sitting around above us.

This really is a nice park.  We found it by accident when we needed to get new tires for the car a few years back.

back at the condo, we were treated to another beautiful sunset.

 

looking East

west.

 I loved birding when we lived in Florida.  It was nice getting back to it for a bit.