Aquatica

On our second full day in DeLand we all loaded up and headed to Orlando so we could go to Aquatica! I love a good waterpark and this one did not disappoint. We all had such a fun time and made lots of great memories. I don't have many pictures because I stored my phone in a locker while we were there, but we had lots of fun! 

Ready to have fun at Aquatica!

Dan was in charge of sunscreen and took his job very seriously.

Unfortunately, he forgot it was sunscreen on his hands when he went to wipe it off on his shorts...busted.

We did everything Aquatica had to offer multiple times. I was even brave and did the scary water slide where the floor drops out from under you and plunges you into total darkness (Nicki talked me into it). Definitely not for the faint of heart (like me) but I survived and I probably won't do it again. The boys really enjoyed racing down the slides and the fast lazy river the most. Eli made a souvenir penny to commemorate his experience and we ended our day with Dippin' Dots. It was an exhaustingly fun day for all! 

Summer Bucket List Days 15-21

*The captions are taken directly from my original Instagram posts.

• Day 15: We started in Louisiana this morning, Pop drove us to the airport, and we ended up in Florida this afternoon. Excited about spending some time with our friends the Glenns! 

Day 16: Pancake breakfast at the Old Sugar Mill, swimming in the 72 degree waters of the Ponce de Leon natural springs, swimming with Jonah and Micah at their house, visiting the Serpentarium, meeting two friendly snakes, and getting to watch venom extractions from a coral snake, copperhead, cottonmouth, rattlesnake, and a cobra! It was an awesome day!!!

Day 17: We conquered Aquatica today! It was a blast. Everyone had so much fun! So glad the weather turned out to be nice so we could enjoy our day :)

Day 18: A low key day was needed by all so we stayed home today. We played the Wii, read books, played board games, swam in the pool, and grilled burgers and hot dogs. Tonight the boys watched a movie at home while Nicki and I went to the movies to bawl our eyes out at "Me Before You". It was a great lazy day!

Day 19: Church this morning with some of our favorite people ever. It was so wonderful to worship God with the Glenns this morning and listen to Dan preach both services. We came home, packed up our stuff, and headed to Daytona Beach for the afternoon. We stopped at Pie Five for a late lunch and it was sooo good! The beach was beautiful and the boys had a blast playing together in the sand and surf. I'm sad tomorrow is our last day but it's been a great visit! These boys are going to really miss each other!

Day 20: We spent our last day with the Glenns at The Fun Spot in Orlando. Our flight didn't leave until 7'ish so we had the whole day to play. What an awesome place!! It had the old school amusement park vibe going on and it was perfect for three cute boys! The boys LOVED all the rides and there were no lines at all. It was the perfect way to end a great trip!

Day 20 (continued): After spending the day at The Fun Spot, it was time for us to come back home to Louisiana. Our hearts were sad about leaving our friends but we know it's not "good-bye"! We'll see them again soon! (Eli's convinced it'll be in three weeks!) Thanks @theglenns556 for an AMAZING week in Florida!! We love you the four of you so much! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Day 21: After our late flight it felt good to sleep in today! We met up with some of the family for lunch at Jason's Deli and a little shopping at Homegoods. I love my nieces and my nephew. Even if it was just for a couple of hours seeing them made my heart very happy! 

Day 21: No rest for the weary!! Eli and I made it back home this afternoon and went straight to the garden. We harvested two of the five rows of sweet corn we planted and filled up an entire wheelbarrow! Then it was time to shuck it and put it away. Eli was a great help every step of the way! 

Serpentarium

After visiting Ponce de Leon springs, we drove back to the Glenn's house to have lunch and a swim break by the pool. We had a couple of hours of rest time before our next adventure...the Reptile Discovery Center and Serpentarium! 

This was such a cool life experience! We were able to hold several non-venomous snakes and we got to see a snake handler do a live venom extraction on multiple venomous snakes in order to make and sell anti-venom. My nerves were on high alert but I'm so glad that we got to see this. It was so much fun and the boys LOVED it!

Eli had no qualms about holding snakes. He was such a natural and let these friendly snakes slither all over him. 

Jonah was very at ease holding the snakes as well. I was proud of how brave they were!

I won't say I was at ease with holding snakes but I did it. It's a very unnatural feeling to hold a creature you normally keep your distance from whether they're venomous or not. 

Once everyone who wanted it had a chance to hold the non-venomous friendly snakes, it was time for the real fun to begin. The snake handler and his assistant went into the snake room where all the venomous snakes are kept and proceeded to demonstrate how they extract venom (also known as milking) from them. The assistant would hold up a card before each snake was taken out of the container letting the audience know which snake was coming out to be milked. They also had an audio recording that played giving more information about each snake as it was being milked. 

Remember that childhood rhyme "Red on black, friend of Jack; Red on yellow, kill a fellow"?

You definitely want to stay away from this guy.

Feeding the coral snake

Look at the volume of venom that came out of the rattlesnake. It was the most out of all the snakes that were milked that day. Lesson learned...stay the heck away from rattlesnakes!

I would also like to mention that one of the diamondback rattlesnakes provided the scariest moment of the day. He was super aggressive and when they went to take him out of his container he somehow wrestled out of their hands and fell on the floor!! You want to talk about nerve wracking! Oh my word. Nicki was filming at the time and on the video you hear both of us let out a loud gasp when they drop the snake. The man picked him up, put him on the table, and let him calm down a bit before proceeding.

Look how calm this guy is. No big deal...huge, venomous snake just mere feet away from him and he's cool as a cucumber. Of course, when this is your day job I guess this is how you should feel. 

After all the snakes had been milked and safely stored in their containers, the man in charge and his assistant came out to take questions from the group of people who watched. We also were able to get a picture of the boys with them as well. This was such a fun experience and I'm so glad we included it in our itinerary for the day. I hope we get to go back one day!