Day 5: I Wuv Alligators!

After a morning at the beach, where the water was freezing cold, even at the ankle deep level, we decided to spend the afternoon at the pool.

The pool was amazing! All the kids had a great time, we played with the ball, played "I'm gonna get you" and "washing machine" with Megan and Riley. Played chicken with Camryn and Breanna (and some kid named Nick who joined in). Nick's sister "Yellow Bikini girl" was our faithful ball return girl (who seemed to have some interest in AJ, though he was oblivious). Everyone at the pool borrowed all the balls we took with us, but we were able to retrieve them all before heading back to the room.

We ordered dinner from the hotel restaurant (not a good choice, they got the order wrong and the food so-so), and AJ and I ran to the store for a mid-week stock up on essentials. By the time we got back, Megan was exhausted from all the excitement, but the rest of us decided to go to the "Hands On" animal show we had tickets for. Amazingly Riley wanted to go with us, even without mommy, so we all piled into the golf cart, Riley chatting the whole way about seeing the cats.

We waited a little while in line (very patiently, all things considered) and got excellent seats. As the woman who was selling the Space Center as an excursion got started, Riley decided to move things along by announcing to one and all "Where are the cats? I wuv cats!"

The first animal out was a baby alligator. When the lady told us that we would all get to hold and touch an alligator, Riley was thrilled, and immediately announced "I want to hold an ally-gator! I wuv alligators!" The lady brought the alligator around and we all got to hold it, especially Riley who did not want to give it back! We also got to hold a tarantula (we got some great pictures of Riley holding the spider for mommy!), Riley held the spider twice! And we all touched a snake.

At this point the lady brought out an oppossum and that wasn't cat-like enough for Riley so she fell sound asleep. Totally out like a light for the next hour. She missed seeing the skunk and the tortoise and holding the snake (which she really wanted to do too!) so we will go back to the show again on Thurs, hopefully with Megan and Kris.

After her nap Riley was wide awake, so we did not have a very restful night. Looks like we will be taking it easy on Wed.