A few surprises:
1. In Southern Florida, the ocean is green and warm!
The day we planned for the beach ended up being a little windy and eventually it even rained, but I was really shocked to find that with that chilly wind, I felt warmer in the water! I rarely even go in the ocean anymore in California, because it's just always so freezing! So I was pretty surprised at how warm the water was in Florida.
1. In Southern Florida, the ocean is green and warm!
The day we planned for the beach ended up being a little windy and eventually it even rained, but I was really shocked to find that with that chilly wind, I felt warmer in the water! I rarely even go in the ocean anymore in California, because it's just always so freezing! So I was pretty surprised at how warm the water was in Florida.
The beach we went to was a state beach, so we were the only ones there. There were lots of shells in the sand, so the sand was chunky :) I found some good shells though and brought some home for the kids.
(apparently I like taking pictures of my feet in sand...)
I did a super crappy Photoshop job on this so we could all be in the same picture! Wow, I need a tan!2. There are waterways everywhere.
This picture I borrowed doesn't really explain what I'm talking about, but you get the idea. There is water everywhere! Just random little lakes, waterways parallel to the roads, etc. That was pretty interesting.
3. Alligators
Okay, of course I knew they had gators in Florida. But I learned a lot about Alligators on the airboat ride we took in the Everglades. It was a lot of fun and very informative.
Raw Florida
Getting ready for our tour
Haha, my face is huge!
Our airboat driver was good- he knew exactly where to take us to see an alligator. It took us quite a while to get out there, but he knew where to go. Can you see the gator?
A closer look:
He came right up to the boat.
And then he swam around us for a while as the tour guide told us all about alligators. 
So here's what I was surprised by, and this shows my ignorance: Alligators don't hunt large game (i.e. people) like crocs do. They don't live in groups; in fact, they are very territorial, especially the males. They can grow to 15 feet long. They are very cold-blooded, so when the sun is out, they will come out to warm up. I learned a lot more, but don't want to write a novel. Read all about it on Wikipedia. Haha
Here's a picture of what the boats looked like.
Back at the park, they had a little zoo with alligators, crocodiles, and other local wildlife. There were a few peacocks moseying around...
And this little guy trying to catch some rays.
Then we got to hold the alligators!
This guy was really cute!
4. I ate fish.
Okay, it was like one tiny little bite of tilapia, which was soaked in cilantro and lime juice, so I couldn't even taste it, but still! I even ate crab puffs on the trip.
On Saturday, we went down to Miami Beach for a food tour. I was really fun and yummy! I would definitely do it again. We started in Miami Beach's Lincoln Mall area, where there were tons of sidewalk cafes among the stores. We had some really good guacamole, corn salsa, toasted bagel chips with black bean hummus, and the aforementioned tilapia with celery and red onion. It was all very fresh and healthy tasting.
As we walked on the tour, our guide would explain much of the history and architecture of Miami Beach. It was really very interesting.
We also tried Cuban food- Cuban sandwiches and hot chocolate. They were really good. As you can imagine, there is a huge Cuban population, and I often saw lots of Cuban restaurants, whereas we have a lot of Mexican ones here. 
This beautiful tree had orchids growing up in it.
We also ate at a fabulous burger joint, 8 oz. Burger Bar. I am not even a burger lover, but this place was so good. I would definitely go back there. There has to be one in California...
Not my photo- I didn't think to take pictures of the food, it was too good!
We walked through Miami Beach's Art Deco district, as well as Espanola Way in South Beach, where all the mobsters used to vacation. I loved how all the buildings were peach. (Again, not my photo)
We finished up at a yummy ice cream shop, which had some amazing flavors to choose from including cucumber and ginger-pear. I got coconut sorbet, and it was awesome.
We had a great time in Miami Beach. It was a really interesting place.
5. Mother's Day Treats
Sunday was Mother's Day. We got spoiled with flowers and a huge box of chocolates at church! Church was fabulous. One thing that wasn't a surprise was the diversity. I really love seeing diversity in the church. For some reason, it strengthens my testimony to know that people from all over the world also know the church is true.
6. Guava and Cream Cheese Churros!
On Monday, we took Rachael's daughter to her ballet class and then bummed around the mall. We ate some fabulous crepes, then got some churros, one stuffed with guava and cream cheese, and some smaller ones drizzled in nutella and dulce de leche. They were so good! I was surprised to say that I liked the guava one the best!
Not surprising- Florida was green and lush, but just like California, most of that lushness was brought in because Florida is kind of a swamp. It was super humid there, which wreaked havoc on my hair and face. Greaseball city!
