Good visit with the kids

Lynn and Kelsey came to Florida for a visit and got the mini tour of the area.

We spent a day just cruising around the Crystal River area looking for manatees. With all of the cold weather we've been having, we spotted quite a few of them. Another stop was the Silver Springs Park. There are three different glass bottom boat rides there and we hit them all. Being a spring fed river the water was crystal clear so it was easy to spot lots of critters (fish, turtles and even a few gators). Some of the props from a James Bond movie (Thunderball) are still sitting at the bottom of the river and Kelsey got kick out of seeing them. The remains of the boat used to film the movie "Don't Give Up the Ship" starring Jerry Lewis are still on the bottom of the river and very visible.

We finished off the tour with a visit to the Tarpon Springs sponge docks. The shopping there was kind of fun and everyone absolutely loved the Greek bakery. We got some baklava and cannelloni that were awesome. We also picked up a loaf of New Year Greek bread and of course Kelsey got the hidden coin in her piece of bread. Then again she ate two pieces and I think she was going to keep eating bread until she found the hidden coin. The highlight of the trip was a boat ride out to an island beach where you could collect seashells. The girls really enjoyed this and there were plenty of shells to be had. We're going to have to find a beach nearby to collect shells at.

What the girls really wanted to do was hang out at the hot tub and just chill out. Unfortunately it has been REALLY cold here, highs in the 60's, so they didn't get nearly as much hanging out time as they would have liked. Maybe next time the weather will corporate.