Travel Bucket List

       As our children have gotten older traveling has become easier. We have talked about visiting a lot of different places. We really want to travel overseas at some point. That, probably won't happen until the children are teenagers. It can be stressful at times to stay together, so when we go overseas we want to make sure they know what to do, and can think clearly in a stressful situation.
       Back to the bucket list. Here are our top places we want to visit.

Macey:
1.) Africa: The Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya to be exact
2.) England: Doctor Who Museum here we come
3.) Paris: I really want this trip to be just mommy and the girl child
4.) Alaska:Duh! It's beautiful, plus whales!
5.) Colorado: I drove through this state with my parents on a trip and I really want to go back

Brad:
1.) Washington D.C.
2.)Alaska
3.)London
4.)Madagascar
5.)Iceland

Girl Child
1.) Paris
2.) Universal Orlando
3.) Washington D.C.
4.) Country Side
5.) Bottom of the Pacific Ocean (Dream Big baby girl!)

Boy Child                                              
1.) Sea World
2.) Disney

3.) Universal
4.) Canada: to see Belugas
5.)South Carolina

     

Did you notice both of the kids picked theme parks? It will probably be awhile before they outgrow that. The only one they haven't been to on the list is Universal. Alana chose places she hadn't been and Hayden mostly chose places he had been. It's another reminder of how truly different they are. How Alana is going to go to the bottom of the Pacific would probably be a great tale. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed putting this together. Until next time.
-Macey

SeaWorld Orlando

I just want to start this post by saying everyone is entitled to their opinions on SeaWorld. My family and I personally love SeaWorld and will continue to support them. With that being said we went last weekend with my parents and had a wonderful time! Of course, we were so busy looking at the animals and riding the rides we didn't get a family picture. Next time though we will for sure!

The aquariums at SeaWorld are beyond beautiful. One of my favorite pictures my husband took was of the Jellies.

Did you know that Jellies are actually plankton and not fish? Pretty cool, huh?

Our favorite part of the day was definitely the One Ocean show featuring the Orcas. The show was absolutely incredible. I didn't feel we missed out on anything, with the trainers unable to get in the water with them. In fact, I think the show did a better job of showing off their natural beauty and abilities better. I would love to be able to watch them out in the ocean but for now, this will do.

We also saw the Beluga Whales that are just as magnificent as the Orcas. Funny how they are rarely mentioned. It was pretty awesome to see them playing together and rubbing on the rocks submerged in their habitat. They actually shed their skin by rubbing on the rocks.

We also stopped at the dolphin nursery to see the young dolphins. They were very playful while we were there, and very interested in the humans looking at them. There were two mama dolphins with babies and one auntie that gives the mamas a break when needed. Our children really enjoyed watching them play.

While we were there we did the All-Day Dining Deal. We planned on being there all day so we were fairly confident that we would save money doing the deal, versus paying for each snack and meal separately. We are pass holders so we also got a discount when we purchased the meal deal. For two adults, and two children it cost us $105. That includes for each person: 12 entries, 12 snacks, 12 sides, and 12 drinks. We did end up eating four meals, it would have been over $120 to do so, we did end up saving some money. You can get a full meal once per hour. Just a heads up they do sometimes offer a day ticket with dining included.

My son and I did the two roller coasters, and both kids enjoyed the kiddie area. Overall we had a great day and we can't wait to go back.

Thanks for stopping in.
-Macey

Greenville, SC. Round 2

        Greenville, SC is where my heart is. Our last visit was over Thanksgiving, and it was amazing. We really enjoyed getting to see it during the beginning of Winter. We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites which is centrally located Downtown, and just steps away from Falls Park on the Reedy.

On this trip we ate, played, hiked, and checked out the sites. We visited Paris Mountain, for the first time this trip, and it was awesome! The view of the lake was just stunning against the mountain background.

The kiddos also got to Ice Skate for the first time on this trip. I do believe this was their favorite thing from the whole trip. I was very upset that I couldn't join them. I was scheduled to have knee surgery a week after this trip. Poor me. Oh well, I got Brad to do it with them instead. By the way, he still hasn't forgiven me. Hehe.

On this trip, we also went back to Jones Gap State Park. Now this park isn't actually in Greenville, but about 45 minutes away. Trust me it is worth the drive. Here is a tip for you, get there dang early! There are a very limited amount of parking spaces. So, as the park fills to capacity the rangers have you wait outside the gate, in your vehicle, you can get out and explore a bit while waiting, until a car leaves the park. This has happened to us both times we have visited, each time we have waited 30-60 minutes. Again, I promise it is worth it. Don't leave before you visit the park. Also, they don't rush you out of the park once you're in to make room for vehicles.

So what did we do inside the park? We hiked! Now I will tell you the trail we did was hard. I should not have done it with my bad knee. We did the Rainbow trail, it leads to the waterfall. The trail is 4.4 miles round trip, my Jawbone Up said we gained 2000 (sorry I don't remember the exact number) or so feet of elevation. There are a ton of steps you have to go up, and the higher you go the narrower the path gets. That made us super nervous having both kids with us who are 7 and 9 yrs old. They were troopers though they didn't really complain. It took us four hours to complete. Phew! That was hard. Here is the beautiful waterfall. It wasn't as full since it hadn't rained.

