4th of July

 Happy 4th of July.

We stayed at home this year and spent the day on the lake

playing on the water mat

and kayaking.

Adam walking on the water.

Adam falling in the water.

Jacob trying to make the biggest splash.

Running of the edge of the mat.

Jacob trying to throw Grace.

Merry making a little shade.

Merry leaving all the chaos behind.

 Grace careful not to get water in her nose.

 Nice tan.

 Showing off her mad skills and her dimples.

More of Eliza kayaking.

We made a brisket and some pie and watched the fireworks over the lake.

It was a fabulous 4th of July.

Caspersen Beach

 

After a couple of days on the east coast we decided to head to the warmer west coast.

Caspersen Beach was the beach of choice for a couple of days.

For snorkeling,

 more snorkeling,

and more snorkeling.

 I'll give you 5 dollars.

The sand dollar bones are pretty abundant.

 Merry much richer.

Money, money, money.

We also searched the shells for

fossilized shark's teeth.

 Eliza digging for shark's teeth.

 Adam collecting shells.

 Beachy hair.

We were also stalked by a gopher tortoise who was sure we had something delicious.

Myakka State Park

While staying in Venice we stopped to see the canopy walk at the Myakka State Park.

This is at the top of the observation tower.

Adam on the canopy walk.

 Grace looking very concerned about more than 4 people being on the the canopy walk at one time.

 Merry admiring the air plants.

This is what Florida really looks like.

It is sort of hard to impress Jacob.

He is not a fan of heights so he didn't go up on the tower.

 Other than the wildlife (children) we brought we saw lots of other animals.

A  nanny deer supervising 3 spotted hoodlums.

 Ole black water with an accessory.

 A limpkin looking for snails.

 An irate rabbit eating grass.

 A tricolored heron supervising the marsh.

 Squirrel girl scaling the trunk of a moss covered sabal palm to admire the needle-leaf air plant.

A yellow-crown night heron who is not nocturnal.

Black-bellied whistling ducks. 

We saw lots of other unphotographed wildlife, it was super cool.

Family pictures

 Family picture torture is always a must on vacation.

 These are at Brohard Park, Venice, Florida and courtesy of my tripod and remote..

 The storm looming behind us.

Silly faces.

What really happens during family pictures.

 All of the kids.

The parents.

Saying goodnight to the sun,

by play fighting in silhouette.