Sawgrass Recreation Park

 During Memorial Day Weekend, we took an air boat ride through some of the Everglades.  If you were a Florida Resident, they gave you a yearly pass to come back with.  So I decided that I wanted to take the kids to the Coral Castle and make a stop at IKEA, so we might as well do the air boat ride as well.  The kids were excited to go again.  We left at 9:30, and got there about 10:45.  

The kids are waiting patiently for their turn on the boat.

 A view of the Everglades.  Last time we went after dry season and so there was only a few inches of water.  This time we went after wet season so the water was four feet deep.

 As soon as the boat stopped, this bird hopped on.  Must have been hoping for a treat.

 It is very loud.  They give you earplugs to wear.  Janiel is holding hers in.  The boat is propelled by a big fan on the back of the boat.  I took a picture last time that you can see, if you click here.

 We pulled into this area and then came the alligator.  I think this one knows the driver.  He swam quickly over to the boat.  Then the driver started throwing crackers to him.  Our first experience wasn't like that.  You could tell that this driver mostly wanted you to see alligators.  Not as informative as the first one.  Oh, well.  The kids liked seeing the alligator.

 Can you see him?

 Then we saw an informative show on alligators.  This one is huge and we learned a lot.  

 Kara was excited to hold a baby alligator again.  She was first in line.  Erin isn't quite so sure.

Ashleigh was the other brave one.  The other kids didn't want to hold one again.  Too bad.

We had our picnic lunch and then headed farther south (another hour) to the Coral Castle.