Shark Valley-Everglades

We are officially Everglades National Park season pass holders! (It costs $20 to get in, $40 for a pass...so if we go twice. Ya know, real big spenders here, haha.)

Last year in January we biked Shark Valley (here). It was awesome.  We wanted to do it again. Only this year with our OWN bikes and our OWN bike rack on our van, and no nursing baby to stop and feed. It was so much fun.

14 miles was a LOT longer than I remember it being. Still fun.

At the tower, mile 7. No gators, but lots of ravens and vultures.

Molly showing me her skinned knee. I ADORE this picture.

Will called this the 'ding dong tower' all day. Not sure why.

Hello beautiful Everglades!

We ate lunch at the tower, which is the half-way point. I was seriously doubting my ability to make it back. Somehow, I am more out of shape than four months postpartum last year. Sigh. Although, I do have to say it probably had a LOT to do with the headwind for the first seven miles. Hitting us directly on. I felt like a cartoon that was madly pedaling away and...not going anywhere. HAHA!

This girl. Oh how I love you!

He got new shorts and won't let me roll them up. Still adorable.

Last year we saw tons and tons of gators. This year, less so, but still quite a few. We also saw a ton of anhingas, grey herons, and tons of other REALLY BIG birds. And a lot of blooming purple thistles that came up a LOT in our eye spy game. :)

Sterling holding my bike while I took a picture of the biggest gator.

The girls took off their shoes for the ride back. I don't blame them. It was 90 degrees and HOT. It was cute to see their little toes poking out of the trailer.

Cutest kids ever. With a gator.

Sterling did a lily pad for one of his eye spy objects. Then Will kept exclaiming "LILY PAD" the rest of the trip. Which, as you can see in the photo, was not really that exciting. But hilarious.

Sterling worked like crazy the past two weeks to hit an audit deadline that had increased workload due to a lame VP that was fired. He basically worked 16 hour days plus Saturday. So on Friday when the audit was completed they said "Don't come in on Monday!" and we all cheered!!!! The Everglades was a great place to spend the day. The kids did really well in the trailer/behind me on my bike and Sterling and I had a great time getting back on our bikes. 

We ended it all with dollar cones at McD's. Life doesn't get much better than that!