We also went back to the Greenville Zoo. It is one of my favorite Zoo's I have been too, my top favorite is the San Diego Zoo. It is a smaller Zoo, but I really think that helps you see everything without rushing through the exhibits. There is also a wonderful park just outside of the Zoo that we actually walked to from out hotel, the path is part of the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

Let's talk food! Our hotel served breakfast so that was taken care of. Leaving lunch and dinner that needed to be taken care of. We packed lunched stuff, so ultimately we just had to figure out dinner each night.When we first got into town the day before Thanksgiving it was around 7 pm. We were starving, so we ate at Bellacino's Pizza & Grinders. We ordered pizza and it was really good. Thanksgiving day food was hard to come by. We don't have any family in Greenville, so we were on our own. There were plenty of buffets available, but they were anywhere from $19-$30 a person. We just couldn't afford that. We ended up eat at Jack 'n' the Box, it was good and the employee's were very friendly. We kindly joked with them and apologized that they had to work on the holiday. Another food stop we made was at Nose Dive we passed it several times while walking down Main Street and it just smelled so good.

I ordered the Fried Chicken and Waffles, and Brad ordered the Pang Curry Poutine. I was not a huge fan of the chicken and waffles, it was very under seasoned. Brad thought the curry was good it just wasn't quite right to him. We ended up switching plates. Overall we had a good experience.

We had so much fun on this trip and we can't wait to go back. Here are a few more of our favorite pictures. Thanks for reading. I look forward to sharing more of our trips with you soon.

Some Reminiscences About S.C. From The Childrens

We asked the boy child and the girl child to write something about our recent trip to Greenville, S.C. Here's what they had to say:

Yes, I know. You can't read it. Allow me to translate:

"I thout we had a great trip! We went bike riding; I spazed out a lot because I wan not used to it. We also went mounten climbing. It was hard but we made it! Ther wher huge rocks And we saw lots of rivers and streams. We had tons of fun!"

Yes, I left the spelling errors in; the boy child is only in 2nd grade for christ's sake so any grammer/spelling nazis will just have to deal.










Now for the girl child:

" I gon to south Kaurulinue. it was fun. we got to Ride tag-u-lugs. I had fun!"

Same thing I said earlier about the spelling. So, even if nothing else comes from that trip at least we have the satisfaction of knowing our kids will remember it for a long time to come, which makes it worth it no matter what!

Another Local Hike

We went out to our most local state park, Anastasia State Park. Surprisingly we haven't really been to this one even thought it is right in our "backyard" so to speak. We walked the Old Spanish Quarry area which is right inside the main gate. It turned out to be a rather short walk with the trail leading to the Amphitheater; it very well may have led to some immense quarry however the trail is a bit ambiguous about where it's taking you, there aren't any trail markers or a map to follow, just a well worn path through the woods.

Again, the trail was pretty, deserted, and quiet except for the noise of the traffic on A1A so all in all not a bad walk for the morning. Check out our Instagram account for more pics!

Home Town Hike

Marsh

Don't Drink!

Camp Site

Today we hiked at Moses Creek Conservation Area, this is located in our hometown. We hiked the white trail with our childrens. This was a very easy hike and was perfect for our monsters. Most of the trail is open to the sky so be prepared to sweat during the summer months. There were also a lot of bugs! But hey we live in Florida, so we are use to it. The view of the marsh was really pretty. There is also a group camping site located at the park that was truly primitive (except for the port-a-potty, ha!) only a hand pump for water and a fire pit. We hiked 2.5 miles on this trail and truly enjoyed it.


We also quickly checked out Fort Mose today as well. It didn't have a traditional hiking trail, but there was a pier that lead out to a marsh area. All along the pier there were facts about the Flora and Fauna local to the area, and facts about the the fort. Definitely worth a visit if you have thirty minutes to spare. There was a visitors center located on the premises but we didn't go in as there was a fee. This was an unplanned visit so we didn't take any pictures. The end.

Sorry it's been a few days but having fun and traveling take a lot out of you. Especially with the going back to work thing. Blah. Anyway, We did go for that bike ride I mentioned in the last post and it was awesome! Except for the part where the boy child and girl child almost killed us, more on that later.
We chose Reedy Rides as they were in the downtown area and therefore right where we wanted to explore. The rental process was very smooth (they do recommend making reservations although its not required) since we had the childrens with us and we were in an unfamiliar place we rented "tag-a-longs."

Tag a long

 Fair warning: your child will be able to careen you both off into on-coming traffic if they spaz out like ours did. It took a little practice, and shouting, and a few threats but we did manage to find a rhythm and had a blast! We probably rode 10 miles or more in the time we had the bikes, which is 10 miles more than we usually ride. Swamp Rabbit Trail is easy although it is a very long trail with hills and bridges that are way too small in some spots but we'd definitely do it again!




We also decided to visit Jones Gap which is a very beautiful spot. Lots of hiking trails and some nifty, rustic camp sites (no electricity here!)

Camp site #7 I think

Yes, you do have to cross this

This is in the mountains and you will be climbing so, no bitching. Those of you with small children need nerves of steel in some parts of the trail.

 We did have to wait 30-40 minutes to get in as there is very limited parking but it was worth it! There was a lot to explore and I'm sure we didn't even see a tenth of it so it is definitely a spot we are going to hit the next time we visit Greenville!