Beach Fishing

Our ridiculously mild winter carries on here in Florida and as a result, the beach fishing has been great!   We brought the poles down to the beach a couple of times last weekend and ended up with a few keepers- 2 whiting and 2 sheepshead.  The guys caught a bunch of tiny jacks that we released.  Big Red managed to reel in a sting ray.  We even ordered pizza one night for dinner from the only local place that is willing to deliver to a beach access.  I love living here!

Here are a few photos from our time at the beach:

And here are pictures of the pretty moonrise and sunset from Saturday.

To say that we’re spoiled living here would be an understatement.

Advertisement

Off Shore Fishing Adventure

Sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve posted!  Life has been busy now that school is back in session.  We’re all trying to settle in to our new routine…

Cutie Pie pounced on us bright and early on Sunday morning with a special request.  He wanted to go off shore fishing for kingfish.  Now, J had no intention of setting off on such an adventure but I thought it sounded like fun.  When we finished breakfast I sweet talked J into taking us all out on the boat off Port Canaveral.

We have never taken this boat into the ocean so I know that J was a little apprehensive.  But he was a good sport about getting everything prepped and ready for us to go.  I whipped up a quick lunch for the cooler, sunscreened myself and the kids and we were off!  We launched at the Port Canaveral ramp amidst the cruise ships, parasailing tour boats and other recreational fishermen.

We cruised down the coast toward Cocoa Beach and were greeted by lots of friendly dolphins.

The boys and I climbed up on the bow for a better view of the wildlife.  They came surprisingly close to the boat.

There were probably 10 or so dolphins in the pod that surrounded us.  They were jumping and playing which thrilled the boys to no end.

Right around the time that we saw the dolphins J and the boys started getting motion sick.  Luckily, J had a stash of Dramamine in his bag.  One of the side effects is drowsiness, however…  Both boys zonked out for a while.  Cutie Pie found a spot on the bench in the cabin.  Wildman eventually succumbed to sleep on the bow while we watched the cruise ships set sail.

The Disney Dream was the third ship that we watched leave port.  It is the newest vessel in the Disney cruise line.  There is a water ride between the stacks on the top deck that looks amazing.  It’s a twisty see-through tube.  Perhaps we’ll have to save our money for a voyage on the Dream one day.

We hadn’t had any luck fishing all day so we pointed the boat back toward the port.  Just as soon as we made the decision to head for home, the fishing pole that J had been trolling a lure with went crazy.

After a strong and steady fight, J managed to reel in a nice looking barracuda.  It wasn’t the kingfish that Cutie Pie wanted but it looked very similar.  At least we caught something!

Once we landed the boat on the trailer I glanced down to find this little guy swimming around.  Which reminded me that I need to find a little slip of paper with the website that Wildman’s class is using to track sea turtles.  His teacher wrote it down and I stuck the paper somewhere…  Just not sure where.  It’s part of their class project.  They’re adopting a sea turtle with a tracking device.  The children can log on to the website to see where their turtle has traveled.  Pretty neat!

Also, would you say a little prayer that this thing does not hit us?

Orlando Weekend

We had a pretty jam packed weekend last week.  On Saturday afternoon we made the last minute decision to accompany Big Red and his boys to Orlando for special trip to Bass Pro Shops then Seaworld on Sunday.  J had to leave for DC on Sunday evening so he had to pack his bags for a week.  It was a complete whirlwind of a trip but it was such fun.  I love being sponateous 🙂

Since my car is the only vehicle that could seat all seven of us, J got the honor of driving us all through the rain and lovebugs to O-town.

Big Red, who is never without snacks, brought a couple of teeny, tiny Slim Jims for himself and J.  I’m not much of a beef jerky girl so I passed on that little delight…

All of our luggage somehow fit in the itty bitty truck space I had behind the third row.

The little dudes and I kicked back to watch the movie, Avatar.  Before we knew it, we were at Bass Pro Shops!

T-bone has taken a real interest in fishing lately which pleases Big Red to no end.  T-bone wrote him a special note a while back requesting a trip to Bass Pro Shops to pick out his very own fishing pole.  Big Red was so excited to make T-bone’s wish come true.  It was really special to be along to watch their special moment.

All six of the men were in hog heaven at this store…  This kind of store isn’t really my thing so I spent my time laughing at all the silly fishing lure names displayed on all the packaging and taking pictures of the boys.  After every rod had been tested and every reel was inspected, we were finally able to leave the outdoor sportsman’s paradise.  Cutie Pie scored his first fishing rod along with T-bone.  They were over the moon!

We grabbed a yummy dinner at Carrabba’s then headed to the Hilton resort by Seaworld for the night.

We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel on Sunday morning and headed out to Seaworld.  Our hotel gave us complimentary quick queue passes for the rides so we didn’t have to wait very long for the rides or pay for things like the Sky Tower.  Wildman wanted to do the Sky Tower first thing so up we went.

The view was pretty awesome at the top of the tower.  I spotted all of the roller coasters I wanted to try.  J gets motion sick so he is never able to ride them with me.  Lucky for me, Big Red is a huge roller coaster fan and happily joined me on Manta (which we rode 5 times) and Kraken ( which we rode twice).  It was so awesome!!!

Feeding the dolphins was a fun experience for the kids.  Cutie Pie didn’t like it so much when one of them spit a huge stream of water in his face though!

Shark Encounter is always a hit too 🙂

No trip to Seaworld would be complete without a Shamu bar to beat the heat.

We left the park around 5 pm in order to drop J by the airport in time to make his flight to DC.  We were all completely exhausted and happy from the fun that we had together.  I’m looking forward to returning to Seaworld again soon since we have Fun Cards and we never actually saw a single show while we were there.  This trip was all about rides, rides and more rides!