Florida trip part 4: Feb 8- Feb 10 (last one!)

Wednesday, February 8
We drove a little over an hour to go to The Butterfly Estates in Fort Myers.  Before we had left for Florida, I had bought a Groupon for an annual family membership to The Butterfly Estates (it was a great deal, even though we would only be able to use it once), and Annika was really excited about going to see butterflies (especially since we had a Fancy Nancy book from the library where she goes to a butterfly garden).  It was a neat place, although I think I was expecting more.  But Annika had fun, although she was a bit disappointed that she couldn't get a butterfly to land on her (she wore her flowery shirt so that the butterflies would think she was a flower).  The kids both slept on the ride home (it's the only way Annika will nap anymore - in the car).  Swimming again in the afternoon.

So close!

Emmett was not overly interested in the butterflies

Just watching

Thursday, February 9
One more lazy day to enjoy the Florida weather before heading back to the cold. 

Trying so hard!!

The hot tub took a long time to heat up, so it was nice to bring the kids in to play before it got really hot

Emmett loved playing with this little purple ball and the broken jet from the hot tub

This started after supper with my dad stretching his shoulder...

Friday, February 10
Home day!  Annika was not looking forward to going back home.  She took a while to warm up (no pun intended!) to the idea of being in Florida, but then she didn't want to leave.  Our flight didn't leave Fort Myers until 3:30pm, so we had some time in the morning.  We gave Annika the option of going swimming once more or going to the park once more.  She chose park (with a little encouragement from us, since it was pretty cool in the morning).  However, by the time we got back from the park it had really warmed up, and I think we were all wishing we could go for one more dip.  So we stuck our toes in the pool before having lunch.  After lunch we drove to Fort Myers and were on our way back home.  The flight from Fort Myers to Minneapolis was 3 hours and 17 minutes, and it felt like forever.  Emmett had slept on the drive to Fort Myers, so he didn't nap at all on the plane (other than when we landed).  Annika was pretty good, but I think we were all quite glad to get off the plane.  In Minneapolis, they announced that our plane to Winnipeg had been overbooked, and they were looking for volunteers to be "bumped" (with the reward of a travel voucher).  I think Carey and I were both pretty tempted to volunteer (this time I was ready for an extra night!), but we decided it would be best to just get home already.  The flight was only an hour, and both the kids fell asleep.  Ahhh.

Emmett loved the slide...

...going down and going back up

Annika found the courage to go down the big slide by herself

The house where we stayed

Sorry about the bad lighting (the sun was setting on the other side of the plane). 
Trying to "entertain" (or perhaps just contain) Emmett on the plane.