Other nice little surprises from the trip:
The Jesus Writers
Tons of new recipes from Rachael
I found Kinder eggs!!! (Not my picture, haha.)
I bought one for each of the kids, but I left them in the car and they kind of melted :( The kids didn't care, though! These are big in Russia, and I used to get them all the time! They come with a little toy inside. The eggs I found even had Russian writing on them. Lucky find!
They were at an international candy kiosk at the mall. They also had these. Anyone remember these? They were so good. And they had like every flavor of Ritter Sports.
It was such a fun trip! I admit, it has taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things!
This picture I borrowed doesn't really explain what I'm talking about, but you get the idea. There is water everywhere! Just random little lakes, waterways parallel to the roads, etc. That was pretty interesting.3. Alligators
Okay, of course I knew they had gators in Florida. But I learned a lot about Alligators on the airboat ride we took in the Everglades. It was a lot of fun and very informative.
Raw Florida
Getting ready for our tour
Haha, my face is huge!Our airboat driver was good- he knew exactly where to take us to see an alligator. It took us quite a while to get out there, but he knew where to go. Can you see the gator?
A closer look:
He came right up to the boat.
And then he swam around us for a while as the tour guide told us all about alligators. 
So here's what I was surprised by, and this shows my ignorance: Alligators don't hunt large game (i.e. people) like crocs do. They don't live in groups; in fact, they are very territorial, especially the males. They can grow to 15 feet long. They are very cold-blooded, so when the sun is out, they will come out to warm up. I learned a lot more, but don't want to write a novel. Read all about it on Wikipedia. Haha
Here's a picture of what the boats looked like.
Back at the park, they had a little zoo with alligators, crocodiles, and other local wildlife. There were a few peacocks moseying around...
And this little guy trying to catch some rays.
Then we got to hold the alligators!
This guy was really cute!
4. I ate fish.
Okay, it was like one tiny little bite of tilapia, which was soaked in cilantro and lime juice, so I couldn't even taste it, but still! I even ate crab puffs on the trip.
On Saturday, we went down to Miami Beach for a food tour. I was really fun and yummy! I would definitely do it again. We started in Miami Beach's Lincoln Mall area, where there were tons of sidewalk cafes among the stores. We had some really good guacamole, corn salsa, toasted bagel chips with black bean hummus, and the aforementioned tilapia with celery and red onion. It was all very fresh and healthy tasting.
As we walked on the tour, our guide would explain much of the history and architecture of Miami Beach. It was really very interesting.
We also tried Cuban food- Cuban sandwiches and hot chocolate. They were really good. As you can imagine, there is a huge Cuban population, and I often saw lots of Cuban restaurants, whereas we have a lot of Mexican ones here. 
This beautiful tree had orchids growing up in it.We also ate at a fabulous burger joint, 8 oz. Burger Bar. I am not even a burger lover, but this place was so good. I would definitely go back there. There has to be one in California...
Not my photo- I didn't think to take pictures of the food, it was too good!
We walked through Miami Beach's Art Deco district, as well as Espanola Way in South Beach, where all the mobsters used to vacation. I loved how all the buildings were peach. (Again, not my photo)
We finished up at a yummy ice cream shop, which had some amazing flavors to choose from including cucumber and ginger-pear. I got coconut sorbet, and it was awesome.We had a great time in Miami Beach. It was a really interesting place.
5. Mother's Day Treats
Sunday was Mother's Day. We got spoiled with flowers and a huge box of chocolates at church! Church was fabulous. One thing that wasn't a surprise was the diversity. I really love seeing diversity in the church. For some reason, it strengthens my testimony to know that people from all over the world also know the church is true.
6. Guava and Cream Cheese Churros!
On Monday, we took Rachael's daughter to her ballet class and then bummed around the mall. We ate some fabulous crepes, then got some churros, one stuffed with guava and cream cheese, and some smaller ones drizzled in nutella and dulce de leche. They were so good! I was surprised to say that I liked the guava one the best!
Not surprising- Florida was green and lush, but just like California, most of that lushness was brought in because Florida is kind of a swamp. It was super humid there, which wreaked havoc on my hair and face. Greaseball city!
Other nice little surprises from the trip:The Jesus Writers
Tons of new recipes from Rachael
I found Kinder eggs!!! (Not my picture, haha.)
I bought one for each of the kids, but I left them in the car and they kind of melted :( The kids didn't care, though! These are big in Russia, and I used to get them all the time! They come with a little toy inside. The eggs I found even had Russian writing on them. Lucky find! They were at an international candy kiosk at the mall. They also had these. Anyone remember these? They were so good. And they had like every flavor of Ritter Sports.
It was such a fun trip! I admit, it has taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things!
